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JEPHTHAH (VI)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7
Judges 12:1-7

1 Samuel 11:1-11

 

“When pride cometh,

then cometh shame…”

 

JEPHTHAH (VI)
 
For the second time in the period of the judges, the men of Ephraim rose up against a judge decrying their being overlooked. This second time, it resulted in a civil war unlike the first time under Gideon when they were appeased with a soft answer. Jephthah, who earlier was sought out to lead the fight against the Ammonites, did not seek diplomacy or to appease the Ephraimites. His words and actions were not like those of Gideon. Gideon appeased their wrath; Jephthah humiliated their pride.
 
“And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands” (Judg 12:2). Jephthah exposed the Ephraimites in his charge against them. They had been sought for help, but they did not offer any. They had refused to offer leadership at a time of crisis, and leadership had been sought elsewhere. The Ammonites had oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years (Judg 10:8), and now the Ephraimites came up in arms not against the enemy, but against their brethren whom the LORD had used to subdue their common enemy.
 
“Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim…” (Judg 12:4). Their threats against Jephthah were met with firm and decisive action. Jephthah led the people against an external oppressor, and also led them against internal aggression from a proud brother. The Ephraimites called the Gileadites “fugitives of Ephraim” (Judg 12:4), treating them like unwelcomed foreigners. The fords, which the men of Ephraim had secured in Gideon’s time, were now secured by Jephthah’s men and a simple test was devised to ascertain the identity of those who wanted to pass through. The men of Ephraim were betrayed by their speech: at the first in their proud speech against Jephthah that led to the war, and now that they were defeated by the men of Gilead, one word “Shibboleth” revealed their identity and forty-two thousand men were killed (Judg 12:6).
 
THOUGHT: Pride never profited anyone, swallowing yours won’t kill you.
PRAYER: Father, help me to resist pride and arrogance and to stay humble.

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