As we mentioned in our previous lesson, Ephraim called Jephthah out for fighting the Ammonites without their consent. They were so angry. These Ephraimites threatened to “burn down Jephthah’s house over his head.”
Today this threat would be something similar to a bomb threat. Someone doesn’t like something about someone else; and they threaten to blow them up. That was how things were going between Jephthah leading the Gileadites and the Ephramites.
WHEN GREAT LEADERS WALK AWAY
Sometimes there is a lot to be said for a person who doesn’t take offenses personally.
Great leaders usually have the ability to walk away from offensive language without causing harm to their nations. If they do not agree; they quietly move on and continue walking in the way that they feel is right.
This peace-loving attitude has been known for stopping civil wars, or for saving the lives of people who are not in agreement with an angry mob. However, it did not belong to either Jephthah or the Ephramites he was quarreling with. Keeping a calm head and not taking offense because of pride is one trait of a great leader.
PRIDE COMES BEFORE A FALL
Jephthah was passionate in his leadership; but he wasn’t always wise. We certainly saw that play out in the way he made an erroneous vow to God and allowed his own daughter to become a human sacrifice which God did not require or want.
Pride and arrogance and the constant need to be “the one” who is on top, or “the one” who is always right can be a painful for a nation’s leader.
The nation of Ephraim certainly displayed this same character flaw.
Jephthah just had to speak up and give his defense.
STRUGGLING WITH THE AMMORITES
Jephthah’s true defense was that his people had been placed in a great struggle with the Ammonites. He claimed that he DID call out to the Ephraimites, but they did not respond.
Jephthah also noted that because of their lack of response in his time of need, he went on to fight the Ammonites himself, taking only the men of Gilead with him.
Of course He cheerfully points out that God gave him the victory.
ARROGANCE OF THE EPHRAMITES
The Ephramites were still seething with anger that they were not sought out as THE MOST IMPORTANT tribe of Israel. They loudly announced that their advice should have been given and heeded in this situation.
There seemed to be a lot of pride and arrogance on both sides here.
Jephthah’s response back to the Ephramites was “So now you show up? After I’ve finished the job! Now you show up and demand that I should have included you?”
NOT LETTING TRUTH STAND ON ITS OWN
The anger between both parties escalated more and more.
Neither side was willing to swallow their pride and let truth stand on its own.
No one wanted to walk away and to leave the problem up to God to handle. All of the men involved were about defending their own personal rights and being noticed for being the policy makers and the decision deciders.
TAKING OFFENSE
This started a terrible struggle between Gilead and Ephraim. Name calling took place. The Gileadites took offense to the Ephraimites saying “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.”
So there was fighting between the tribes of the nation during this time that Jephthah had named himself ruler over all Israel without consent of the population of the whole nation.
CIVIL WAR
As the troubles grew and grew among the people, a type of “civil war” broke out and took place between Gilead and Ephraim.
In this war, the Gileadites took control of the fords of the Jordan River leading into Ephraim.
At the river’s crossing, they employed a very odd form of traffic control. Whenever someone from Ephraim wanted to cross the river the men of Gilead asked “Are you an Ephraimite?” If the person replied that he was not they gave him a test. He was asked to pronounce the word “Shibboleth.”
If the person desiring to cross over to Ephraim said “Sibboleth” they knew he could not pronounce the word correctly and that fact proved he most likely WAS an Ephramite.
USING THE PASSWORD
It was known throughout the nation that the people of Ephraim could not pronounce words with an “sh” sound. Their language could not usually adapt to such pronunciations.
This worked like a password. One needed to be able to pronounce it correctly. All who mispronounced the word “Shibboleth” were killed right there at the fords of the Jordan River.
42,000 LIVES LOST
This wasn’t a small matter.
Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed during the time period in which the Gileadites seized control of the Jordan River.
The whole argument over whether or not the Ephramites were consulted before Jephthah went to war was actually a mute point by now. It didn’t matter anymore. The victory had been achieved (with or without the help of the Ephramites.)
FAILURE TO MOVE ON
Israel had prevailed against the Ammorites, and yet this one tribe of prideful Ephraimites could not overlook the fact that they could not claim all of the glory for everything that went right in Israel.
They could not simply move on and be grateful for the victory with the rest of the nation. There was no justification at all to declare a civil war over the national victory that had been achieved.
SELFISH DESIRE FOR GLORY AND HONOR
How many civil wars have been declared down through the pages of history because one people group in a whole nation’s groups of people wanted all the glory and honor?
This one harmful human trait started a very vain war with great causalities and loss of life. The Ephraimites became the selfish and unnecessary reason for a devastating civil war in Israel. It happened because they insisted on taking offense when they should have walked away.
PERSONAL CIVIL WARS OF TODAY
Are there any civil wars going on in your own daily life today?
Has someone taken offense over something that you did without realizing it would offend them and hurt their fleshly pride?
Do they refuse to let the matter rest?
Have they gone even as far as gathering people to be on their side against you?
This is exactly how civil wars begin. Sometimes the original reason does not really matter. The civil war is simply a matter of arrogant pride and vengeance that cannot be quenched.
TRAITS OF A WISE NATIONAL LEADER
A wise leader knows when to walk away.
One can’t help but notice the lack of brotherly love among the tribes of Israel during this time period. This often happens when people allow themselves to wander far away from the worship and ways of The One True God. All love is lost and violence covers the land for no good reason.
It is also clear that Jephthah had actually shown more patience and mercy to the enemies from other countries than to the people of his own nation. He would not give in to those who disagreed or did not share the same sentiments as he or the men from Gilead.
Neither side could simply sit down together or discuss a subject and disagree peacefully with one another.
There was no moving on without each side trying to destroy one another.
DIVISION IS HARMFUL
A nation divided cannot stand.
Any nation without God’s guidance is in for a long, hard fall. Israel had turned from God and they were about to take a long tumble down a dark and bumpy road.
We will understand this better as we discuss the next sets of judges.
There seemed to be no lasting peace in the land of Israel. Patterns show that each new judge became progressively more and more like the cultures that surrounded them.
Sin was rampant.
Paganism filled the earth.
Darkness instead of light prevailed in the land.
A SLOW AND TRAGIC DEATH FOR JEPHTHAH
After six years of self-proclaimed rule, Jephthah died.
His burial is recorded with odd words in the scriptures of Judges Chapter 12. The words are “Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a town in Gilead.”
There is a reason for this odd wordage about Jephthah’s death. Jewish legends say that Jephthah died by an unnatural decaying of his body. This disease was one where fragments of flesh fell from his bones during different intervals of time.
These scattered body parts were buried where they fell, which means that parts of Jephthah’s body were distributed in death throughout several different places in Gilead.
His death was symbolic of how he lived with his brethren, in division and disharmony.