Judges 12 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Judges 12

Jephthah’s Conflict with Ephraim

12:1 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” 2 And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. 3 And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” 4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.” 5 And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,” 6 they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.

7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.¹

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

8 After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

11 After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. 12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

13 After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. 15 Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Footnotes

[1] 12:7 Septuagint; Hebrew in the cities of Gilead

Commentary

v1: The men of Ephraim grumbled again, see 8.1. They had left the hard work for others, and then complained that they had not been invited to join in; some people are very difficult to please! There was no reference to Ephraim fighting with Deborah, and they had caused problems for Gideon.

v2: Jephthah's words were clear; 'you didn't come'.

v3: Jephthah had to continue to fight without them, risking his own life for his people.

v4-6: The argument became the first fight between tribes of Israel, and sadly not the last. The Ephraimites had despised the Gileadites, calling them "renegades", because they lived east of the Jordan. See Josh 22.24-25, where an altar was built to prevent just this situation.

The battle turned on the Ephraimites' dialect; see also Mark 14.70, where Peter's dialect was his undoing.

v7: Although Jephthah ruled for only 6 years, he did deliver Israel from many years of suffering. After him, a number of Judges ruled, bringing comparative stability to Israel. There were certainly fewer attacks from outside Israel after his time.

v8-15: Three other judges are listed; Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. There is no mention of them bringing deliverance for Israel. It seems likely that they each ruled over only part of Israel.

Some of the Judges had many children; Gideon (8.30), Jair (10.4), as well as Ibzan (v9) and Abdon (v13).

The Amalekites till held part of the land of Ephraim. Ephraim had grumbled about not being involved in the warfare, yet they had failed to possess the land allotted to them. We cannot grumble that we do not share in ministry, when we have undisciplined and uncommitted lives.