Judges, Chapter 12

This chapter is about Jephthah & the tribe of Ephraim. More specifically, the men of the tribe of Ephraim. We’ll also be getting into Ibzan, Elon, & Abdon. Jephthah & the Ephraimites get into an armed conflict. It doesn’t end well on one side. Ibzan, Elon, & Abdon are judges/leaders of the ancient Israelites. We hope y’all enjoy this read. Stay tuned for the next chapter…we’ll be getting into Samson. Yes, THE Samson of Samson & Delilah fame. We’re excited!!!

The men of the tribe of Ephraim got their soldiers out. They crossed over to Zaphon & got on Jephthah’s case. “Why didn’t you call on us to fight the Ammonites with you? We’re going to burn down your house!”

Jephthah responded by telling them that they did call on them. The Ephraimites didn’t respond to the call. Jephthah then tells them that he had to take matters into his own hands & fight the Ammonites himself. Jephthah also had to add that God helped him win. (Talk about adding salt to the wound.) He then asks why they’re going to fight him.

Since Jephthah became the leader of the town of Gilead in the last chapter, he asked the men of Gilead to gather. Then Jephthah took the men & fought against the Ephraimites. The Gileadites killed the Ephraimites. Because the Ephraimites said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim & Manasseh!”

Well, the Gileadites didn’t care for stuff like that, at all. So they captured all the fords of the Jordan River. (A ford in a river is a shallow point in a river where you can walk across the river.) Whenever a survivor of the Ephraimites tried to cross the river, the Gileadites would ask them if they were an Ephraimite. If they responded no, then the Gileadites would ask them to say, “Sibboleth.” Because the Ephraimites couldn’t pronounce it correctly.

So they would take the Ephraimites & kill them at the fords of the River Jordan. (Talk about psychological warfare.) 40,000 Ephraimites were killed at that time. Jephthah led/judged the Israelites for 6 years. Then Jephthah, the Gileadite, died. He was buried in a town in Gilead.