1 The Ephraimite forces were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We’re going to burn down your house over your head.”
The tribe of Ephraim feels betrayed. They wanted to be included in the battle against the Ammonites yet were excluded. It is a similar scene as in Judges 8:1-3. Back then, the people of Ephraim were upset that they weren’t called to help fight the Midianites until after the battle. Back then, Gideon handled them with tact that cooled them down. Here, we see Jephthah take a decidedly different approach to the threat that the Ephraimites hurl at them.
2 Jephthah answered, “I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn’t save me out of their hands. 3 When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?”
Jephthah explains that he did call, yet they did not answer. It seems as though the tribe of Ephraim was really about achieving the glory of battle without ever really doing anything. In fact, Ephraim is missing the big picture: the battle is won, God has achieved a great thing for Israel, yet they instead complain about not being part of it.
4 Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.” 5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” 6 they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
The Gileads make quick work of the people of Ephraim. It seems that the Ephraimites talked better than they fought and were easily overtaken. In that, the Gileadites found inroads to the Ephramites land and set up checkpoints. They found a way to decipher who was from Ephraim and who wasn’t. Shibboleth was a word hard to pronounce, but the dialect would give them away. In this, Gilead kept a stranglehold on Ephraim and subdued them.
7 Jephthah led Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a town in Gilead.
Jephthah only led Israel for six years. This is the shortest amount of time to date. According to God’s promise, there would be peace in those six years leading up to Jephthah’s death. In the book of Kings, we see a very interesting commonality in regards to how long a king reigns. If the king follows God, and the people follow the king, there is a blessing on the land. If not, there is war, famine and a short reign.
This could also be true of the Judges. Othniel the first judge, led Israel for forty years; Ehud for eighty;Deborah for forty; Gideon for forty; Tola for twenty-three; Jair for twenty-two. After Jephthah’s reign of just six, we don’t see a lower number going forward, and we certainly don’t see a number over twenty. What’s happening here?
In the book of Judges we see cycles and this is one of them. It’s years of diminishing value. We see Israel dropping deeper into the hole of running away from God and the Judges are a reflection of that wayward drift. Othniel is a good judge, who came from the stock of Caleb but by the time we get to Jephthah, we see his stock muddied. Not that God can’t use him in a giant way, but the point is that Jephthah, along with our next major Judge Samson, is a reflection of the diminishing value system of the Israelites and is thus reflected in the wavering and lowering reigns of their rule.
Ibzan, Elon and Abdon 8 After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. 9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years. 10 Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.
Ibzan is in Bethlehem, but not in the same Bethlehem Jesus would one day be born in This is a Bethlehem in western Zebulun, noted in the book of Joshua (Joshua 19:15). Although not much is known of Ibzan, we can discern that he made alliances through marriage, as was a custom of the time for wealthy families.
11 After him, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel ten years. 12 Then Elon died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
Not much at all is given about Elon, except that he was from Zebulun.
13 After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years. 15 Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.
Again, not much information given about Ablon, except that he was wealthy and had a strong lineage. Like his predecessors, he didn’t have a long reign serving Israel.