Judges · chapter 12 of 21
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Judges 12 tells how the men of Ephraim complain to Jephthah for not calling them to fight Ammon, and the dispute ends in a civil war in which forty-two thousand Ephraimites die, identified at the fords of the Jordan by being unable to pronounce the word Shibboleth. The chapter then briefly presents three judges: Ibzan, Elon and Abdon.
After Jephthah's victory over Ammon in Judges 11, Israel is not at peace. Judges 12 shows that the problem is no longer only outside enemies: the tribes fight each other. After that grim episode, the book quickly moves through a list of three minor judges before reaching Samson.
The men of Ephraim gather and cross over to Zaphon to complain to Jephthah: why did he go to fight Ammon without calling them? They threaten to burn his house down with him in it. Jephthah answers that he did call them and they did not come, that he risked his life and that the Lord gave him the victory. Then he gathers the men of Gilead and fights Ephraim, who had called the Gileadites fugitives of Ephraim. Gilead wins.
Gilead seizes the fords of the Jordan, and when an Ephraimite fugitive says he wants to cross, they ask if he is an Ephraimite. If he says no, they ask him to say the word Shibboleth. If he says Sibboleth because he cannot pronounce it correctly, they kill him at the fords. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites die. Jephthah judges Israel six years, and dies and is buried in a city of Gilead.
Next comes Ibzan of Bethlehem, who judges seven years. He has thirty sons and thirty daughters, and he gives his daughters in marriage outside his clan and brings in thirty women for his sons. He dies and is buried at Bethlehem. Then Elon of Zebulun judges ten years and is buried at Aijalon. Finally Abdon, son of Hillel, of Pirathon, has forty sons and thirty grandsons who ride seventy donkeys, judges eight years and is buried at Pirathon in Ephraim.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The men of Ephraim complain to Jephthah for not calling them and threaten to burn his house down. It is the same conflict Gideon managed to calm, and this time no one puts it out.
The Gileadites use the word Shibboleth to identify the Ephraimites by their accent and kill those who do not pronounce it right. The episode shows how far tribal pride can go.
Jephthah judged Israel six years and was buried in a city of Gilead. The summary is brief and says nothing about his faith or family, leaving the story on a sober note.
Abdon had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode seventy donkeys. That sign of wealth and status is all the book records about him, in contrast with the judges who delivered Israel.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Because he did not call them to fight the Ammonites. — Judges 12:1
Answer: Shibboleth, which they pronounced Sibboleth. — Judges 12:6
Answer: Forty-two thousand. — Judges 12:6
Answer: Six years. — Judges 12:7
Answer: Bethlehem. — Judges 12:8
Answer: Eight years. — Judges 12:14
Judges 12 is a warning about the cost of wounded pride. Ephraim wanted its share of the honor and ended up in a war against its brothers. In a class or small group we can ask how many divisions in the church are born from the desire for recognition or from feeling left out, and how to answer with the gentleness Gideon showed in Judges 8.
The Shibboleth test also reminds us how a difference of accent can become an excuse to divide. Christ calls his people to a unity that is not based on where we were born or how we speak, but on his work, and that is guarded with humility.
Judges 12 ends with the three minor judges and an Israel divided and weary. Judges 13 opens the story of Samson with a new cycle of sin, Philistine oppression and the announcement of a Nazirite child.
It is a Hebrew word meaning an ear of grain or a stream of water. It was chosen because the Ephraimites pronounced its first sound differently, and the term has come to describe a test that reveals where someone comes from.
The text says forty-two thousand, a large figure that some take literally and others as an approximate number or a military unit. In any case the point of the account is to show the seriousness of the civil war.
The book of Judges gives most of its space to judges with great deliverances. Of these three it records only years of rule and family details, and it does not say they delivered Israel from an enemy.