Judges 12 Study Notes

12:1-3 In a replay of the explosive situation that Gideon had faced and successfully defused in chap. 8, the men of Ephraim came out and complained to Jephthah about not being invited to the battle against the Ammonites. They threatened to burn his house down with him in it. Ironically, in sacrificing his only daughter, Jephthah had already destroyed his own “house.” Jephthah claimed that he called them and they did not come to deliver him, whereupon he took his life in his hands and the Lord gave the Ammonites into his hands. Jephthah’s claim is not confirmed by the text and may be a convenient fabrication. Significantly, he was not willing to place this dispute in the hands of God, as he was with the Ammonites (11:27); the Lord’s name appears in Jephthah’s argument only as a means of furthering his claims.

12:4-7 Jephthah took action against the Ephraimites because they questioned the legitimacy of Gilead. The illegitimate son who had achieved social acceptability could not tolerate this insult, so he called out the troops once more—this time against a tribe from his own people. There is no mention of the Spirit of the Lord coming on him or giving his enemies into his hand in this conflict. Those who escaped (in a neat twist, the true “Ephraimite fugitives”) and attempted to get back across the Jordan River to Ephraim were met at the fords with a test question, Please say Shibboleth. The Hebrew word shibboleth has no clear meaning, but in the Ephraimite dialect, it was apparently pronounced Sibboleth. In view of this kin-group strife that caused forty-two thousand deaths, it is not surprising that though Jephthah judged Israel six years, there is no mention of the land experiencing any rest during his tenure.

12:8-15 After Jephthah, there were three minor judges, Ibzan . . . Elon, and Abdon. Ibzan had thirty sons and thirty daughters, in contrast to Jephthah’s lost daughter, while Abdon had forty sons and thirty grandsons, where Jephthah had no grandchildren. They practiced polygamy and acquired wealth (cp. 8:28-32). The summary description of the lives of these judges contrasts with the earlier part of the book. Before Gideon, the cycle concluded with “and the land had rest for __ years.” After Gideon, the cycles conclude “and __ judged Israel __ years.” In place of saviors, these men were mere office bearers; in place of rest, there was mere stability.