“After him Ibtzan of Beit-Lechem judged Israel.  He had thirty sons, and he had thirty daughters whom he sent abroad; he brought thirty women from abroad in to marry his sons. He judged Israel for seven years. Then Ibtzan died and was buried at Beit-Lechem.”-Judges 12:8-10 The Judge who came after Jephthah is Ibzan. However, […]

 “…they would tell him to say “Shibbolet.” If he said, “Sibbolet,” because he could not make his mouth pronounce it right, they took hold of him and killed him on the spot at the Yarden crossing; at that time 42,000 men of Efrayim died.”-Judges 12:6 It should be pretty obvious by now that Jephthah was […]

“Yiftach judged Israel for six years. Then Yiftach from Gil‘ad died, and he was buried in one of the cities of Gil‘ad.”-Judges 12:7 After his victory over the Ammonites, there’s something quite peculiar about Jephthah’s judgement over Israel. It only lasted 6 years. All of the other Shophetim ruled Israel from between 20-80 years. However, […]

“The men of Gil‘ad cut off Efrayim from the crossings over the Yarden, and whenever anyone from Efrayim tried to escape and said, ‘Let me go across,’ the men of Gil‘ad would ask him, ‘Are you from Efrayim?’ and if he said, ‘No,’  they would tell him to say ‘Shibbolet.’ If he said, ‘Sibbolet,’ because […]

When we last left off, the leaders of Ephraim had insulted Jephthah. This was a HUGE mistake that would cost them more than they bargained for. Why? Because Jephthah was a man who harbored bitter wounds and pent up feelings that could at any moment explode into a full blown rage. Remember, this was a […]