“…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 a pretty mixed bag in terms of his righteous status before the Lord.
Yes, he was an anointed Judge who did save Israel from oppression from the Ammonites.
But at the same time, he committed horrific acts of sin, the most famous being the killing of his daughter because of the vow he made.
Since most folks are so fixated on what happened with his daughter, they overlook another one of the major sins he committed.
I’m talking about Jephthah’s slaughter of the Ephraimites.
Yes, Ephraim did insult Jephthah in an area he was very sensitive about.
But at the end of the day, Jephthah way overreacted.
Ephraim never physically harmed Jephthah.
They just insulted him.
How did Jephthah react to this?
He attacked them and in cold blood murdered 42,000 of his own brethren.
That’s right.
They weren’t Canaanites deserving of extermination.
They were fellow Israelites.
Jephthah even blocked off all escape points at the Jordan River and murdered Ephraim soldiers who surrendered by dropping their weapons and just wanted to cross over the Jordan to return home.
Again, it needs to be stressed this was NOT a gentile people Jephthah was killing off here.
If these were Canaanites, of course Jephthah would have had every right to stop them from crossing over the Jordan into Promised Land territory.
However, they weren’t Canaanites.
They were his Hebrew brothers who he was slaughtering simply because they had insulted him.
So this closes our study on this most controversial Judge.
We can see Jephthah was a true warrior whose ruthless capacity for violence was put to good use when under Holy Spirit guidance.
But when he wasn’t controlled by the Holy Spirit, boy did he ever commit some heinous sins.
But then again, can’t the same thing be said for all of us?
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, even our worst flaws can be used by God for good.
But without the Holy Spirit, our flaws remain well…just flaws.
If you think this was bad, wait until you get to the last chapter of Judges! It’s remarkable that any Benjamites remained alive.
(hope I am not stealing any of your thunder, Rich).
Hi Steven, Yes, I know that story about the Benjamites well. Judges is the story of Israel’s dark history…which corresponds to what’s happening in our day and age. Fortunately for Israel and all those grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, the story has a happy ending.