Old Testament

Judges 12

Strife, Shibboleth, and Quiet Judges

6 passages

Overview

Jephthah's six-year rule ends in death after a devastating civil war in which the Ephraimites' intertribal pride leads to their slaughter at the Jordan fords — where a single mispronounced word seals their fate — while the minor judges Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon each govern Israel in unheralded faithfulness, their ordinary stewardship preserved by God as worthy of sacred memory.

Passages

1–3Pride Before the Tribe: Ephraim's Grievance and Jephthah's Lonely Courage 4–6The Word That Divides: Shibboleth and the Cost of Division 7The Judge Who Passed Away: The Fleeting Glory of Jephthah 8–10The Minor Judge and the Bonds of Family 11–12The Silent Shepherd: Elon's Hidden Faithfulness 13–15The Quiet Steward: Abdon's Hidden Faithfulness

Study Resources

Judges 12

¹The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, “Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn’t call us to go with you? We will burn your house around you with fire!”

²Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, you didn’t save me out of their hand. ³When I saw that you didn’t save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me today, to fight against me?”

⁴Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the middle of Ephraim, and in the middle of Manasseh.” ⁵The Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. Whenever a fugitive of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No;” ⁶then they said to him, “Now say ‘Shibboleth;’” and he said “Sibboleth”; for he couldn’t manage to pronounce it correctly, then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time, forty-two thousand of Ephraim fell.

⁷Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in the cities of Gilead.

⁸After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹He had thirty sons. He sent his thirty daughters outside his clan, and he brought in thirty daughters from outside his clan for his sons. He judged Israel seven years. ¹⁰Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹After him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years. ¹²Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³After him, Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. ¹⁴He had forty sons and thirty sons’ sons who rode on seventy donkey colts. He judged Israel eight years. ¹⁵Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Judges 11 Judges 13