Judges 12

Chap. XII. Ver. 1—15. The quarrel between Jephthah and the Ephraimites.—Well doth the Psalmist say, “It is a good thing for brethren to dwell together in unity,” ((Psalms 133:1).) for quarrels among strangers are seldom so trivial in their rise, or so serious in their consequences, as those of brethren. Most lamentable is the history now before us. About a century before, the Ephraimites had complained against Gideon, for not calling them to go to war with him against the Midianites; now they are no less angry with Jephthah for not inviting them to assist him against the Ammonites. At first he reasons with them; “Are you come to fight against me, who have just risked my life for the deliverance of the country?” But to fight they are determined, and since Jephthah did not call them to fight with him against the Ammonites, they will now fight against him.

The greatest talkers, however, are not always the greatest doers: Jephthah gives them a hint of this. He had sent to them on some former occasion, and they had done nothing; and now they would burn his house, because he did not send for them again. First they abuse him, and then they fight him; but quarrelsome people are not always valiant. They are defeated and flee, and now the Gileadites seek revenge; forty and two thousand are slain, which are more than the whole tribe consisted of at the setting up the tabernacle; so that it must have been now reduced very [much]. The slaughter was indeed dreadful, but the incident which took place at the ford of Jordan, has to some seemed incredible, since the men of Ephraim certainly spake the same language with the Gileadites.

But in all countries there are various shades of pronunciation. The judges here named, after Jephthah, seem to have possessed only a local authority in the north-east of Canaan, and nothing is said of their administration, good or evil, but that they had large families, and rode on “asses’ colts; a mark of dignity, as before mentioned. ((Judges 5:10). and x. 4.) This chapter may, however, afford us a beautiful moral lesson—to cultivate peace among brethren, in the first instance, and when differences unhappily arise, not to insist on our own peculiarities, the Shibboleths of our party, to the injury of our brethren, and the ruin of the church. It has been many observed, that in the church of Christ, those differences have

Notes on the verses

Ver. 89. Did with her according to his vow.—(That Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter, but consecrated her to the service of God in the tabernacle, in a state of celibacy, will, we imagine, be sufficiently evident from the following considerations:—1. Human sacrifices were ever an abomination to Jehovah, of which Jephthah could not be ignorant; and consequently he would neither have made such a vow, nor carried it into execution. 2. We are expressly told (ver. 29.) that Jephthah was under the influence of the Spirit of God which would effectually prevent him from imbruing his hands in the blood of his own child. 3. He had it in his power to redeem his daughter at a very moderate price, (Leviticus xxvii. 4.;) and surely the blood of his daughter, his only child, must have been of more value than thirty shekels. 4. Besides, who was to perform the horrid rite? Not Jephthah himself, who was no priest, and in whom it would have been most unnatural and inhuman; and the priests would certainly have dissuaded him from it. 5. The sacred historian informs us, that she bewailed her virginity, that she knew no man, and that the Israelitish women went yearly, lethanoth, to comfort or lament with the daughter of Jephthah.)—Bagster. sf: Chap. art

Ver. 4. Fugitives of Ephraim.—This, probably, is a reflection on Jephthah, who was banished from Gilead, and collected an army (or banditti rather perhaps) around him by the report of his valour in the land of Toby; among whom, probably, might be some of both the tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Ver. 6. Shibboleth.—(Which signifieth a stream, or flood. (Psalms 69:2, 15), (Isaiah 27:12), Heb. shibboleth, also means an ear of corn. ((Job 24:24).:) and shibboleth signifies a burden ((Deuteronomy 6:6).:) and a heavy burden were they obliged to bear who could not pronounce this first letter. It is well known that several nations cannot pronounce certain letters. The sound of th cannot be pronounced by the Persians, no more than by some European nations; though it is a common sound among the Arabians. ‘To this day, many of the German Jews cannot articulate th, for which they substitute ss; thus for baith, a house, they say daiss.)—B. ‘The exact sound of this 8, (samech) is, perhaps not easily ascertained.

Dr. Greg. Sharp contends that it was that of X, which is not far different from Z. The writer once witnessed the great difficulty of teaching a Somersetshire boy to pronounce Sunday; he called it Zunday.— Forty and two thousand.—(Arbaim ooshenayim alephn, “forty and two thousand,” here the (Raish) and, may mean simple addition; and this number may denote 2040, and not 42,000. At the last census of the Israelites ((Numbers 26:37).) the whole tribe of Ephraim only amounted to 32,500, compared with which this last number appears far too great.)—Bagster.