Judges 12

CHAPTER 12THEME: Jealousy of Ephraim; Judges Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

Judges 12:1

EPHRAIM IS PUNISHEDWe have seen that the men of Ephraim also quarreled with Gideon (Jdg_8:1) when he didn’t summon them to help him rout the Midianites. Now in a hostile way, they demanded that Jephthah give them the reason why he did not ask for their help in the battle. The jealousy of Ephraim was a real infection that led to a defection. Later on, when the kingdom is divided into north and south, you will find out that Ephraim is the center of all of the rebellion. And it goes back to their jealousy. There is jealousy in the church today. It is one of our greatest problems. Paul said, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Php_2:3). “Strife and vainglory” can be vanity and envy. These are two things that cause problems in churches today. When I hear some person in a church complain that it is not being run the way he thinks it should be, I wonder if he is jealous. When I find someone who is opposing the preacher all of the time, I suspect there is jealousy behind it. Jealousy was the problem here. Jephthah had to protect himself. The men of Ephraim were going to burn his house down right over his head!

Judges 12:4

The Gileadites were successful in defeating the Ephraimites, and they seized the Jordan fords so that the Ephraimites could not escape. Then they selected a password that would be difficult to pronounce because it contained a consonant which was not in the Ephraimite dialect. The word was Shibboleth. If a person’s accent was not just right when he pronounced this word, he was in trouble. It is difficult for us to say certain words. Shibboleth was a word that was difficult for the Ephraimites to say because they could not put the “h” in it.

Judges 12:7

Jephthah’s death ended six eventful years.

Judges 12:8

IBZAN, THE TENTH JUDGEThe next three judges mentioned were practically zeros. They did nothing. Well, they did something, but they did not judge Israel as they should have done. This judge is from Bethlehem. Bethlehem was one of the cities of Judah in the south. Ibzan had thirty sons and thirty daughters. I would have thought that he would have worked at getting his daughters husbands instead of getting wives for his sons. I suppose that in the seven years that he was judge he did not have time to get his daughters husbands too. He did not have time to judge Israel either. In other words, Ibzan was a man who gave all of his time to his family. There is nothing wrong with that, but it was not what he was called to do. There is a great deal of nonsense abroad today about the subject of responsibility. I once heard the story of a preacher who was on his way to a speaking engagement and his little son wanted to talk with him. He sat down and talked to his son and missed his speaking engagement. Many people applauded him for that. Well, my friend, that man was breaking an engagement and also he was spoiling a child. You can show love and interest in your children without breaking an engagement.

There is a time when certain things have to be put first. I think he would have better served the boy if he had told him, “Your daddy has a speaking engagement and that is important. You would want your daddy to keep that appointment, wouldn’t you?” I think the little fellow would have agreed. Then the father could have continued, “Now when I return, you and I will talk these things over, or tomorrow we can have a chat.” That would have done more for the boy than what the father did. All he did was make a spoiled brat out of the youngster, as I see it. I know I sound like a square, but I do not approve of judge Ibzan’s actions.

He didn’t do anything. He is a picture of mediocrity, to be sure.

Judges 12:11

ELON, THE ELEVENTH JUDGEThese two verses tell us all that we know about Elon. He did nothinghe didn’t even have a large family. Apparently all that he did was twiddle his thumbs.

Judges 12:13

ABDON, THE TWELFTH JUDGEAbdon did nothing except “out-Jair” Jair. Talk about keeping up with the Jones family! As we have seen in chapter 10, Jair had thirty sonsbut Abdon had forty sons and thirty nephews besides. It must have been quite a sight to see that man ride out of town with his sons and nephews. You would have seen a parade of Jaguars, Mustangs, Pintos, and Cougars like you had never seen before. They call the little donkey the “mockingbird” or “lark” of the desert because he can really bray. Just think of all of those braying donkeys! That is all Abdon contributed. That isn’t much, friend. We have quickly passed over the last three judges, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, because apparently they did nothing constructive as judges.