GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
JUDGES 12:1-3
Chapter 12 begins with almost the same scene as chapter 8. The men of Ephraim, who consistently refused to take the lead in any attack against an enemy, once again picked a fight with the judge who saved their necks in order to sooth their shame.. But Gideon’s gentle answer is not imitated by Jephthah. Gideon was a diplomat with a silver tongue. Jephthah was an outcast who resented the way he had been treated.
Conflict with Ephraim
12 Now the men of Ephraim were called out and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on your head! ” 2 Then Jephthah said to them, “My people and I had a bitter conflict with the Ammonites. I did call for you, but you didn’t save me from their hands. 3 When I saw that you weren’t going to save me, I took my life in my own hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why then have you come today to fight me? ”
Zaphon was in Gilead on the east side of the Jordan, and from there we have two choices as to which Zaphon is meant. There was a Zaphon mentioned east of the Sea of Galilee (Joshua 13:27), and this may have been the one mentioned here, or it may have been down in the Jordan valley, just north of Succoth. We don’t know which one is meant. Zaphon means “north” (Eccl. 1:6) but this refers to the founding of the town (north from the standpoint of the original settlers), not the legendary “high mountain of the north” mentioned in Psalm 48:2.
Jephthah meets their accusation with a counter-challenge. They had never come to his aid! We don’t need to invent a message from Jephthah during this story (such as at the point when the Spirit of the Lord came on him in power in 11:29). There is no doubt that Gilead had been asking Ephraim and the other tribes for help during the eighteen years of Ammonite oppression since Jair’s death (10:6-8).
There was some tribal snobbery or racism in Ephraim directed at Jephthah and his Gileadite warriors. This will be reported in verse 4: “You Gileadites are Ephraimite fugitives in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.” This was some of the same tribal distinction we still see in the New Testament, when even the children of Jerusalem could tell a Galilean (“Your accent gives you away,” Matthew 26:73; cp. Mark 14:70 and Luke 22:59). Almost everyone is bound to consider someone who speaks with a different accent as “one of them.” Either we wish we would speak like them, or we very much don’t want to speak like them. It is a rare well-adjusted person who is unaffected by speech in this way.
Jephthah met an aggressive challenge with another aggressive challenge. His personality was one of taking a strong stand, but he may also have still been grieving over what had just happened with his daughter. In fact, it may even be that his daughter was still roaming the hills with her friends while this exchange took place. In any case, his emotions were stirred up, and he may have been trying to pick a fight.
No one is immune to a flaring temper or other sins of the moment. Anger can be righteous (John 2:14-17; Psalm 2:4-5; 56:7) but in human beings it is most often a sin most connected to fear. David warns: “In your anger do not sin” (Psalm 4:4) because anger can lead to sins against every commandment and to a terrible slough of regret. There is profound wisdom in counting to ten before showing anger of any kind. And to this, Solomon adds: “Do not associate with one easily angered” (Proverbs 22:24). The apocryphal author Sirach wisely warned: “Unrighteous anger cannot be justified, for a man’s anger tips the scale to his ruin” (Sir. 1:22), and also, “Jealousy and anger shorten life, and anxiety brings on old age too soon” (Sirach 30:23).
If anger has led you to doubt God,
ask God to forgive, and trust in his forgiveness.
If anger has led you to curse and to swear,
ask God to forgive, and trust in his forgiveness.
If anger has led you to avoid worship or the word of God,
ask God to forgive, and trust in his forgiveness.
If anger has led you to dishonor your parents or others in authority,
ask God to forgive, and trust in his forgiveness.
If anger has led you to hate or to harm,
ask God to forgive, and trust in his forgiveness.
If anger has led you to damage your marriage,
ask God to forgive, and trust in his forgiveness.
If anger has led you to gamble, steal, or waste,
ask God to forgive, and trust in his forgiveness.
If anger has led you to lie or hurt someone’s reputation,
ask God to forgive, and trust in his forgiveness.
If anger has led you to covet and sinfully desire,
ask God to forgive, and trust in his forgiveness.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota