The leaders of the tribe of Ephraim delivered a message to Jephthah with the same pride and anger they had shown to Gideon (See Judges 8:1). As before, these “separatists,” so to speak, wanted to share the glory of the victory, but they weren’t too eager to risk their lives in the battle. “Why didn’t you call me?” is merely an excuse and a lie to cover up for their lack of response.  Jephthah was having none of that and decided he had enough of them!  The Ephraimites had absolutely no respect for the new ruler of the Transjordanic tribes so they went to battle with a mighty warrior and got more than they bargained for in their foolishness. 

Judges 12

Jephthah and Ephraim

The Ephraimite forces were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We’re going to burn down your house over your head.”

² Jephthah answered, “I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn’t save me out of their hands. ³ When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?”

⁴ Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.” ⁵ The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” ⁶ they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.

⁷ Jephthah led Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a town in Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon and Abdon

⁸ After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. ⁹ He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years. ¹⁰ Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

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

¹³ After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel. ¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years. ¹⁵ Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1

Perhaps Jephthah should have practiced Proverbs 15:1 and 17:14 and avoided a war, but then, maybe it was time somebody called Ephraim’s bluff and taught them a lesson. The men of Ephraim resorted to name-calling and taunted the Gileadites by calling them “fugitives of Ephraim and Manasseh.” Thus, the words of the Ephraimites were an insult to the Lord and his servants.  However;

“Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.” Proverbs 17:14

Nobody wins when we fight among the family of God. 

When we lose respect or just plain envy other members of our church family or our own extended family; we, too will sometimes “go to war” with various weapons of hate.  We might disown them as if they never existed as members of the family.  We try to put them out of minds by ignoring them and not including them. We might escalate the war with gossip filled with slanderous lies both openly or behind their backs.  And the greatest hurt of all—manipulating their family and friends to see us as evil and throw all allegiance to them. Sigh.

Us versus Them.  We play these war games in the God’s church established by God’s Son, Jesus Christ who sacrificed Himself to save us!  Oh, how this grieves God’s Holy Spirit, who is God in us!  We war with each other more often than we care to admit.  We must realize that when we enter in war:

We sin against God and each other while delighting the real Enemy of God.

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

Paul, the great missionary planter of churches, was often compelled to lovingly but sternly teach the love of Christ in us, the One who guides our behaviors with the help of God’s Holy Spirit who is our power. We cannot overcome evil without His power freely given to us!  We must realize this truth: what or who we truly believe will be displayed in our behaviors!  Our behaviors will either demonstrate the love of God therefore displaying God who lives in us OR we will display our sin nature of hate, envy, pride, arrogance, to name of few, behaviors not of God’s character!  His work in us is to teach all “created in His image” to be more like Him. Our work is to submit and surrender to His work made complete in us.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” –Paul to the church, Ephesians 4:29-32

We seem to easily form enemies when we disagree. Truth bomb to consider: When we disagree with actions of hate, we are falling for the promptings of our real enemy—the Enemy of God. who is evil in every way. 

Jesus taught us to not only to love our enemies but to pray for them. Why?  Because God desires that no one perish but have eternal life. We also learn that our opinions of hate begin to fade when we present our “enemy” to God with His love permeating our hearts!  We begin to see this “enemy” and hear their story from a different perspective—with the eyes of God.  There is no one on planet earth that God does not love. And neither should we.

Therefore, we love as commanded by Jesus— “Love each other like I have loved you.”  That means without evaluation of their worthiness.

What God’s love looks like in our daily relationships is expressed by Paul—again to the family of God called church, (that’s us!):

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always, Always looks for the best,
Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.” 1 Corinthians 13, MSG

Lord,

May your love in our hearts guide all we think, say, and do in your Name for your glory and our good.  Holy Spirit, by your power, you are welcome to convict, correct, comfort, and compel us to be more and more in every way like Jesus.

It is in His Name we pray, Amen.

Yes, come Lord Jesus!