Judges 12

Judges 12

'And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire. And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.

And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me? Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.

And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.'

Judges 12:1-7

The men of Ephraim gathered themselves together and went to Jephthah and told him that they had been willing to fight with the Israelites when they had went and conquered the Ammonites. Jephthah replied that he had indeed asked for their assitance, and they had not been willing to give it. The Ephraimites obviously had some mental capacities that were malfunctioning. Anyway, they started a war with the nation of Israel.

And they were defeated, and those who were not, ran for their lives. They ran for the Jordan River, and attempted to cross it. However, the men of Gilead took possession of the River before the Ephraimites got there. The men of Gilead asked all the men who came to cross over the river a question, "Are you a Ephraimite?" If they said no, then they would be told to say the word, "Shibboleth." If they could not pronounce it, then the men of Gilead knew they were Ephramites, and would kill them. The Ephramites could evidently not pronounce this term properly, and the Israelites used this to their own advantage. Jephthah judged Israel for six more years, and then he died, and was buried in a city of Gilead.

Time and time again, the devil would try to turn away the hearts of the Israelites, and most of the time, he would succeed. But his doom was sure back then, and it still is today. Praise the Lord that one day we will not have to worry any longer about the world, the flesh, and the devil. They were all defeated when Christ died on the cross. But we still need to be on guard as the Israelites needed to be, becuase our adversary would like nothing better than to take as many as he can with him down the wide path of destruction.

He knows he can't get at our souls, if we are saved, but he would sure like to ruin our walk and testimony as much as he possibly can. That's why it is so important to be on the Lord's side; to be a Gideon, Joshua, and Jephthah; to be a light in this world of darkness. To shine for the Lord as the world has never seen before. I think of a song that I heard at a missions camp in Alpharetta, Georgia, this year, "Hold out your candle, run to the darkness..." Let us hold out our candle, and run to the darkness, that all may know that there indeed is a God, and that He died for them, and would like nothing more than to save them from the fires of hell.

Can I be faithful to be on the Lord's side? To not let the enemy in my own heart and life?

Let us all pray hard and earnestly for each other, that we would not be stumbling blocks to each other, but be an encouragement to other believers, and a light to this darkened world.