Judges 12:4 Komentář

In this chapter we have, I. Jephthah's rencounter with the Ephraimites, and the blood shed on that unhappy occasion (Jdg 12:1-6), and the conclusion of Jephthah's life and government (Jdg 12:7). II. A short account of three other of the judges of Israel: Ibzan (Jdg 12:8-10), Elon (Jdg 12:11, Jdg 12:12), Abdon (Jdg 12:13-15).

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 12 This chapter relates a quarrel between Jephthah and the Ephraimites, which was fatal to the latter, Jdg 12:1, the time of Jephthah judging Israel, his death and burial, Jdg 12:7 and it briefly makes mention of three more judges of Israel, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, Jdg 11:8.

Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim,.... The Ephraimites not being pacified with the account Jephthah gave of the war between him and the children of Ammon, but continuing in their tumultuous outrage; he, being a man of spirit and courage, got as many of the Gileadites together as he could, and gave them battle: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim; had the advantage of them, worsted them, killed many of them, and put the rest to flight: because they said, ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites; what provoked them to fall upon them with the greater fury, and use them the more severely when, they had the better of them, was their reproachful language to them, insulting the Gileadites, who perhaps were chiefly, if not all, of the half tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan, of which Jephthah was, that they were the scum of the house of Joseph, that they had run away from their brethren, and dwelt in a corner of the land by themselves; and were of no account at all among Ephraim and Manasseh, and disclaimed by them both, and not esteemed by either. The Targum is,"the fugitives of Ephraim said, what are ye Gileadites accounted of among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites?''on which Kimchi remarks, that those Ephraimites that came in this tumultuous manner, and insulted Jephthah, were a most abject company of men, the refuse of the tribe of Ephraim, shepherds who through necessity were obliged to come over Jordan with their flocks and herds for pasture: but the words may be rendered, "for they said, fugitives of Ephraim are ye, even the Gileadites, who were, or being between the Ephraimites and the Manassites"; that is, the Gileadites called the Ephraimites so, when they fled before them, and when they got at the fords of Jordan, which lay between Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh on the other side Jordan; and they are in the next verse expressly so called.

THE EPHRAIMITES QUARRELLING WITH JEPHTHAH. (Jdg 12:1-3) the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together--Hebrew, "were summoned." and went northward--After crossing the Jordan, their route from Ephraim was, strictly speaking, in a northeasterly direction, toward Mizpeh. the men of Ephraim . . . said unto Jephthah, Wherefore . . . didst [thou] not call us?--This is a fresh development of the jealous, rash, and irritable temper of the Ephraimites. The ground of their offense now was their desire of enjoying the credit of patriotism although they had not shared in the glory of victory.

DISCERNED BY THE WORD SIBBOLETH, ARE SLAIN BY THE GILEADITES. (Jdg 12:4-15) the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim--The remonstrances of Jephthah, though reasonable and temperate, were not only ineffectual, but followed by insulting sneers that the Gileadites were reckoned both by the western Manassites and Ephraimites as outcasts--the scum and refuse of their common stock. This was addressed to a peculiarly sensitive people. A feud immediately ensued. The Gileadites, determined to chastise this public affront, gave them battle; and having defeated the Ephraimites, they chased their foul-mouthed but cowardly assailants out of the territory. Then rushing to the fords of the Jordan, they intercepted and slew every fugitive. The method adopted for discovering an Ephraimite was by the pronunciation of a word naturally suggested by the place where they stood. Shibboleth, means "a stream"; Sibboleth, "a burden." The Eastern tribe had, it seems, a dialectical provincialism in the sound of Shibboleth; and the Ephraimites could not bring their organs to pronounce it.

When the Gileadites had beaten the Ephraimites, they took the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites (or towards Ephraim: see Jdg 3:28; Jdg 7:24), to cut off their retreat and prevent their return to their homes. And "when fugitives of Ephraim wanted to cross, the men of Gilead asked them, Art thou Ephrathi," i.e., an Ephraimite? And if he said no, they made him pronounce the word Shibboleth (a stream or flood, as in Psa 69:3, Psa 69:16; not an ear of corn, which is quite unsuitable here); "and if he said, Sibboleth, not taking care to pronounce it correctly, they laid hold of him and put him to death at the fords of the Jordan." In this manner there fell at that time, i.e., during the whole war, 42,000 Ephraimites. The "fugitives of Ephraim" were the Ephraimites who had escaped from the battle and wished to return home. The expression is used here in its ordinary sense, and not with the contemptuous sense in which the Ephraimites had used it in Jdg 12:4. From this history we learn quite casually that the Ephraimites generally pronounced sh (shin) like s (samech). הכין is used elliptically for לב הכין, to direct his heart to anything, pay heed (compare Sa1 23:22; Ch1 28:2, with Ch2 12:14; Ch2 30:19).

He therefore gathered together all the men (men of war) of Gilead and smote the Ephraimites, because they had said, "Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh." The meaning of these obscure words is probably the following: Ye Gileadites are a mob gathered together from Ephraimites that have run away; "ye are an obscure set of men, men of no name, dwelling in the midst of two most noble and illustrious tribes" (Rosenmller). This contemptuous speech did not apply to the tribes of Reuben and Gad as such, but simply to the warriors whom Jephthah had gathered together out of Gilead. For the words are not to be rendered erepti Ephraim, "the rescued of Ephraim," as they are by Seb. Schmidt and Stud., or to be understood as referring to the fact that the Gileadites had found refuge with the Ephraimites during the eighteen years of oppression on the part of the Ammonites, since such an explanation is at variance with the use of the word פּליט, which simply denotes a fugitive who has escaped from danger, and not one who has sought and found protection with another. The Ephraimites had to pay for this insult offered to their brethren by a terrible defeat.