And Jephthah said to them, I was at great strife, I and my people, with the children of Ammon; and I called you, but ye saved me not out of their hand.
Jephthah has just defeated Ammon, and now the men of Ephraim arrive angry that the fight went on without them. His reply is the first thing he says to fellow Israelites after a God-given victory, and it shows what a man reaches for when his brothers challenge his worth.
One thing stands out in his answer: the speaker. Earlier Jephthah had spoken of Israel as one. Now he draws a line through the middle of it.
In his defence he made self prominent. Jephthah talked of himself and thought about his disputed worth. He fell into the snare that Satan had set for him, and he formed a party. Just before this he had identified himself with the people and had proclaimed their unity in front of the children of Ammon. But now, "my people" meant Gilead as opposed to Ephraim.
Jephthah had just shown great power against an enemy. The test in front of him now asked for something harder.
Jephthah may have had little desire for such a conflict. Still, where do we see meekness, where patience? And be sure of this: in an evil world, patience is morally far above power. So we may find the most striking displays of power in men as disorderly as the Corinthian Christians. But those same people are plain proof of this: it is far harder to do the will of the Lord, and harder still to suffer according to God, than to work any miracles at all.
His words push the blame back on Ephraim: he called them, and they did not come. Nothing in that account is false. But proving people wrong is not the same as winning them over.
In Gideon's case a soft answer turned away wrath. Jephthah was on the defensive at once. He told Ephraim in effect that he had expected them to deliver Israel from the Ammonites. When they failed to do this, he took his life in his hands and attacked the Ammonites, whom God delivered into his hands. So Jephthah made it clear to them that they were in the wrong. But few people take it well when someone proves them wrong, and here it led straight into conflict.
Ephraim had brought the same complaint once before, to Gideon. A gentle reply calmed them then. Being calmed is not the same as being cured.
The discontent of Ephraim came from a sense of his own importance. Gideon's humility had calmed him the first time. But nothing had reached his conscience, and there had been no self-judgment. So he brought the same accusations against Jephthah. A fault in our career as Christians left unjudged will reappear sooner or later in similar circumstances. Here the state of Ephraim had grown worse. Last time he had at least gleaned. This time he did nothing, waiting for some prompting from outside.
Jephthah had used the sword against Ammon. He was about to use it on fellow Israelites. So one question presses in: do the two deserve the same treatment?
Here is one who loves Christ, whose heart is filled with love to Him, one who desires to please Him. Am I to treat such a person like a teacher of blasphemy? Like someone who brings in all kinds of false doctrine about the Person of the Lord? Are Ammonite and Ephraimite to be the same? Should both receive the same judgment? Surely not. I am to remember that the Ephraimite is a fellow Israelite, and a brother. He stays a brother even if he is self-important. He stays a brother even when he taunts the Gileadites with being runaways from Ephraim, and complains in jealousy that Gilead has won a victory that by rights belonged to Ephraim.
There was another way than counting up his own services. It starts with how we value work God puts into other hands.
Let us have our hearts enlarged about the work of God in this world. When it is entrusted to other hands than ours, it should be as important and valuable to us as if we had done it ourselves. Paul wrote to the Philippians from his chains in Rome. He rejoiced that others were preaching Christ, even those who were making his imprisonment harder. Let us give no importance whatever to our own work.
- Self first. Jephthah's defence puts himself forward. The man who had spoken for all Israel now says "my people" and means Gilead against Ephraim.
- Self divides. Answering wounded pride with wounded pride does not settle a quarrel; it forms a party.
- Self proves. He showed Ephraim their error, and proving them wrong drove them straight into conflict.
- Self repeats. Nothing had ever reached Ephraim's conscience, so the old jealousy came back worse. An unjudged fault returns in similar circumstances.
- Self spares no one. Once self is the standard, a brother gets the treatment owed to an enemy.
And when I saw that ye would not save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Jehovah gave them into my hand. Why then are ye come up to me this day, to fight against me?
Jephthah has just beaten Ammon, and instead of thanks he meets a war party from Ephraim. His answer is true — he risked his life, and God gave him the victory — but the chapter asks whether being in the right is the same as being wise.
Ephraim complains that Jephthah left them out of the fight. He answers that he called them and they would not come. One writer sets this quarrel beside their earlier one with Gideon.
Ephraim had the greater influence. In the prophecies the ten tribes are often called Ephraim. See their jealousy at not being first in Gideon's victory over the Midianites. His meek answer softened their anger. The same spirit appeared when Jephthah had overcome the Ammonites. In this case Jephthah called them, and they refused. Even so, they resented his victory. Who was Jephthah, the son of a concubine? Should Ephraim follow him? But the man they despise wins, and this they resent. It was resenting the mercy of God, who had worked a great deliverance for them.
Jephthah gives God the credit for the victory, yet his answer keeps circling back to himself and to "my people." One commentator watches what that phrase has come to mean.
We no longer find in Jephthah the unselfishness or humility of a Gideon. He answered the flesh with the flesh. His own wounded feelings clashed with the selfishness of Ephraim. In his defence he made self prominent… Jephthah talked about himself and brooded on his disputed worth. He fell into the trap Satan had set for him, and formed a party. Just before this he had identified himself with the people, and had proclaimed their unity in the face of the Ammonites. But now "my people" meant Gilead as opposed to Ephraim.
Jephthah's account of events is accurate. One writer shows how being right led straight into a fight.
In Gideon's case a soft answer turned away wrath. But Jephthah was at once on the defence. He told Ephraim in effect that he had expected them to deliver Israel from the Ammonites. When they failed to do this, he took his life in his hands and attacked the Ammonites, whom God delivered into his hands. So Jephthah made it clear to them that they were in the wrong. But people do not usually like being shown that they are wrong. In this case it led straight into conflict.
Jephthah may not have wanted this fight at all. One writer still asks what was missing from his answer.
After this we find how the pride of the men of Ephraim flares up at a person of such an origin as Jephthah. God had given Israel a remarkable deliverance through him, yet they come out to fight. Jephthah may have had little desire for such a conflict; even so, where do we see meekness, where patience? And be assured that in an evil world patience is morally far above power.
Ammon was an enemy. Ephraim was a brother tribe. One writer presses the distinction Jephthah lost.
Here is one who loves Christ, whose heart is filled with love for Him, one who wants to please Him. Am I to treat such a person the same way I would treat a teacher of blasphemy? Should I treat him like someone who brings in all kinds of false doctrine about the Person of the Lord? Are Ammonite and Ephraimite to be the same, and is the same judgment to be given to both? Surely not. I am to remember that the Ephraimite is a fellow Israelite, and a brother. That holds even if he is conceited, even if he taunts the Gileadites with being runaways from Ephraim, and complains with jealousy that Gilead has won a victory that by rights belonged to Ephraim.
At the fords of the Jordan, a test word became a death sentence.
Great strife follows. The Gileadites take the fords of the Jordan, and those who said "Sibboleth" were killed. A horrible record! Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were murdered… Shibboleth means "flood," that which divides. Sectarianism is certainly in view here. How God's people have suffered under it and still suffer! It is true that "every test which divides the people of God from one another, and not from their enemies, is another false shibboleth."
- Grievance. Jephthah called Ephraim, and they refused to come. Their anger at his victory was resentment of the mercy God had shown them.
- Self. Jephthah's defence is crowded with "I" and "my people." The phrase that once meant all Israel now means Gilead against Ephraim.
- Flesh. He answered the flesh with the flesh. His wounded feelings clashed with the selfishness of Ephraim.
- Sword. Being right settled nothing. Showing Ephraim they were wrong led straight into a slaughter of 42,000 brothers.
- Shibboleth. Any test that divides God's people from each other, not from their enemies, is a false shibboleth. In an evil world, patience stands higher than power.