The men of Ephraim mustered their troops, crossed to Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you go out to fight the Ammonites without letting us go with you? We’re going to burn your house down on you!”

2-3 Jephthah said, “I and my people had our hands full negotiating with the Ammonites. And I did call to you for help but you ignored me. When I saw that you weren’t coming, I took my life in my hands and confronted the Ammonites myself. And God gave them to me! So why did you show up here today? Are you spoiling for a fight with me?”

4 So Jephthah got his Gilead troops together and fought Ephraim. And the men of Gilead hit them hard because they were saying, “Gileadites are nothing but half breeds and rejects from Ephraim and Manasseh.”

5-6 Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan at the crossing to Ephraim. If an Ephraimite fugitive said, “Let me cross,” the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” and he would say, “No.” And they would say, “Say, ‘Shibboleth.’” But he would always say, “Sibboleth”—he couldn’t say it right. Then they would grab him and kill him there at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two Ephraimite divisions were killed on that occasion.

7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city, Mizpah of Gilead. (The Message)

Three short quotes from Matthew Henry have wormed their way into my thinking about this passage:

‘Pride was at the bottom of the quarrel. Proud men think all the honours lost that go beside themselves…’

‘Those resentments that have the least reason for them have commonly the most rage in them.’

‘He does not take take the glory of the success to himself but gives it all to God: ”The Lord delivered them into my hands. If God was pleased so far to make use of me for his glory, why should you be offended at that?” ‘

The Ephraimites had a bit of a track record in this area (see ch.8). Their pride was insulted. They felt their position as the leading tribe was undermined. Warren Wiersbe comments: ‘The men of Ephraim could never rejoice in another’s victory as long as they were left out.’

The question for today is simply this: ‘Can I?’

PRAYER: Lord, how deadly, how insidious is pride, and how pervasive in our sinful hearts. Equip us in this fight, and enable us to humble ourselves under your mighty Hand (1 Peter 5:6)