Judges 12:1-7: The Two Sad Stories At The End Of Jephthah's Story

Introduction: Philippians begins with Paul addressing the saints with the overseers and deacons. (1) This whole congregation was a source of joy for Paul because of their partnership with him in the grace of God from the first day until now. (3-7) Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Let me make four observations about these words.

1. Paul’s confidence, ‘I am sure of this’, was not in the Philippians, but in God.

2. Paul was confident that the LORD had begun this work of grace.

3. Paul was confident that the LORD would bring this work of grace to completion.

4. Therefore, Paul had great joy and thankfulness to God for these believers (they were not perfect).

I mention these things because Judges 12:1-7 describes one of two very sad stories that occur after God began a good work in Judges 10:10-16. In Judges 11-12 we see the exact opposite of what Paul experienced among the Philippian congregation. We must ask…

• “Does God always begin this work of grace in sinners and then bring it to completion?”

• “How can God begin this good work of repentance in Judges 10 when it ends the way that it has in Judges 11:34-12:7?” (Surly, this is a reminder of the need for the New Covenant {Hebrews 8:8})

Let me make three observations. First, even though we encounter these things in Judges 11:34-12:7, we cannot conclude that Israel’s repentance was not real. (Judges 10:16) Second, I might conclude that Jephthah was not a man of faith; however, he is mentioned in Hebrews 11:32. This is the Holy Spirit’s testimony that God began and finished a good work in this man. Third, because Jephthah is mentioned in Hebrews 11 this does not mean that everything he does is commendable. It does mean that he had saving faith and received forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

It is not our goal to follow in the example of any sinful person; rather, we follow their example of repentance and faith. (Psalm 51) Like Paul, our confidence is that the work of repentance and faith is started and completed by the LORD. We ought to pray as David does in Psalm 19:12-14, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

Last Sunday, I mentioned that Judges 11 is structured with a chiasm. For example,

• vv.1-3 are mirrored in vv.34-39. These verses pertain to Jephthah’s home life.

• vv.4-11 are mirrored in vv.29-33. These verses pertain to someone desperately asking for help.

• vv.12-28 is the climax and most important part of this chiasm.

In vv. 12-28 Jephthah confesses biblical truths which his faith can be anchored to when he fights against the Ammonites. He said, “...all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.” (24) He said, “I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.” (27)

Although Jephthah knew how to use the Word of God to confront the Ammonite threat, but he did not know how to use those same truths to walk by faith the Ammonites. As a result, Jephthah made a foolish vow. After he did this, he did not know the Word of God to know how to respond to the vow that he had made. In the end, Jephthah’s daughter dies.

I initially thought that this chiasm was contained within Judges 11. But in Judges 12 the story about Jephthah continues. If the chiasm in Judges 11 is shaped like a pyramid it would appear like the right side of the triangle is getting longer on one side. As I contemplated this, I wondered if Judges 12:1-7 might still be connected to this chiasm. I discovered that it was.

If we look at Judges 10:17-18 we read, “Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah. And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” Here the Ammonites are being ‘called to arms’ against Israel.

The same thing that is happening in Judges 12:1, except there it is two tribes of Israel who are ‘called to arms’ against each other. It is a fight between Joseph’s two sons: Ephraim and Manasseh. These two tribes shared a special bond that should have united them.

These last two last stories regarding Jephthah are troubling because of the repentance we celebrated in Judges 10. That repentance was genuine because God became impatient over Israel’s suffering and He saved them. Afterwards these two tribes didn’t display the same pity for each other. (Mt. 18:21-35)

Let’s read Judges 12:1-7, “The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.”

And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim.

And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.” And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,” they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell. Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.

You’d think that the repentance in Judges 10 would have kept this tragedy from happening. Yet, this story ends with these words, “They seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.” (Perspective: 42,000 people is more than all of Stevens Point and Plover combined {40,575})

I find myself asking, “Who is it that repented in Judges 10? Was it those associated with the east side of the Jordan, or the west side, or both?” If we conclude that only a small segment of Israel repented, this might explain why this happens. This narrative can be seen in two ways. In one sense, this story focuses on a small clan in Manasseh- the Gileadites.

1. Consider Judges 10:17-18, “Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah. And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, ‘Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.’” In these verses ‘Israel’ (17) primarily refers to ‘the people of Gilead and their leaders’ (18) who are seeking a leader who lead Gilead into battle. In Judges 12:2-3 we learn that Jephthah had called for Ephraim to come and they did not respond. This implies that Ephraim was not present.

2. Second, Jephthah was not there and was not part of the repentance that had happened in Judges 10. He was living in Tob and it was after these things that these people go to get him.

3. Third, even though Jephthah was not there, he is mentioned in Hebrews 11:32 as a man of faith. We often see in the book of Judges that God uses deeply flawed individuals.

This narrative also makes it sound like there was a large group that repented.

1. First, in Judges 10:9 Israel’s enemies began to cross to the western side of the Jordan to attack Ephraim, Judah, and Benjamin. Until now, for 18 years, these enemies stayed on the east side of the Jordan which effected Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. Therefore, there were six tribes involved at this time. ‘Israel’ was severely distressed so in Judges 10:10 we read, “And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, ‘We have sinned against you…’.”

2. Second, when Israel repents in Judges 10:10 the LORD responds and gives a long list of enemies that the LORD had delivered Israel from. The LORD mentions 7 enemies that He had delivered all of His people from.

I think that there was a significant number of people from among these 6 tribes who repented. (10:10-16) It might be easier to explain how this is happened if we conclude that only the Gileadites repented; but this other view forces us to ask, “If Israel repented in a way that moved God’s heart, then how has this happened?” It makes us ask, “If this happened to them, how can we learn from it to help us?”

Judges 12 begins with these words, “The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon”. I wonder, “Who called the men of Ephraim to gather their arms to fight their brothers?” Apparently, the leaders in Ephraim had taken an offense by Jephthah that was worth going to war over. After this, no one took steps to investigate the situation and seek reconciliation. The first words spoken to Jephthah when they arrived were, “We will burn your house over you with fire.” (1)

In Judges 10:17-18 it was God who gathered the Ammonites for war. God’s sovereign hand was doing this so the LORD could save His people because Israel had repented, God became impatient with Israel’s suffering, and now He was going to deliver them. In Judges 12, this is not the case. These two tribes are allowing their sinful natures to bring upon them terrible consequences.

Just as the LORD is moved by repentance, so is Satan. (Luke 8:12; Ephesians 6:10-20) Having just repented, Israel knows very little about the Word of God. They are worldly in their thinking and in their responses. They are easily provoked to anger and rage.

• Ephraim is easily provoked saying, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” (12:1)

• Jephthah and Gilead are provoked in 12:4, “Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, ‘You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

• There is no diplomacy, no prayer; therefore, there will be war!

Exhortation: Do we realize how important it is to pray, know the Word of God, and to apply it to our lives?

In Judges 12:1 intense pressure comes upon Jephthah’s anger is provoked and Gilead is called to arms. Question: How would you respond in this situation? Would you be able to humbly avert war like Gideon did in Judges 8:1-3? How well would you respond if your brothers show up saying, ‘We will burn your house over you with fire.’?

We’ve seen that Jephthah is not intimidated by confrontation (11:7-8, 12-27); therefore, he responds, saying, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” (11:7-8)

I bet over the last 18 years the eastern tribes had requested help from their brothers on the eastern side many times but no one responded. Jephthah also had requested their help, but they did not respond. Some have said that Jephthah was lying because this was not mentioned in Judges 11. I don’t believe this for three reasons.

• First, in Judges 11 the climax of the chiasm was Jephthah’s correspondence with the Ammonites; therefore, any communication he had with Israel was not the focus.

• Secondly, Jephthah is not a man who runs from a fight or who will lie to avoid a war as some accuse him of here.

• Thirdly, Ephraim has had a history of doing this sort of thing. (7:24-8:3) When they did this to Gideon, he knew how to handle it to avert war. Jephthah, however, is provoked to fight.

Wouldn’t it have been great if Jephthah testified that the LORD had given the Ammonites into his hand and Ephraim would have accepted this testimony and rejoiced in what the LORD had done. It also would also have been great if, just as Jephthah had given the Ammonites a brief history about what God had done in Judges 11:12-27, that he would have done something similar here. He could have spoke about Israel’s repentance and how God had given them victory.

This moment should be celebration, but we read next, “Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim.” (4) We should observe that there is no mention of God being involved directly in this. Nor are we told that Jephthah is given the Spirit to do this as he was given when he fought the Ammonites. What we do see is that this battle would be fought because of words that had been spoken. Judges 11:4b says, “And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, ‘You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

In Judges 11:5-6 we read this description of the battle that took place, “And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, ‘Let me go over,’ the men of Gilead said to him, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ When he said, ‘No,’ they said to him, ‘Then say Shibboleth,’ and he said, “Sibboleth,’ for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.”

We have now come to the end of this narrative and read these words, “Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.” (7) I must admit that after those last two stories I am ready for this story to end. However, this story makes me wonder what are some things we can learn from this narrative?

Applications/Reflections:

• We have all seen this same story played out in our lives and in the life of the church. We are moved to repentance but the effects of it seem to be short lived. Judges 10-12 gives us a reason for this. This story reminds us of our need to repent and then mature in our knowledge and application of God’s Word by faith in Christ. (Galatians 2:20) If we fail to do this we will do what seems right in our own eyes and the consequences are terrible. (James 1:14-15)

• This story reminds us that we are all in need of grace, mercy, kindness, and the steadfast love of God. All of our sins can be forgiven if we will humble ourselves, repent, and believe.

• Since this story reminds us that God’s people sin we should remember, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and rulers in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

• This story began with Israel failing to repent correctly when they were under pressure (10:9-10); this story ends with the people failing to act godly under pressure. (12:1) Therefore, we are wise then to surround ourselves with wise godly people who can give good counsel in difficult times. It seems everyone failed at this in this story.