Judges 12:1

_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._ Gathered themselves together - Hebrew were summoned. AND WENT NORTHWARD. After crossing the Jordan, their route from Ephraim was, strict speaking, in a northeasterly direction, toward Mizpeh. AND SAID UNTO JEPHTHAH, WHEREFORE ... THOU ... DIDST NOT CALL US. This is a fresh development of the jealous, rash, and irritable temper of the Ephraimites. The ground of their offence now was their desire of enjoying the credit of patriotism, although they had not shared in the glory of victory....

1-7 The Ephraimites had the same quarrel with Jephthah as with Gideon. Pride was at the bottom of the quarrel; only by that comes contention. It is ill to fasten names of reproach upon persons or countries, as is common, especially upon those under outward disadvantages. It often occasions quarrels that prove of ill consequence, as it did here. No contentions are so bitter as those between brethren or rivals for honour. What need we have to watch and pray against evil tempers! May the Lord incline all his people to follow after things which make for peace!...

CHAPTER XII _The Ephraimites are incensed against Jephthah, because he did_ _not call them to war against the Ammonites; and threaten his_ _destruction_, 1. _He vindicates himself_, 2, 3; _and arms the Gileadites against the men of Ephraim; they fight_ _against them, and kill_ forty-two thousand _Ephraimites at the_ _passages of Jordan_, 4-6. _Jephthah dies, having judged Israel_ six _years_, 7. _Ibzan judge_ seven _years_, 8. _His posterity and death_, 9,10. Elon judge

Compare the similar complaint of the Ephraimites to Gideon Judges 8:1, when a civil war was only avoided by Gideon’s wise and patriotic moderation. The overhearing pride of Ephraim comes out in both occurrences (see also Joshua 17:14). WE WILL BURN THINE HOUSE UPON THEE WITH FIRE - Compare the fierce threat of the Philistines to Samson’s wife Judges 14:15, and the yet fiercer execution Judges 15:6. Burning appears as a mode of capital punishment Genesis 38:24;...

EXPOSITION JUDGES 12:1 NORTHWARD, or, otherwise rendered, to _Zaphon_,_ _a city of the Gadites mentioned in Joshua 13:27 together with Succoth, and thought to be _the modern_,_ Amateh _on the Wady Rajlb (see Vanderveld's map). It is difficult to say with certainty which rendering is right, but on the whole the latter seems most probable. Although Gilead does lie north-east of Ephraim, it hardly seems a natural description of the Ephraimite movement to say they "went northwards;" whereas if they marched to Zaphon the phrase would be precise. The previous phrase, GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER, means _mustered for battle_,_ _as in...

AND THE MEN OF EPHRAIM GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER,.... Or "cried" r; got together by a cry or proclamation made: in the Hebrew text it is, "a man of Ephraim"; not a single man, but a body of men, who met together and joined as one man. It is highly probable that there were no less than 50,000 of them; for 42,000 of them were slain, Judges 12:6 AND WENT NORTHWARD; or, "went over northward s"; that is, over the river Jordan, which lay between Gilead and Ephraim; and when they had crossed the river, they turned northward; for Mizpeh, where Jephthah lived, was in the north of the land, near Hermon and Lebanon, Joshua 11:3 AND SAID UNTO JEPHTHAH, WHEREFORE PASSEDST THOU OVER TO FIGHT AGAINST THE CHILDREN OF AMMON? not over Jordan, but over that part of the land of Israel from th

CHAPTER 12 THE STRIFE--JEPHTHAH'S DEATH--THE OTHER JUDGES _ 1. The strife and the slaying of the Ephraimites (Judges 12:1)_ 2. Jephthah's death (Judges 12:7) 3. Ibzan, Elon and Abdon (Judges 12:8) The strife of Ephraim and their question reminds us of what happens under the judgeship of Gideon. There the soft answer turned away wrath. How different it is here. Jephthah in self exaltation shows a far different spirit. Notice the “I” in his answer. “I was at great strife”--”I and my people”--”I called you”--”I saw”--”I put my life in my hand.” A great strife follows. The Gileadites take the fords of Jordan and those who said “Sibboleth” were slain. Horrible record! Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were

XII. 1- 6. CIVIL WAR BETWEEN GILEAD AND EPHRAIM. The Ephraimites hankered after the primacy among the tribes. Their _amour propre_ was easily offended, their anger quickly enflamed. Instead of praising God for Jephthah's great victory, they were furious because he won it without their aid. They insulted him as they once insulted Gideon, and perhaps expected an equally meek and flattering answer. But Jephthah was a man of a different mould and temper. Hurling a few scathing words at heroes who were brave when the war was over, he presumed, judging from their insolence, that they now wished to fight _with him,_ and he was ready. The result deeply stirs the reader's imagination. Led by a general like Jephthah, Gilead was more than a match for Ephraim, and the western tribe was not only put to flight, but found the fords of Jordan guarded to bar their passage. Every man who wished to cross w...

CHILDREN. sons....

_northward_ The wrong direction; so follow marg. TO ZAPHON, a place on the E. of Jordan near Succoth, Joshua 13:27, and not far from the river; Jos., _Ant._xiii. 12, 5 (Asophon). _and didst not call us_ Untrue, see Judges 12:2. The western Ephraimites had no concern of their own with an Ammonite invasion on the E. of Jordan; their alleged grievance was a piece of pretension. For the threat cf. Judges 9:49; Judges 9:52; Judges 14:15; Judges 15:6....