Judges 12:4

_THEN JEPHTHAH GATHERED TOGETHER ALL THE MEN OF GILEAD, AND FOUGHT WITH EPHRAIM: AND THE MEN OF GILEAD_ _ SMOTE EPHRAIM, BECAUSE THEY SAID, YE GILEADITES ARE FUGITIVES OF EPHRAIM AMONG THE EPHRAIMITES, AND AMONG THE MANASSITES._ 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 specially sensitive people. A feud immediately ensued. The Gileadites, determined to chastise this public affront, gave them battle; and having defeated the Ephraimites, chased their foul-mouthed but cowardly assailants out of the territory; and rushing to the ford of the Jordan-a few miles b...

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!...

Verse Judges 12:4. _AND FOUGHT WITH EPHRAIM_] Some commentators suppose that there were _two_ battles in which the Ephraimites were defeated: the first mentioned in the above clause; and the second occasioned by the taunting language mentioned in the conclusion of the verse, _Ye_ _Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim_. Where the _point_ of this reproach lies, or what is the reason of it, cannot be easily ascertained....

BECAUSE THEY SAID ... - This passage is extremely obscure. Render: - “The men of Gilead smote Ephraim, for they (the Gileadites) said, Ye are. the fugitives of Ephraim. (Gilead lies between Ephraim and Manasseh; and Gilead took the fords of Jordan before Ephraim, and it came to pass, when the fugitives of Ephraim said Let me pass over, and the Gileadites asked him, art thou an Ephraimite, and he answered No, Then (the Gileadites) said to him say Shibboleth, etc. So they (the Gileadites) killed them at the fords of Jordan”). All that is included in the parenthesis is explanatory of the brief statement “They smote them, for they said, Ye are the fugitives of Ephraim;” i. e. in spite of denial they ascertained that they were the fugitives of Ephraim, and so pitilessly slaughtered them when they endeavored to return to their own country through Gilead. This part of Gilead, where the fords we...

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...

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...

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...

AND. This "and" is read in the text in some codices, with two early printed editions, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate....

Judges 12:1-7. _Jephthah's conflict with the men of Ephraim_ A sequel of the Ammonite war. Jephthah had returned to his house (Judges 11:34), two months at least had passed (Judges 11:39), the Gileadite forces had dispersed (implied by Judges 12:4), when the arrogant and jealous temper of the Ephraimites broke out, as formerly after Gideon's victory (Judges 8:1-3), but this time without a shadow of pretext. The narrative Judges 11:1 has been regarded as a mere replica of...