Judges 12:6

_AND THE GILEADITES TOOK THE PASSAGES OF JORDAN BEFORE THE EPHRAIMITES: AND IT WAS SO, THAT WHEN THOSE EPHRAIMITES WHICH WERE ESCAPED SAID, LET ME GO OVER; THAT THE MEN OF GILEAD SAID UNTO HIM, ART THOU AN EPHRAIMITE? IF HE SAID, NAY;_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 12:6. _SAY NOW SHIBBOLETH; AND HE SAID SIBBOLETH_] The original differs only in the first letter ס _samech_, instead of ש _sheen; _אמר נא שבלת ויאמר סבלת emar na Shibboleth, vaiyomer Sibboleth. The difference between ש _seen_, without a point, which when pointed is pronounced _sheen_, and ס _samech_, is supposed by many to be imperceptible. But there can be no doubt there was, to the ears of a Hebrew, a most sensible distinction. Most Europeans, and, indeed, most who have written grammars of the language, perceive scarcely any difference between the Arabic [Arabic] _seen_ and [Arabic] _saad_; but as both those letters are _radical_ not only in Arabic but in Hebrew, the difference of enunciation must be such as to be plainly perceivable by the ear; else it would be impossible to determine the root of a word into which either of these lett...

SHIBBOLETH; AND HE SAID SIBBOLETH - This is a curious instance of dialectic difference of pronunciation between the East and West Jordanic tribes. It is an evidence of the sound “sh” having passed into the Hebrew from the East of Jordan, possibly from the Arabians, with whom the sound is common. FORTY-TWO THOUSAND - The number includes the slain in battle and those killed at the fords....

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 SAID THEY UNTO HIM, SAY NOW "SHIBBOLETH",.... Which signifies a stream or course of water, at which they now were; and so it was as if they had bid them say, "may I, or let me, pass over the stream of this river;'' so Jarchi; and this being the case, though it was done to try them, and by their pronunciation learn whether they were Ephraimites or not, they were not upon their guard, but in an hurry, and at once expressed the word as they commonly did: AND HE SAID, SIBBOLETH; pronouncing the letter "shin" as if it was "sin", or a "samech"; just as the French, as Kimchi observes, pronounce "s" like a "t"; and though the Gileadites and Ephraimites were of the same nation of Israel, and spoke the same language, yet their pronunciation differed, as did that of the Galilean Jews from others in the times of Christ, Matthew 26:73, and so in all na

SHIBBOLETH Signifying a stream or flood....

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...

FRAME. take heed, give attention. FORTY AND TWO THOUSAND. 40. 2,000. 2,040. The _whole_ tribe numbered only 32,500 at previous census (Numbers 26:37. see note on Judges 7:3), and that was less than the first numbering (Numbers 1:33). Only 1,000 from each tribe formed the army. Numbers 31:4; Numbers 31:6....