Judges 12:1-7

Hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're going to continue to look at the life of Jephthah. Sadly, there's more that goes on in his life that's going to turn to civil war. So let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. Thank you for the blessing it is that we get to read your Word now. But Father, we need your Spirit to teach us. We need you to instruct us. We need you to indeed be our teacher and the applier of your Word to our hearts. Father, please give us direction. In Jesus' name, Amen. All right, here we go. We are at Judges chapter 12.
Then the men of Ephraim gathered together, crossed over toward Zephon, and said to Jephthah, Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire. Jephthah said to them, My people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon.
And when I called to you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. So when I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the people of Ammon. And the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?
Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites. The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, Let me cross over, the men of Gilead would say to him, You an Ephraimite?
If he said, no, then they would say to him, then say, shibboleth. And he would say, sibboleth. For he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time 42,000 Ephraimites. And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.
Wow, we have to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So, Jephthah has defeated the Ammonites. Remember, Gilead is on the other side, the east side of the Jordans, the Transjordan. That's the land that had been of the Ammonites. They're harassing the people. They want to take it over.
They call Jephthah, this exile of them, right? They didn't want him in there at all, but then they come back to him and they want him. defeats, he routes the Ammonites, he wins the battle, he does this horrible thing with most likely sacrificing his daughter, and now, now he gets trouble from his own people on the other side of the Jordan, right? So the Ephraimites come, right? So it was Reuben and Gad and half Manasseh who are on one side, and so we have now Jephthah who's fighting Now, against the Ephraimites, right? Now, they are jealous for his glory, for their own glory, jealous of his glory.
They're sitting there saying, well, why in the world didn't you call us to fight for you? He said, hold on, buddies, I did, and you didn't come to me, so don't come over here with some beef now, acting like we somehow didn't let you have enough battle with us, right? He said, no, hold on. They harassed us. I called for you. You didn't come. I defeated them, so go home. It doesn't end well. They end up in civil war. They start fighting each other. This is Israelite against Israelite. This is just this vain jealousy. It's just this infighting. Nobody's looking at what has the Lord done? What is the will of the Lord? Nobody's praying about this. They're just starting to fight.
These thousands and thousands of Ephraimites go, and they're trying to defeat Jephthah, but he and his band of people win, and they actually outroute them. They go to the other side behind them. They get to the fords of the Jordan, so as they're trying to retreat, they can't retreat back home. So what do the people of Jephthah do? Well, they play on their accents.
The word Shibboleth versus Sibboleth, it's actually in Hebrew, it looks the exact same. It's the difference, as the Masoretes would put it, the later authors, or not authors, but transcribers of the Bible. It's just one dot. Sin versus shin or both of them kind of look like a W But is a dot at the top at the right or at the left left, right? And so because they weren't used to saying Shibboleth they would say Sibboleth and that would let them know why do they need to have this Paul sign? It may be dark, but they look like each other. They're for the same nation. They're of the same people group and The only way to differentiate between them is where they live and is there a small little difference, right?
So maybe today, right, if somebody was coming from the south to the north, we might say, good morning. And if they say y'all, right, or something like that, right, or howdy, right, we would know, oh, hold on, you're not from these parts. But the point is, right, there's, and same thing, right, people in the south are very, how would you say a carbonated beverage? You know that somebody's most likely from somewhere like the Midwest that they call it pop. Other people might call it Coke. People call it Pepsi, right? But the point is, you'll know, especially down in the South, it's Coke. But if someone's from the north, they might call it pop or soda. And so they know, whoa, you ain't from here. And so there's all sorts of this cultural difference, and that's how they find out, and they kill them. Notice, man, this is horrible. This is 42,000 Ephraimites die. Tens of thousands of people are killed. For what?
This is not a story like, oh man, the people of God are being so great. No, they're all doing whatever's right in their own eyes. He's always seeking the will of the Lord. Jephthah doesn't cry out to God and ask Him for wisdom. He just makes a rash vow. People of Ephraim don't thank the Lord for Ammon being defeated.
They just get jealous of the victory and maybe even jealous of the spoils of war. This is what happens when people just are following their own gut, doing whatever they think is right. There's no preserving peace, there's no unity. You don't find these guys living peacefully with each other as far as it depends upon them. They find guys quick to grab their weapons and go to war, even against their own people. But Jephthah only judges for six years. He's only this mishpat for six years. And then he dies and he's buried in the cities of Gilead. It's the end of Jephthah. rise and fall of him in a chapter and a half.
So, what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, in my Bible I have verse 2 underlined. This is him answering to them, I called to you and you didn't help me. Maybe you would underline something different. Maybe you would underline verse 1 and 2. I don't know. Let me know what you would do. Point being here is, what are we called to do?
How quickly do we take our eyes off Christ and destroy each other? I was just reading in the news lately about a church that's closing. And even on social media, it was former members who were lamenting, like, I got married in that church and I'm so sad it's closing. Other people lamenting, like, that was a great church. And then people started fighting with each other. Other people saying, well, it's probably a good time that that church closes because they've blessed the Lord a long time ago.
You just find all these different people aren't seeking after the gospel anymore. Somebody's been unfaithful to the Lord. They've lost sight of who God is and the grandeur that he has and the great plans that he has with our covenant king. That happens in the church today. If we want to look back at Judges chapter 12 and go, man, they're so stupid. Why couldn't they just get along?
Let me ask, how many denominations are there in the U.S. around the world? How many churches split because people can't compromise? Not compromising on biblical, like, principled things, not clear teaching in Scripture. I'm talking about compromise on, like, what time is Sunday school?
How often are churches ripped apart because people dig in their heels and aren't willing to forgive each other, reconcile with one another? How often does somebody go the legal route, right? And, well, my rights have been offended, and so I'm gonna go take care of you in the courts of the church. And then the church is ripped apart, right?
And nobody's willing to say, hold on, what is glorifying to God? We're not much better. We're not much better. And we give reason for the enemies of God to blaspheme against them because of our infighting and our obscenity. May the Lord convict us and teach us to walk in humility and grace. We may not agree with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, but are we willing? Are we willing to show grace? As far as it depends upon us, are we willing to live peacefully with all men? Let's pray.
Father, we thank you that you are the king of your church. You're the same covenant king here that you were there. And yet, God, we still struggle today. We struggle in digging in our heels and ripping the church apart. Lord, we pray that you would forgive us for the factions and divisions that exist amongst us. Lord, we pray that you would teach us to walk in your ways. Lord, please, we pray that we would stop looking at our own belly buttons and look Look unto the face of your Son, desire your glory, and walk in your ways without compromise of what you have said, following your law. But yet, Lord, also recognizing that each one of us are sinners, God, please help us. Please give us a spirit of union and a fellowship.
Lord, let us have a testimony amongst those who do not believe that they might know we are your people because we love you and love each other. In Jesus's name, Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy of Jesus Christ. And may you also love one another. I'll see you next time. Bye.