July 6, 2019: Day 70 – Judges 12

We continue to hear about the life of Jephthah.  So the Ephraimites were jealous because he had gone to battle against the Ammonites and hadn’t notified them so that they could join in the battle, and presumably join the booty as well.  Well, they were furious and declared a battle against him.  But notice that the Ephraimites were part of Israel so this is a mini civil war that is taking place.  This is problematic.  It continues as the people of Jephthah, the Gileadites, were controlling the Jordan and could tell if someone was from Ephraim by the way that they pronounced Shibboleth.  If they said it the wrong way then they were killed.  42,000 of them mispronounced a word at that time.  That’s a costly mistake.

We then have a succession of judges who seem to rule over Israel well.  What is it with judges and donkey and a whole mess of children?