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Okay, Judges chapter 12, the 
last message or last study tonight on Jephthah, somewhat of a tragic 
figure that we've seen throughout these last several chapters. 
Nevertheless, a deliverer raised up by God to do the particular 
task of crushing the Ammonite oppression. Remember the cycles 
that Israel falls into. They sin against God. God raises 
up an oppressor, sends that oppressor in to judge the people of Israel. And then they cry out, not for 
repentance or not in repentance, but rather they cry out because 
of their distress. and then the Lord raises up a 
deliverer. And so in this particular instance, 
to deal with the Ammonite oppression, it was Jephthah. We dealt, I 
think, with the most difficult part of the Jephthah cycle last 
week in terms of his vow with his daughter. So tonight we pick 
up the conflict with Ephraim, and then there are three minor 
judges that finish up chapter 12. Similar to what we found 
before the Jephthah cycle, we saw these three minor judges, 
or I'm sorry, these two minor judges in chapter 12. in chapter 10 of the book of 
Judges. Not minor because they weren't 
important, but minor because there's not as much written about 
them. Just like Micah's a minor prophet, Isaiah's a major prophet. Not because Isaiah is majorly 
important and Micah is minorly important, but because of the 
length of the books that they've written. So each of these judges 
are, in fact, raised up by God for the task that he had given 
to them, but certain judges along the way get more time. We see 
that in the very beginning cycle. There's the three that the scripture 
tends to give us more information on in the very beginning with 
Ehud and Beric. I'm sorry, with Othniel, Ehud, 
and Beric. And then we have these ones, 
Jephthah and Samson. Samson will take up a few weeks 
as well, but we'll look at that, God willing, in a couple of weeks. 
So picking up in Judges chapter 12 at verse 1. Then the men of 
Ephraim gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, 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. And Jephthah said to them, my 
people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon. 
And when I called 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, 
are 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. After him, Ibtin of 
Bethlehem judged Israel. He had 30 sons, and he gave away 
30 daughters in marriage and brought in 30 daughters from 
elsewhere for his sons. He judged Israel seven years. 
Then Ibsen died and was buried at Bethlehem. After him, Elon, 
the Zebulonite, judged Israel. He judged Israel 10 years, and 
Elon, the Zebulonite, died and was buried at Eijalon in the 
country of Zebulon. After him, Abedin, the son of 
Hillel, the Perothanite, judged Israel. He had 40 sons and 30 
grandsons who rode on 70 young donkeys. He judged Israel eight 
years. Then Abedin, the son of Hillel, 
the Perothanite, died and was buried in Perothan in the land 
of Ephraim in the mountains of the Amalekites. Amen. Well, when 
we look at this particular section and the last section with Jephthah's 
vow, we see it was the word of Jephthah that the narrative centers 
in on. Well, here it's the password 
used to cross the fords from the east side of the Jordan to 
get back into the main. mainland, if you will, of Israel. And Dale Ralph Davis says, in 
the last two sections of the Jephthah Materials, we meet the 
tragedy of salvation. Both episodes center around words, 
the one a vow, the other a password. In the former, the tragedy apparently 
arises from zeal. In the latter, certainly from 
pride. So already, we've seen Ephraim 
do this same sort of thing back with Gideon in chapter 8 of Judges 
in verses 1 to 3. And we'll look at that in just 
a moment. But as we consider the conflict 
with Ephraim, we'll look at, first of all, the problem with 
Ephraim, secondly, the response of Jephthah, thirdly, the conflict 
with Ephraim, and then the summary of Jephthah's judgeship there 
in verse 7. Note first the problem. Verse 
1, then the men of Ephraim gathered together, crossed over towards 
Zaphon 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? Go back for just a moment to 
chapter 8, verses 1 to 3. Ephraim has some sort of a problem. Appears as if they're the prima 
donnas of the nation of Israel among the tribes. Chapter 8, 
verse 1, now the men of Ephraim said to him, Gideon, why have 
you done this to us by not calling us when you went to fight with 
the Midianites? And they reprimanded him sharply. 
So he said to them, what have I done now in comparison with 
you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than 
the vintage of Abiezer? God has delivered into your hands 
the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeb. And what was I able to do 
in comparison with you? Then their anger toward him subsided 
when he said that." Now you wonder if when they're dealing with 
Jephthah, they thought diplomacy and they thought that Jephthah 
would be able to just soothe them with words the way that 
Gideon does. Jephthah wasn't a man of soothing 
people with words. He would certainly use diplomacy, 
as he did initially with the Ammonites, but then it was the 
sword to crush the rebellion. And we see the same response 
here with Jephthah towards these Ephraimites. So the problem is, 
they go to engage Jephthah, they accuse him of not having call 
in them, called upon them to go to battle against the Ammonites. Note their threat at the end 
of verse 1. They say, we will burn your house 
down on you with fire. We will burn your house down 
on you with fire. No thank you, no appreciation, 
no we're thankful to the Lord that God used Jephthah to crush 
the Ammonite rebellion, No, they're really kicking a man when he's 
down. I mean, here, if we are correct in our assertion that 
Jephthah's vow was literal, even if it wasn't literal, either 
way, Jephthah's probably an unhappy camper at this particular juncture 
in the narrative. He certainly doesn't want to 
have to deal with some proud, self-centered Ephraimites when 
it comes to living life in the land again. Bloch makes this 
reference concerning this threat. He says, Jephthah had already 
lost his household. Now they announced their determination 
to burn down his physical house. Instead of congratulating Jephthah 
for his accomplishment and thanking him for delivering them from 
the Ammonite menace, in their jealousy and wounded sense of 
self-importance, the Ephraimites determined to destroy the deliverer. 
Like the confrontation with Gideon, this event exposes a serious 
flaw in the Ephraimite character. This is a serious flaw. When 
people want glory, or people want involvement, or people want 
something, rather than the blessing of God and deliverance wrought 
by Japheth, and the tribes that did actually go to battle. They 
should have thanked Him. They should have praised Yahweh. 
They should have been full of gratitude. They shouldn't be 
threatening to burn the man's house down to the ground, because 
as they allege, He did not call them to go with Him. Now as we 
move through the narrative, Jephthah says He did in fact call them, 
but they did not go with Him. Bloch said they had no pride 
in greater Israel, let alone any respect for the Transjordanians. And that's probably specifically 
what is going on. There's a pride there, there's 
a self-centeredness, there's this desire to be a part of it, 
not simply for the glory of God and for the good of Israel, but 
for whatever glory that they themselves can participate in. 
Davis has some good comment concerning this particular issue. Just about 
a paragraph. This is not something that was 
contained to Ephraim and Old Covenant Israel. It is something 
true in all of our hearts. We like a little bit of glory. 
We like a little bit of the spotlight. We like to shine and we like 
people to see that we participated. How many times do we do things 
and make sure that people know the good things that we do? I'm 
looking at my wife, because whenever I do dishes, I make sure she 
knows that I did dishes. Well, that's sort of a mindset. 
Looks like Mr. Kroll operates in the same manner. 
That sort of a thing is what's going on, probably to a lot lesser 
degree. Doing dishes and killing ammonites 
are obviously separate. The idea is the same. There is 
this innate desire in the heart of man, I won't say every single 
heart, redeemed heart, but in a lot of redeemed hearts, where 
we want glory, we want participation, not for the glory of God and 
not for the good of Israel, but for something in us that wants 
to be stroked or encouraged or admired or something like that. 
That's probably the issue going on with Ephraim. Now notice, 
secondly, the response of Jephthah in verses 2 and 3. Now, before 
we look at verses 2 and 3, let's again just consider this poor 
man. You know, last week, again, if 
my view is the literal view, Jephthah's vow, I didn't put 
Jephthah in hell. I believe that God is gracious, 
I believe that God is merciful. Just to remind you what I quoted 
from the Geneva Bible, it says, as the apostle commends Jephthah 
for his worthy enterprise in delivering the people, So by 
his rash vow and wicked performance of the same, his victory was 
defaced." They say, and here we see that the sins of the godly 
do not utterly extinguish their faith. So even if this is the 
case, he still makes it in Hebrews chapter 11 as a man of faith. But he was a man who had a very 
difficult life. We can never justify sin. We can never excuse sin based 
on a person's life or their background or their hardships. But we can 
learn something about the man when we consider what he has 
gone through. There was contention with his 
own family according to chapter 11, verses 1 to 3. Remember that 
he was the son of a harlot. His father, Gilead, had a wife, 
he had other sons, and yet Gilead went into a harlot. Jephthah 
was the product of that particular union. His brothers did not receive 
him, rather his brothers sent him away. They got rid of him, 
similar to the way that the nation of Israel gets rid of God himself. Secondly, he had contention with 
his own tribe. Remember, it was the Gileadites 
who called him into service to be head over Gilead. And he essentially 
says, why do you want me now? You didn't want me years ago. 
I'm not good enough to dwell in the land of Gilead. I've got 
to live out in Tob. and run around with these marauding 
raiders, killing Ammonites and doing whatever it is that we're 
doing, why is it that you've come to me at this particular 
point? Well, they knew something about Jephthah. They knew he 
was a man of valor. They knew he had the skills and 
the abilities, and so they come to him. and they seek to get 
him to do their particular bidding. Of course, he has contention 
with Ammonites, right? He goes to battle against the 
Ammonites. Remember, that was the whole 
reason for the vow. Go back to chapter 11, specifically 
in verse 30. Jephthah made a vow to the Lord 
and said, if you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into 
my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors 
of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon 
shall surely be the Lord's and I will offer it up as a burnt 
offering." So he makes this deal again, it was a rash vow, it 
was not a good thing, it was presumptuous to include somebody 
else in a particular vow that you swear to the Lord God Almighty. But nevertheless, he does this 
because he's going to battle with the Ammonites and he wants 
to secure victory. That's the whole reason or foundation 
or basis upon which he makes this vow. But nevertheless, he 
then has to go into battle against the Ammonites. Verse 32 of chapter 
11. So Jephthah advanced toward the 
people of Ammon. to fight against them, and the 
Lord delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from 
Aroer as far as Mineth, twenty cities, and to Abel-Karamim with 
a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were 
subdued before the children of Israel." Remember that as we've 
seen in the book of Judges, when the Lord delivers an enemy into 
the hands of Israel, it doesn't mean the Lord snaps his cosmic 
fingers and everybody just drops dead. It means that Israel wins, 
but they win through means, cutting off heads, stabbing people, breaking 
things, going against the opponents in military combat and fighting. And no doubt, when you do such 
a thing, it's a difficult task, even with the blessing of Yahweh. 
And so what we find is that Jephthah has problems with his family, 
problems with his tribe, problems with the Ammonites, and now he's 
got this contention with the Ephraimites. He's probably a 
bit wearied by it all at this particular point. Remember on 
Sunday, I referred to the diaconate as oftentimes being a thankless 
job. Well, so was being a deliverer 
in Israel. Jephthah had served the Lord 
God in terms of crushing the oppression, and instead of being 
thanked, Instead of having a bit of gratitude returned his way, 
instead of God the Lord being praised for the ventures of Jephthah, 
we've got these Ephraimites threatening to burn down his house. Truly, 
it was a thankless position in Israel to be a judge, a deliverer, 
a savior. Notice then verses 2 and 3. Jephthah 
and Gilead were in a struggle with the people of Ammon. Jephthah 
said to them, my people and I were in a great struggle with the 
people of Ammon. And when I called you, you did 
not deliver me out of their hands. So this goes contrary to what 
these Ephraimites allege. Now one says that Jephthah may 
have just been lying. I personally don't think Jephthah's 
lying in this particular instance. I think it's more likely that 
the prima donnas are not being truthful. They're the problem. They had a problem when it was 
Gideon that was the deliverer. They have a problem now when 
Jeff does the deliverer. He says, we were in a great struggle. 
When I called you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. 
Here you're threatening to burn my house down. And when I needed 
you to crush Ammonite oppression in this great struggle, I actually 
did ask for your assistance, and you were not there to deliver 
me. When we read through this narrative, 
this is an instance where it really does seem like the Ephraimites 
have exactly what is coming to them. It is the case that they 
were murmurers and grumblers. Notice verse 3. 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." Now whether Japheth is waxing theological 
here or not, he gives credit and glory to the deliverance 
of God Most High. One of the implications I think 
that we could derive is that this then shows the Ephraimites 
that their problem isn't necessarily with Japheth, it is with God 
Most High. You see, the Lord delivered, 
the Lord blessed this effort, the Lord was involved in this 
particular venture. And for you to grumble, moan, 
whine and complain that we didn't call you when I did call you 
and you didn't come along with me, you're arguing against and 
you're crying against the Lord Most High. And then he asks this 
particular question, a question that was not provoked by the 
Ammonites, but a question that most certainly is provoked when 
it's one of the tribes in Israel. Why then have you come up to 
me this day to fight against me? In other words, what is your 
problem? Here the Lord God has told me 
to go against the Ammonites. It has cost me greatly. If in fact we take the literal 
view and he killed his daughter and offered her up as a burnt 
sacrifice unto the Lord, this battle with the Ammonites cost 
him dearly. It cost him everything. Probably 
his wife was none too happy subsequent to this particular act. The family 
is in tatters, the family is ruined, and now these Ephraimites 
are threatening to burn down his physical house. Why, he says, 
why then have you come up to me this day to fight against 
me? And then notice the conflict 
or the battle with Ephraim. Verse 4. Now Jephthah gathered 
together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And 
the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim because they said, you Gileads 
are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the 
Manassites. Now the Ephraimites probably 
didn't expect this. If they're still thinking about 
the Gideon experience, Gideon was very diplomatic. Gideon was 
very conciliatory. Remember? Gideon says, you know, 
what I've done is nothing compared to what you guys have done. Notice 
in A2. So he said to them, what have 
I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the 
grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God has 
delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeb. 
And what was I able to do in comparison with you?" You see, 
he is saying, look, you guys far excel and far exceeded any 
glory that I might have gotten in this particular battle. This 
does cause them to back it way down. Then their anger toward 
him subsided when he said that. He said the right words to diffuse 
a particular situation in a given context. The situation now, however, 
is different. They're dealing with Jephthah. 
Maybe they think if they pose this particular threat, Jephthah's 
going to say, well, I'm sorry, but I didn't do even as many 
good things as you did. Jephthah's not playing that particular 
game. the Ephraimites sealed their 
death warrant with their words against the Gileadites. They're 
basically saying, you people are scum, you people are lowlife, 
you people are garbage. That's the thrust in verse 4. 
At the end, and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim because they 
said, you Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites 
and among the Manassites. You're just a You're just sort 
of like a mutt. You're just a half-breed. You're not consistent. You didn't 
stay on the western side of the Jordan, but you've gone over 
to the Transjordanian place and you've taken up residence in 
Gilead. And then, of course, the Ephraimites 
lose to the Gileadites in battle. Tells us that very clearly, very 
simply. in verse 4. It's amplified in 
verses 5 and 6, but verse 4 tells us, and the men of Gilead fought 
against Ephraim, and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim. You see what these men alleged, 
Jephthah came and said, no, that's not the case. I asked for help. 
You didn't participate. The Lord delivered them into 
my hand. And as a result, because of your slurs, because of your 
derogatory remarks, I'm not going to engage in diplomacy. I'm not 
going to wax with you the way that Gideon did. I am going to 
order my Gileadites, we're going to withdraw our swords, and we're 
going to cut your heads off. That's the way Jephthah's dealing. 
Davis says this, Ephraim may have been expecting something 
more like the psychology of Gideon than the sword of Jephthah. I 
love this. He says, Jephthah never used 
much psychology and talk and probably saw no need to begin 
now, especially when Ephraim began flinging racial slurs at 
his Gilead men. Jephthah and company cut down 
and scattered the Ephraimites, occupied the crossing places 
on the Jordan, then waited to play password with Ephraimite 
stragglers wanting to go west. So Gilead defeats Ephraim. Now note the stragglers in verses 
5 and 6. You've all heard the word shibboleth, 
right? This is where it comes from. 
You know what a shibboleth is? When it comes to doctrine or 
theology, we say, well, that's his shibboleth. That's his issue. He's not going to budge on it. 
Well, if you've ever heard that word and you've never known where 
it came from, first of all, that's too bad because you should have 
read it. You should be reading, judges. But secondly, here it 
is, right before your eyes. Notice verses five and six. 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, 
are you an Ephraimite? If he said no. We could expect 
that when stragglers are fleeing from a battle scene, that they 
might have the tendency to lie, right? This is a perfectly reasonable 
situation. So we've got Gilead seizing the 
fords, the crossing routes, the paths where you get from the 
east side to the west side of the Jordan. The Ephraimites have 
gotten defeated or have gotten beaten in battle by Gilead. What are the Ephraimites wanting 
to do? They want to go back home. They don't want to be stuck in 
Gilead, so they're going to cross the fords. Well, the Gileadites 
have seized those particular routes. So the Ephraimite comes 
along, the Gileadite says, are you an Ephraimite? Well, no. 
I'm a Reubenite. I'm a Gadite. I'm from the tribe 
of Dan. They're not going to say, yeah, 
I'm an Ephraimite, because the man standing there is going to 
take out his sword and cut his head off. And so they devise 
this password. Now, I think I met a Newfoundland 
person when I was at Union Gospel Mission. They talk a bit differently. 
If we were to go to Massachusetts, that's something I know a little 
bit more about, and we wanted to cross their border, and they 
were to say to us, say, park the car. If we didn't say, park 
the car, they would know that we did not belong in Massachusetts. That's the test that's applied 
in this particular instance. The Ephraimites couldn't make 
the shh sound. So shibboleth came out as sibileth. Gordon Keddie tells us that this 
is similar to the way that Scottish Highlanders of today can be distinguished 
from Lowland Scots by their pronunciation of worship as worsip. I don't know if that's accurate. 
Gordon Keddie said this, so I have no reason to doubt him. He comes 
from that region of the world. So you see the ingenuity. Verse 
5, 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, 
are 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. That's an unfortunate way to 
meet your end. The difference between a shh 
and a sss. But it's ingenious. There's a 
password applied. You want to get through here? 
You better be able to talk the way you say you can talk. A simple task, but an ingenious 
task, because it yielded a great death toll in terms of enemy 
combatants. That's what we find in verse 
6. says, then they would take him and kill him at the fords 
of the Jordan. There fell at that time 42,000 
Ephraimites. So again, the Ephraimites come. They meet Jephthah. They grumble 
and complain to him that he had not called them to go into battle 
against the Ammonites. Jephthah, weary, worn, and ready 
to deal, says, wait a minute, when I went to meet the Ammonites, 
I did ask you, and you didn't come to me. And so instead of 
engaging in the wisdom of a Gideon, he takes the sword that he had 
learned to use all too well and talked with his raider friends, 
and he engages these enemies, Ephraim. And it's Ephraim that 
is responsible for this civil war. We don't fault Jephthah 
in this instance. They've threatened to burn down 
this man's house. It is Ephraim who has brought 
this upon Israel. It is Ephraim, again, who is 
instituting this civil war in Israel. Now, again, Gideon was 
able to diffuse it. It didn't go to full fruition. 
Not so with Japheth. I think there's a lesson here. 
We need to be very careful with whom we deal. We need to understand 
that there might be a time when we can, with our words, bring 
a diffused situation. There may be times, with those 
same words, we bring civil war to bear. We need to be wise. We need to remember the Proverbs. 
In a multitude of words, transgression is not lacking. A soft answer 
does turn away wrath. We need to make sure that we 
use our tongues properly. Perhaps these men of Ephraim 
could have went about it a whole different way. Jephthah, we have 
a question from you. Shows a lot of ignorance on their 
part. You don't mess with Jephthah. You don't mess with this man 
who was brought up in Tob, who led raiders on campaigns, who 
was called back by the Gileadites to be head and commander over 
their tribe if he would go and take on the Ammonite oppression. 
He goes, he takes on the Ammonite oppression, and he successfully 
crushes them because the Lord God delivered them into his hand. 
He's also engaged in this vow with his daughter, so on a real 
human and personal level, he's hurting. He's the last guy you 
should poke with a stick, the very last man you should ever 
deal harshly with or threaten to burn down his house. Just 
as a general rule, we ought not to threaten to burn down anybody's 
houses ever. So this test, this shibboleth 
yielded fruit for the Gileadites. We see a summary statement. Does 
it mean 42,000 at the time crossing or 42,000 in total? 42,000 Ephraimites died. That's what the text tells us. 
And then notice the summary of Jephthah's judgeship in verse 
7. And Jephthah judged Israel six 
years. Then Jephthah, the Gileadite, 
died and was buried among the cities of Gilead. Now, an interesting 
thing takes place here. And several other judges up to 
this point, actually, no judge after Gideon, is it ever said 
that the land had rest? With Othniel, with Ehud, and 
with Barak and Gideon. When we get the time or the length 
of time that the judge reigned or ruled or had his governorship, 
We also find that Israel had rest in the land. That is now 
conspicuously absent. Again, the idea, I think, is 
judges too. Remember the pattern, that when 
they sinned, God would raise up a deliverer. They would be 
freed from their oppression. The judge would die. Then they 
would revert and act more corruptly. And as a result, as they act 
more corruptly, what are they sacrificing? They're not sacrificing 
their presence in the land. They're still there. by God's 
grace, kindness, and goodness, but they're sacrificing rest. They no longer have the stability, 
they no longer have the security, they no longer have the delightfulness 
that they once possessed under these other judges. So I think 
this is commentary by the narrator or author telling us that there 
is a shift occurring in Israel. They are sliding more and more 
into this place of Canaanization. They are taking on the characteristics 
of the Canaanites themselves and they are not in a good place. So Jephthah judged Israel six 
years, then he died and he was buried among the cities of Gilead. 
Bloch says, the narrator acknowledges, however, that in spite of Israel's 
false penitence, just backing up for a moment that idea, that 
there is deliverance. There may not be rest connected 
with Japheth. There's still deliverance. The 
Ammonites are crushed, right? For all of Japheth's issues, 
for all of the sad situations that plague this particular man, 
what is consistent? The Ammonites were crushed. The 
Philistines will meet the same opposition, the same doom, and 
the same destruction when we get to Samson. Samson's another 
very colorful person. I mean, Samson and Jephthah are 
probably not the kinds of men that you'd have over for Sunday 
lunch. Probably not. Samson and Jephthah 
would be the guys standing in the back of the church talking 
about killing. No, I don't know about that, what they'd be talking 
about. Hopefully, we'd have them over, and we'd love them, and 
we'd care for them, and all that sort of thing. But these men 
are explained, but they're men of faith. They're men whom God 
raised up. They are deliverers, to be sure. 
And the point that I think Block captures is this. The narrator 
acknowledges that in spite of Israel's false penitence and 
the defective qualities of her leaders, Yahweh does indeed give 
victory. But his responses to Israel are 
not based on merit or desert. His acts can only be characterized 
as gracious and merciful. He is more determined to save 
this canonized nation than they are to save themselves. You read 
through these particular deliverers when you read through these particular 
men. They're not the kinds of people 
that we would insert into a hero story. You know, you've heard 
me say this before. If we, or man, was writing the 
scriptures and we got to King David of Israel, one of the heroes 
of Israel, would we be as willing and ready to put in there that 
he committed adultery and murder? We might want to sanitize those 
particular details. We might want to take them back 
a little bit. We might want to hide them under 
the rug and not display them for everyone to see. You see, 
the biblical authors have no problem showing us those particular 
issues because the hero of the story is not Jephthah. It's not 
Samson, it's not Othniel, it's not Ehud, it's not Gideon, it's 
not Beric, it's not Deborah, it's not anything other, it's 
not Shandar, it is God Most High who delivers His people. And 
that's where the emphasis lies throughout this book of Judges. 
It's a book of salvation. It's a book of deliverance. It's 
a book of grace and a book of God's loving kindness toward 
His people. Love that. He is more determined 
to save this Canaanite nation than they are to save themselves. That's what we see throughout 
scripture. God initiates, God delivers, 
God sustains, God brings us through, and God keeps us. If, as New 
Covenant Christians, we can't appreciate that salvation is 
of the Lord as we read through Judges, we haven't understood 
the Gospel correctly. Jephthah, Samson, Othniel, Shamgar, 
Ehud, all these men point us to the deliverance that comes 
through God's champion and hero, the Lord Jesus Christ, who saves 
his people from their sins. So that's Jephthah. Then there's 
three men, Ibsen, Elon, and Abedin. Ibsen, 8 to 10, had 30 sons, 
30 daughters, and 30 daughters-in-law. He judged Israel for seven years. That's all we know about him. 
Well, we probably know a lot about him. He's a patient, man. 
He's a hard-working man. He's got no hair because he pulls 
it out. I mean, 30 sons and daughters 
would probably make you do that. Notice Elon. All it tells us 
concerning him is he judged Israel for 10 years. Why do Jephthah 
and Samson get so much play and these men don't? And then in 
verses 13 to 15, Abedin, he had 40 sons and 30 grandsons, and 
he judged Israel for eight years. It's very sparse, isn't it? There's 
not a lot there, those two minor judges, Tola and Jer, before 
we start the Jaffna narratives. Isn't there a sense where we 
want to know more about Abdon? We want to know a little more 
about Ibsen? We want to know how did he manage to function 
with all those children? What was his coping strategies 
like? What was it like when they were all in diapers? How was 
it when they went to school? How did he deal with dating, 
daughters, and all that sort of thing? I mean, there's a lot 
of that we'd like to know, wouldn't we? Davis has a quote. I want to read this. I think 
it's very good. He says, we don't know why the Bible tells us so 
little about Ibsen. But by telling us so little about 
Ibsen and Elon and Abedin, the Bible tells us a lot about the 
Bible. It tells us that its purpose 
is not to tell us about every Ibsen, Elon, and Abedin. The 
Bible is saying that its focus is not on man's life, but on 
God's action. The Bible is theocentric. That does not mean that man does 
not count, but that man is not the center. Even though Gideon, 
for example, may receive three chapters, the writer's purpose 
is not to relate Gideon's eventful life, not even his problems, 
struggles, victories, or failures in themselves. but to depict 
Yahweh's saving activity. I love what he says here. For 
this reason, I question the validity of much biographical preaching 
and Bible studies billed as character studies of biblical figures. 
Almost by their very nature, by their chosen starting points, 
such efforts begin by looking in the wrong direction. It is 
as if scripture cries, Behold your God, and we reply, Thank 
you, but we have found something more interesting to us. And if 
a little frustration over Ibsen and associates makes us aware 
of this danger, they will not have lived in vain. Now, he does 
not say it's always wrong to look at character qualities in 
everybody in the Bible. He's not saying that. There is 
a danger when biographical studies of Bible characters can mask 
what is actually going on in the passage of Scripture itself. When we see or when we accompany 
David to go into battle against Goliath, the point of the story 
is not how we deal with the problems in our lives. The issue in the 
story is not how do we choose five smooth stones to battle 
our Goliaths at work. The moral, the point, is very 
well articulated by God himself. In fact, you can turn to 1 Samuel 
chapter 17. Just so you can see this, because 
unfortunately people do this. We get the grit and determination 
of a Nehemiah. We learn how to build cities 
from a Nehemiah. We learn how to be whatever, 
from Isaiah. We learn how to be prophets of 
social justice through Amos. And at times we miss the point. 
Notice the whole purpose in this narrative concerning David and 
Goliath is found very specifically in verse 46. This day the Lord will deliver 
you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head 
from you. And this day I will give the 
carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the 
air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may 
know there is a God in Israel. Not how long we ought to make 
our javelins, not how strong we ought to make our armor, not 
how bad Philistine giants can really be. You know, reading 
comprehension, you all did that in school. They'd give you a 
paragraph and you had to find the main idea. I fear at times 
that if we did that with Christians, they'd say, well, you know, we 
can always fight every giant that we meet because God is on 
our side. It's not the point of the narrative. 
"...that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 
Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save 
with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he 
will give you into our hands." So there's a lesson for outside 
of Israel, that all the earth may know that there is a God 
in Israel. You see, Israel's not doing very 
well at this particular point, are they? They're afraid. They 
don't want to go up to battle against the giant and the Philistines. They're whiners, they're grumblers, 
they're complainers, they're cowards. They don't want to do 
this. And so David realizes that they 
need to learn that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, 
for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our 
hands. So we need to be careful. When 
we look for character traits of particular persons in the 
Bible, we ought to do that. We ought to dare to be a Daniel. 
That's OK. But we ought not to miss the 
message of Daniel. We ought to be like Paul with 
the grit and the determination to go through all trials and 
all circumstances and every bit of persecution in a manner that 
is consistent with the grace and kindness of God. That's excellent. 
But we don't want to miss Paul's theology in the book of Romans. 
See what I'm saying? We can do this. If character 
studies and morality and personal traits become the overarching 
theme in our Bible study, we're going to miss God. And I think 
that's what Davis's quote points out. And then Matthew Henry makes 
this comment, perceptively concerning all of the children on either 
side of Jephthah. And everybody's got 30 kids. 
They've got big families. You know what I mean? There's 
massive families. And then there's Jephthah. There's 
one daughter. There's one daughter that he 
killed. Matthew Henry says, what a difference 
was there between Ibsen's family and that of his immediate predecessor 
Jephthah. Ibsen has 60 children and all 
married. Jephthah but one, a daughter 
that dies or lives unmarried. Some are increased, others are 
diminished. Both are the Lord's doing. We kind of talked about that 
last week after the microphone went off. One of the things we're 
supposed to appreciate in our Bible study is the sovereignty 
of God. Somebody mentioned something, 
I think I mentioned Acts 12. In Acts 12, James is beheaded. Peter is in prison. Peter gets 
out of prison. Why? Does God like Peter better? No, they're both believers in 
the Lord Jesus Christ. because God, in his sovereign 
plan and purpose, has something for Peter that he didn't have 
for James. The sovereignty of God needs 
to translate from a doctrinal position wherein we affirm the 
five points of Calvinism and the doctrines of sovereign grace 
to practical Christianity. God is sovereign over wombs. God is sovereign over men. God 
is sovereign over circumstances. God is sovereign over events. 
God is sovereign over how long a man exercises his judgeship. God is sovereign over how many 
oppressors that particular man has to deal with and battle and 
fight against. God is dealing with each of his 
people according to his prerogative and according to his plan. We 
are to submit and be faithful and do what the Lord God calls 
us to do. And in the book of Judges, we 
see that. Differences in terms of who gets reported on, who 
gets more space, who gets more time in terms of print. The bottom 
line is that we're to look through these men, look through these 
agents to the God who is orchestrating all things according to his perfect 
plan. Well, let us pray. And then if 
there's any questions, we can talk about that. Father, we thank 
you for your word. We thank you, God, for the fact 
that you used Japheth. And we thank you that he's in 
the book of Hebrews, that he's a man of faith. And we know that 
it's by faith. It's not by works. It's not by 
our merit. It's not by our law-keeping. 
It's based on what Christ has done on our behalf. And in this, 
we greatly rejoice, Lord God. I pray that you would encourage 
our hearts and strengthen us in the faith, cause us to appreciate 
your so great a salvation as it comes to us through this book 
of Judges. Go with us now, we pray, in Jesus' holy name. Amen.