Scripture Reading: Judges 12
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.
Introduction
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.
The Problem with Ephraim
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.
Jephthah's Response
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?
The Conflict and Battle with Ephraim
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.
The Shibboleth Test
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.
Rest Absent: Israel's Decline
So Jephthah judged Israel six years, then he died and he was buried among the cities of Gilead.
Grace Despite Defective Leaders
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.
The Three Minor Judges
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?
The Bible Is Theocentric
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.
David and Goliath: The True Point
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.
Closing Prayer
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.