1The Ephraimites quarrel with Jephthah; are smitten by the Gileadites, and, being discerned by the word Shibboleth, are slain in great numbers. 7Jephthah dieth. 8Ibzan, who had thirty sons and thirty daughters, judgeth Israel; 11after him Elon; 13and Abdon, who had forty sons and thirty nephews.
1AND the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went 1northward, and said unto Jephthah, 2Whereforea passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst 3not call us to go with thee? we will burn 4thine house upon thee with fire.
1 Understand across the Jordan into the land of Gilead, where Jephthah was, northward.
2 As they had formerly spoken unto Gideon, Judges 8:1. But suffered themselves at that time to be told, but here they, out of mere pride and insolence, raise a civil war, and show great ingratitude toward Jephthah, to their own damage and detriment.
a Judges 8:1.
3 Jephthah declares the clean contrary in the following verse.
4 Other, burn thine house over, or, above thee with fire.
2And Jephthah said unto them, 5I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.
5 Hebr. I was a man of strife, and my people, and the children of Ammon greatly. Intimating, that although the Ammonites pretended or claimed not any right to the land of Ephraim, but of the Israelites that dwelt in Gilead, yet notwithstanding he had called the men of Ephraim, as being their brethren and confederates, to aid and assist them, but all in vain. Jephthah seeks first by arguments to move them to desist from taking up arms, as he had previously done to the Ammonites. Concerning the Hebrew phrase, compare 2 Sam. 8 on verse 10.
3And when I saw that 6ye delivered me not, I put my life in my 7hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the 8LORD delivered them into my hand: 9wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me?
6 Ephraim.
7 Hebr. palm; that is, I jeopardized myself exceedingly; also 1 Sam. 19 on verse 5; 1 Sam. 28:21; Job 13:14; Psalm 119:109. The phrase seems to be taken from those who carry some costly and precious, yet very brittle commodity, as glass or the like, in their hand, with the danger to let it fall, and be broken. Compare Judges 9:17.
8 Confirming my calling, and the equity or justness of this war.
9 Seeing ye have no cause at all.
4Then Jephthah 10gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, 11because they 12said, Ye Gileadites are 13fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.
10 Seeing that Ephraim remained stubborn and wanted to overtake him.
11 In the Hebrew the words are thus transposed: for they said, Ye are fugitives from Ephraim, namely the Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, in the midst of Manasseh, that is, those who dwelt at the ferries of Jordan, between Ephraim and Manasseh; this verse is expounded in the following. Other, Ye Gileadites are fugitives from Ephraim, among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites. As if those of Ephraim had spoken so scornfully and disdainfully of the Gileadites, or were wont to speak; and that was the cause or occasion of the war, and of their discomfiture, whereof the understanding reader may judge.
12 Understand, unto the Ephraimites, whom they knew by their speech, when they, after that Ephraim was conquered and put to flight, thought to escape over the Jordan into their own land.
13 Hebr. properly, such as have escaped, out-run, got sheer away.
5And the Gileadites took the 14passages 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 15him, Art thou an 16Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
14 As Ephraim by Jephthah’s edict had done to the Midianites, Judges 7:24, that they might not escape.
15 Namely, unto every one of Ephraim who desired to pass over the Jordan.
16 Or, Ephrathite. Thus in 1 Sam. 1:1.
6Then said they unto him, 17Say now 18Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frameb to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and 19slew him at the passagesc of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
17 To be sure, that he was of no tribe dwelling in Gilead, as Reubenite, Gadite, or Manassite, who also might come to the ferries to pass over.
18 That is, a stream, flood or current. Sometimes also an ear of corn. This word they made their choice, because it agreed well with the ferries of Jordan, and the Ephratites, without suspicion, would reveal their speech; as it often happens that one people or nation having one sort of language, yet in one part of the land pronounce several words and letters different than they do in another. Compare Mat. 26:73.
b manage*
19 Hebr. properly, cut his throat, throated him.
c fords
7And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the 20cities of Gilead.
20 Or, in the cities. See the like phrase Gen. 19:29; Judges 18:14; 2 Chron. 35:24; Neh. 6:2; Jonah 1:5; Mat. 27:44. Some perceive, that the most important city in Gilead might be thus called, because it might have been divided into sundry parts, each part having a peculiar name, as Jerusalem, Ramathaim, 1 Sam. 1:1; and at this day many such like great cities are found.
8¶And after him Ibzan of 21Beth-lehem judged Israel.
21 See Gen. 35:19. There were two cities of that name; one in Judah, where our Savior Jesus Christ was born; the other on the northern borders of Zebulon, see Joshua 19:15, which seems to be meant here, because the other is commonly called, Bethlehem-judah.
9And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whom he 22sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.
22 That is, he gave thirty daughters abroad in marriage, and took again thirty from abroad, to be wives for his sons.
10Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Beth-lehem.
11¶And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years.
12And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in 23Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.
23 To distinguish it from another Ajalon in the land of Dan, Judges 1:35. It seems that there were more cities of this name in other tribes. See 1 Chron. 6:69; 8:13; 2 Chron. 11:10; 28:18.
13¶And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a 24Pirathonite, judged Israel.
24 From hence was also Benaiah, one of David’s worthies, 2 Sam. 23:30. The city Pirathon was situated westward of Samaria and Shechem, on a high mountain, called, the mountain of the Amalekite, or of the Amalekites.
14And he had forty sons and thirty nephews,d that 25rode on threescore and ten ass colts:e and he judged Israel eight years.
d grandsons
25 See Judges 5 on verse 10; Judges 10:4.
e Judges 10:4.
15And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the 26Amalekites.
26 The specific land of the Amalekites was situated outside the borders of Canaan, in the south-east, over against Egypt, by the Red Sea, at the wilderness of Havilah. See 1 Sam. 15:7, and compare Exod. 17:8. But it seems from this place, that in former times a part also dwelt in Ephraim, or at least sought to settle there.