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Judges 12 Bible study: At the fords of the Jordan
It wasn't the word "Shibboleth" that gave a man away at the fords; it was saying "Sibboleth" (12:6). The Gileadites had been taunted as "fugitives of Ephraim" (12:4), and at the fords the fugitives were Ephraim's own (12:5). It began with almost the same complaint Gideon had answered (8:1-3).
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“When I saw that you didn’t save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me today, to fight against me?”
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“In Judges 12, a man at the fords was found out when he said "Sibboleth".”
Is that in Judges 12, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
The same complaint, a second time
"The men of Ephraim were gathered together" (12:1) (tap gathered together), and they said to Jephthah, "Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn’t call us to go with you?" (12:1). You have heard this complaint before. Both times the men of Ephraim ask why they weren't called when he went to fight; in Hebrew both use the same verb for call and the same verb for fight. They said to Gideon, "Why have you treated us this way, that you didn’t call us when you went to fight with Midian?" (8:1). This time they add a threat: "We will burn your house around you with fire!" (12:1). Jephthah answers, "I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, you didn’t save me out of their hand" (12:2), and "Why then have you come up to me today, to fight against me?" (12:3). Chapters 10 and 11 don't tell of that call; 12:2 is where Jephthah says it. They do say that Ammon "passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim" (10:9). With Gideon, that quarrel ended, "Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that" (8:3). Here, the next verse is "Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim" (12:4).
Where it leads to Jesus
Blessed are the peacemakers
Judges 12:4leads toMatthew 5:9
The men of Ephraim came to Jephthah saying, "We will burn your house around you with fire!" (12:1), and it ended at the fords of the Jordan: "At that time, forty-two thousand of Ephraim fell" (12:6). Jesus taught, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God" (Matthew 5:9). Jesus doesn't cite Judges 12, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Both times the complaint was answered with words (8:2-3, 12:2-3). Some set the blessing beside the chapter because it shows where a quarrel among God's people can end, while almost the same complaint to Gideon ended when "their anger was abated toward him" (8:3). Others keep each in its setting: Judges 12 records the battle and gives no verdict on it, and Jesus is teaching his disciples on the mountain (Matthew 5:1-2), not speaking of Jephthah or Ephraim.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Judges 12
That was a taste
The rest of Judges 12 is waiting in Favor
- Fugitives at the fords
- It was the way he said it
- Ephraim and Manasseh
- In the hill country of the Amalekites
- 12 questions as you read
- 9 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
שִׁבֹּלֶתshibboletsay shib-BO-let
Brown-Driver-Briggs lists two nouns with this spelling: "flowing stream" and "ear of grain". Strong's keeps both under one number: "a stream (as flowing); also an ear of grain (as growing out)". Elsewhere the WEB renders it "heads of grain" (Genesis 41:5), in Pharaoh's dream, and "floods" in "where the floods overflow me" (Psalm 69:2). The men of Gilead told each man at the fords to say it (12:6). The chapter doesn't say which meaning they had in mind; what it tells is how a man pronounced it (12:6). This is its only use in Judges.
For your group
Judges 12 Bible study questions
- 1The men of Ephraim were angry that they hadn't been called (12:1). When someone tells you they felt left out, what helps you answer them well?
- 2At the fords a man was judged by how he said one word (12:6). Have you ever written someone off over something small? What would help you listen to them first?
- 3Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God" (Matthew 5:9). Where is there a quarrel near you, at home, at church or at work, where you could help make peace this week?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Judges 12 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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