Self Adulation at the Expense of Others

November 27, 2007

Judges 12: "The men of Ephraim called out their forces, crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, 'Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We're going to burn down your house over your head.' Jephthah answered, 'I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn't save me out of their hands. When I saw that you wouldn't help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?' . . . The Ephraimites said, 'You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.'"

The Ephraimites of the early chapters of Judges are representative of a people who would not help their Jewish brothers when they needed support against their enemies; yet these same Ephraimites would rush in like vultures after the battle to attempt to claim recognition and territory for themselves. We find the same disposition of the Ephraimites several decades earlier under the leadership of Gideon. Gideon had fought against the Midianites; and only after he secured victory, did the Ephraimites come forward and criticize Gideon sharply for their not being invited to the battle (presumably to collect the spoils and adulation of war).

In Jephthah's story, the Ephraimites were enraged that they were not a part of Jephthah's battle with the Ammonites, and they were determined enough that they were going to invade Jephthah and his Gileadites and burn down their houses. In reality, Jephthah had called out to the people of Ephraim to help him in his time of need, but they refused. Now they were willing to lie in the face of Jephthah, denying that they had even been approached by the judge to aid in the battle. They weren't willing to own up to their sin of omission, and instead they lied about the facts to exonerate themselves and justify their battling against Jephthah. In reality, the Ephraimites were looking for an excuse to take from Jephthah the spoils that he had gained through his victory. They wanted the choice possessions and territory for themselves.

When Jephthah responded to their lies, the Ephraimites gravitated toward a common response of people who have no factual support for their fallacious claims and yet still want to be vindicated . . . . They resorted to calling Jephthah and his fellow Gileadites degrading names like "renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh." The Ephraimites attempted to denigrate the Gileadites by referring to them as rebellious deserters of the true clan of Ephraim and Manasseh. They saw the Gileadites as people less worthy than their own clan. The Ephraimites had debased themselves to the point of resorting to name calling and maligning the people of Gilead.

Because the Ephraimites were so determined to destroy the Gileadites and take their possessions, Jephthah, with the help of God, responded with his own invasion of these recalcitrant brothers and killed 42,000. God's judgment was meted upon these dissident people for their pursuit of selfish gain at the expense of the lives of their brothers.