((The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Judges 12:8–15, “And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Bethlehem. And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years. And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun. And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel. And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years. And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.”
The book of Judges is instructive for all who read it. This is part of the overall history of the redemption of the world and the episodes that are recorded are put in place to teach us of the Lord’s plan. On the other hand, it also a history of the period between Joshua and Samuel so parts of the history are recorded in brief for the sake of continuity. We have a record here of three judges, Ibzan, Elon and Abdon. It wasn’t necessary to record any specific lessons to be learnt from their times as judges.At that time, Israel had not been united under one leader. There were often times when one tribe or group of tribes acted alone to defend themselves against invaders. In this case the men from the tribe of Ephraim were upset that they weren’t given the chance to take spoil from the Ammonites. They saw that Jephthah had won a great victory and were jealous of spoil that he had taken. They told Jephthah that he was in the wrong in this case but he asked them why they didn’t come before the Ammonites were defeated. This led to an argument between Gilead and the Ephraimites. The complainers were soundly defeated and tried to return over the River Jordan to their own homes. Jephthah’s men guarded the ford over the river. When people came to cross the river they all said that they belonged to Jephthah’s men so these men devised a test. We know that people from different ethnic groups make different sounds and pronounce things in different ways. For example, people who grew up in Indochina find it hard to “P” at the beginning of a word. They would naturally say “Fressure” rather than “Pressure” for example. The people who live on the west bank of the river said, “Sibboleth” instead of “Shibboleth” like the people from the east bank. when they said the wrong word they were killed. Jephthah was the judge for six years after his great victory over the Ammonites.
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