"The men of Ephraim mustered their troops, crossed to Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you go out to fight the Ammonites without letting us go with you? We’re going to burn your house down on you!” Jephthah said, “I and my people had our hands full negotiating with the Ammonites. And I did call to you for help but you ignored me. When I saw that you weren’t coming, I took my life in my hands and confronted the Ammonites myself. And God gave them to me! So why did you show up here today? Are you spoiling for a fight with me?”
So Jephthah got his Gilead troops together and fought Ephraim. And the men of Gilead hit them hard because they were saying, “Gileadites are nothing but half breeds and rejects from Ephraim and Manasseh.”
Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan at the crossing to Ephraim. If an Ephraimite fugitive said, “Let me cross,” the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” and he would say, “No.” And they would say, “Say, ‘Shibboleth.’” But he would always say, “Sibboleth”—he couldn’t say it right. Then they would grab him and kill him there at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two Ephraimite divisions were killed on that occasion. Jephthah judged Israel six years. Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city, Mizpah of Gilead."
I've had to read this a bunch to understand what really was going on. A few things I pieced together:
1 - We must celebrate victory, not stand in defeat. Israel just walked through a big victory (remember from the last chapter?), but instead of celebrating, they were fighting among themselves. Jealousy, bitterness, selfishness and greed overtook the miracles that the Lord had JUST done for them. And the result of that nasty stuff was.....42,000 of them died. Jesus gives us victory for a reason - to CELEBRATE IT! Don't give the enemy any ground at all when the Lord does a miracle in your life.
"My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?" Galations 5:16-18
2 - We have to think before we act, and we have to act according to the spirit. Jephthah had been really good about going to the Lord and seeking His counsel before he acted, until now. When the Ephraimites came at him with all of these, let's just say, opposites of the fruits of the spirit, he really just reacted in the same way they had acted. Ohhhhhhh, this is not an easy one. It is very tempting to lash back at people when they throw insults and accusations at you. Believe me, I deal with this a lot. I remember one time when my friend Mario got really mad at me, picked up a big, clay flower pot and threw it at me, right in the middle of the street. I sure did want to pick it up and throw it right back at him. For real. But, thank you Jesus that you send the Holy Spirit to convict us and give us time to react like you!
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14
3 - Don't let 1 word have influence over what you do. It doesn't make sense to me why they would use the pronunciation of a word determine if people lived or died, but a lot of things don't make sense to me. Like fax machines, or golf. But this was how Jephthah was going to use his authority as judge to deal with the Ephraimites. Words are powerful and carry a lot of hurt, or healing.
"A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!" James 3:3-5
Of these three, this is what I came to the conclusion of:
give satan ground to rule = all the opposites of the fruits of the spirits = death
BUT
Jesus gives us victory to celebrate! = Holy Spirit helps us respond in love! = LIFE!
one of my favorite pieces of art. worth more than millions to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment