121 Then the men of Ephraim were summoned , and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah , "Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you." 2 Jephthah said to them, "I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon ; when I called you, you did not deliver me from their hand . 3 "When I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon , and the Lord gave them into my hand . Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?" 4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim ; and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim , because they said , "You are fugitives of Ephraim , O Gileadites , in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh ." 5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim . And it happened when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said , "Let me cross over ," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephraimite ?" If he said , "No ," 6 then they would say to him, "Say now , 'Shibboleth .' " But he said , "Sibboleth ," for he could not pronounce it correctly . Then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan . Thus there fell at that time 42,000 e e of Ephraim .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 12:1-6
Commentary on Judges 12:1-7
(Read Judges 12:1-7)
The Ephraimites had the same quarrel with Jephthah as with Gideon. Pride was at the bottom of the quarrel; only by that comes contention. It is ill to fasten names of reproach upon persons or countries, as is common, especially upon those under outward disadvantages. It often occasions quarrels that prove of ill consequence, as it did here. No contentions are so bitter as those between brethren or rivals for honour. What need we have to watch and pray against evil tempers! May the Lord incline all his people to follow after things which make for peace!