Contemplative Bible Reading

Judges 12:5-6 (New Living Translation)

5 Jephthah captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go back across, the men of Gilead would challenge him. “Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,” 6 they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly. Then they would take him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites were killed at that time.

This is one of those stories from the (hi)story of God’s people that just doesn’t make any sense to me. Woe is me. In the time of the Judges, lots of military action and death, we have yet another hotly contested dispute.

At this time, the people of Ephraim had an accent. They didn’t pronounce the word “Shibboleth” they same way that the other folks did. It was an indication that “they are one of them, not one of us.” If “they are them not us, kill ’em.”

42,000 men were killed. Let’s repeat, 42,000 men were killed.

The people of Gilead (the killers) and the people of Ephraim (the killed) were cousins. They were all related and traced their families back to Jacob. Cousins were murdering cousins, and this was all in the name of something that was supposed to be, well, someone thought it good.

Live by justice and righteousness? Forget that. Kill anyone with one of those accents.

Sigh. We do these things; we wonder why God is not pleased. Okay, I haven’t killed any distant cousins this week. Sure, I may have become angry at someone I read about or saw on TV or Facebook, but I didn’t…well, I didn’t show much love or understanding and didn’t behave just and right.

Please God, help me in my unbelief.