Judges 12:1-15


Jealousy is a very dangerous thing.  The people of Ephraim seem to have a great problem with this and they rose up against Jephthah because they claimed that they had not been called to be a part of the battle against the Amonites.  They had done the same thing with Gideon and now they were at it again only threatening to attach Jephthah and his family for having overlooked them.  When people become jealous and they begin to care more about who gets the credit than they do about what was done it reveals a corrupt heart before the Lord.  I must be very careful to protect my heart from jealousy and pride.  It is easy to slip into the desire for recognition and begin to care more about “my” ministry than the kingdom of God as a whole.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF JEALOUSY: Ephraim’s jealousy led them to threaten violence against Jephthah, but unlike Gideon, Jephthah called them on their treacherous ways and reminded them that he had called them to the battle, but that they had refused to help.  Now they were coming to make threats or war on him.  He would not stand for this and made a preemptive strike and took control of Ephraim’s passage way over the Jordan and as a result thousands of the men of Ephraim died.  Their code for discovering the identity of a person from Ephraim was interesting in that it had to do with the way they pronounced a word.  I would think that would be great motivation to work on one’s diction but apparently this was not as easy as it sounds.  Death of so many was a very high price to pay for their pride and jealousy, but I must always remember that these are serious sins before the Lord because they reveal my true motivation.  Others may not be able to see this in my heart and I may be able to hide it in my words but God can see it in my heart and will judge accordingly.  These things are not to be taken lightly.
THE CONTINUATION OF JUDGES: The next three judges in Israel are Ibzan, Elon and Abdon.  We know very little about them other than the number of children they had, that they had relatively short periods where they were judges of 7, 10 and 8 years respectively.  It seems that some leaders are “movers” while other leaders are “maintainers.”  I think that there is room in the kingdom for both types of leaders and God raises up different men with different gifts at different times for different purposes.  We must be careful not to think that all leaders must be cut from the same mold but I also think that we should look to the Lord and aspire to trust Him to do great things.  We should expect great things from God and attempt great things for God for He truly is a great God.

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