Judges 12: Shibboleth

Shibboleth!

This word of curious sound and orthography has endured through the ages to become a by-word in our present tongue. Why? In one regard we are not surprised, for the Bible is a font of verbal expression. Even some of the most sacred turns-of-phrase have been adopted (or co-opted) by our post-modern culture. What secularist would blush to describe someone as “turning the other cheek” or as “salt of the earth” or even to exclaim “Hallelujah” when driving home a point? And this one word—Shibboleth—is so packed with historical drama that it makes an informed hearer shudder upon its very oration: forty-two thousand lives were snuffed out for want of a single consonant.

The text states in verse six that the Ephraimites simply could not form a “sh” sound with their mouths. When challenged, their dialect gave them away much as Peter’s Galilean speech may have given him away on the night of Jesus’ betrayal. Matthew Henry states that the Ephraimites apparently had a custom to pronounce the Hebrew letter Shin like the letter Samech.

We can make some observations.

First, the Ephraimites dealt harshly with Jephthah without cause and they were repaid. (As our countrymen might again say in unwitting echo of Scripture, “They that live by the sword die shall die by the sword.”) The Ephraimites were without excuse in their harsh threats to bring incendiary destruction upon the house of Jephthah merely for not being invited to the Ammonite-killing “party”. Indeed, their bloodlust is hard to fathom.

Secondly, our attention to detail in the worship of God matters. For want of a nimble palate the Ephraimites were decimated. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron—the sons of the very first high priest of Israel—were struck down merely for offering improper incense to the LORD (Lev. 10:1). Uzzah merely tried to right the ark as it was falling from the cart and was killed (II Sam. 6:6-7). Herod merely accepted the plaudits of an adoring public without acknowledgment of God, and was consumed by worms (Acts 12:20-23).

The severity of the judgment that fell upon the Ephraimites is a warning to all. Our God is a consuming fire, and whoever violates one precept of the law has transgressed in all. But the Christian who submits to the lordship of Christ can point to the One who makes the dumb to speak. He will be our speaker at the Last Day. Our tongues will not be tied, nor our speech halting. The closing argument of the Great Advocate will not merely grant us passage across the Jordan of Palestine that the Ephraimites sought. His speech will lead us across the Jordan of death into the four-square city where there is no night and the Lamb is all its glory. What a Savior!

Posted by Aaron Martin