Jephthah and the Civil War with Ephraim at the Shibboleth Fords

Judges 12:1-6 records the bitter civil war that erupted in the wake of Jephthah's victory over Ammon. The men of Ephraim crossed the Jordan northward to Zaphon in Gad's territory and confronted Jephthah with a familiar accusation — the same complaint they had once made against Gideon (Judges 8:1): "Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire." Jephthah replied that he had in fact summoned them and they had refused to come. The exchange degenerated into a tribal insult — Ephraim accused the Gileadites of being "fugitives of Ephraim" — and into outright war.

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