8) Jair rules for 22, and the most interesting thing they have to say about him is that he had 30 sons who rode around on 30 donkeys (which, granted, is reportable, but is not exactly a ringing endorsement of his leadership).
9) Jephthah is a lot more interesting, but tragic events draw the most notice to his leadership. He is a bastard son, not appreciated by the legitimate sons, and is chased away by his half brothers. But he is also a great warrior, and when the Ammonite oppression becomes overwhelming, the brothers seek Jephtha’s help. After some initial disbelief, he agrees to lead.
There are only 2 verses about his victory over the Ammonites, (32-33), (and it is noteworthy that he took military action only after diplomatic efforts had failed), and these are embedded in the story that is clearly more interesting to the author, that of the foolish vow. Jephtha had promised that if his army won the victory, he would offer as a sacrifice the first thing he saw when he got home... and that turned out to be his daughter. He then“dutifully” sacrificed her. Jephtha, his daughter, and apparently everyone else, recognize the grave obligation to keep one's vow to the Lord even if it is a horribly misguided one—they apparently fail however, to realize how utterly loathsome to God human sacrifice is.
[I think I dropped a paragraph or so about the ensuing conflict where his brothers distrust him again after the victory dust settles which is where the 'diplomacy' would have come in]
Although Jephtha demonstrated strong diplomatic skills internationally, he failed on the domestic front, fighting with Ephraim rather than smoothing things over the way that Gideon had managed to do when a similar dispute arose from the Ephraimites after he defeated the Midianites. (We are starting to get a whiny image of the Ephraimites).
This is where the linguistically legendary sh/s pronunciation test is instituted. The Ephraimites were trying to pass as main streamers but apparently had a dialect that didn’t allow for the “sh” sound (or at least not before the vowel in the first syllable of the word in point) and since they weren’t all getting Standard Israeli Hebrew instruction in their public schools, they simply didn’t notice the difference and couldn’t produce the “foreign” sound. Thus it was really easy to identify an Ephraimite by his dialect and inability to pronounce shibboleth, which apparently means ‘stream,’ which is what they were trying to cross on the occasion this little speech exam was administered. 42,000 Ephraimites lost their lives in this way.
Jephtha only ruled Israel for 6 years before he died. (10:6-12:7). And yet he gets airtime in Judges that spans 3 chapters (compared to Tola’s 23 years being brushed off by a single verse).
10) Ibzen of Bethlehem had 30 sons and 30 daughters whom he married cross clan boundaries (12:8-10). He gets 3 verses.
11) Elon of Zebulon, ruled for 10 years (12:11-12). He gets 2 verses.
12) Abdon of Pirathon ruled for 8 years. He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who road on 70 donkeys. (12:13-15). He gets 3 verses.
And then there was Samson…
Although Jephtha demonstrated strong diplomatic skills internationally, he failed on the domestic front, fighting with Ephraim rather than smoothing things over the way that Gideon had managed to do when a similar dispute arose from the Ephraimites after he defeated the Midianites. (We are starting to get a whiny image of the Ephraimites).
This is where the linguistically legendary sh/s pronunciation test is instituted. The Ephraimites were trying to pass as main streamers but apparently had a dialect that didn’t allow for the “sh” sound (or at least not before the vowel in the first syllable of the word in point) and since they weren’t all getting Standard Israeli Hebrew instruction in their public schools, they simply didn’t notice the difference and couldn’t produce the “foreign” sound. Thus it was really easy to identify an Ephraimite by his dialect and inability to pronounce shibboleth, which apparently means ‘stream,’ which is what they were trying to cross on the occasion this little speech exam was administered. 42,000 Ephraimites lost their lives in this way.
Jephtha only ruled Israel for 6 years before he died. (10:6-12:7). And yet he gets airtime in Judges that spans 3 chapters (compared to Tola’s 23 years being brushed off by a single verse).
10) Ibzen of Bethlehem had 30 sons and 30 daughters whom he married cross clan boundaries (12:8-10). He gets 3 verses.
11) Elon of Zebulon, ruled for 10 years (12:11-12). He gets 2 verses.
12) Abdon of Pirathon ruled for 8 years. He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who road on 70 donkeys. (12:13-15). He gets 3 verses.
And then there was Samson…
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