Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Jephthah strikes down the Ephrathites for their rebellion and insult. Then (verse 7) in the sixth year of his rule he dies, and the tenth Judge, Abesan, succeeds him, and after him the eleventh, Ahialon, who upon his death is replaced by the twelfth, Abdon.
Vulgate Text: Judges 12:1-15
1. But behold, a revolt arose in Ephraim. For crossing toward the north, they said to Jephthah: Why, when you went to fight against the children of Ammon, did you refuse to call us, that we might go with you? Therefore we will burn your house. 2. He answered them: I and my people had a fierce dispute with the children of Ammon; and I called you, that you might give me help, and you refused. 3. Seeing this, I put my life in my hands and crossed over to the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hands. What have I deserved, that you should rise up against me in battle? 4. Therefore, calling all the men of Gilead to himself, he fought against Ephraim; and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because he had said: Gilead is a fugitive from Ephraim, and dwells in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh. 5. And the Gileadites occupied the fords of the Jordan by which Ephraim was to return. And when any man of Ephraim came there in flight and said: I beg you, let me cross over — the Gileadites would say to him: Are you an Ephrathite? And when he said: No, 6. they would ask him: Say then 'Shibboleth,' which means 'Ear of grain.' He would answer 'Sibboleth,' not being able to express the ear of grain with the same letter. And immediately they would seize him and slay him at the very crossing of the Jordan. And at that time forty-two thousand of Ephraim fell. 7. And Jephthah the Gileadite judged Israel six years, and he died, and was buried in his city in Gilead. 8. After him Abesan of Bethlehem judged Israel, 9. who had thirty sons, and as many daughters, whom he sent forth and gave to husbands, and for his sons he received wives of the same number, bringing them into his house. He judged Israel seven years, 10. and he died and was buried in Bethlehem. 11. After him Ahialon the Zebulonite succeeded, and judged Israel ten years; 12. and he died and was buried in Zebulun. 13. After him Abdon, son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, judged Israel, 14. who had forty sons and thirty grandsons from them, mounting upon seventy young donkeys; and he judged Israel eight years; 15. and he died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mountain of Amalek.
Verse 1: The Revolt of Ephraim
1. BUT BEHOLD, A REVOLT AROSE IN EPHRAIM — similar to the one in which the same people for the same reason murmured against Gideon (chapter 8, verse 1). For the Ephraimites, or Ephrathites, were arrogant men, and they proudly preferred themselves to the Manassites (of which tribe Jephthah was), as I noted at chapter 8, verse 1.
FOR CROSSING (the Jordan) TOWARD THE NORTH THEY SAID TO JEPHTHAH. — The Ephraimites with half the tribe of Manasseh dwelt on the western side of the Jordan; here therefore they cross the Jordan to the other half of the tribe of Manasseh dwelling toward the north, that is, toward Mount Lebanon and Hermon, in order to remonstrate with Jephthah, who dwelt there in Mizpah, because he had not called them to share in the war.
THEREFORE WE WILL BURN YOUR HOUSE — and you in it. For the Hebrew and the Septuagint add 'with you' or 'upon you.'
Verse 3: I Put My Life in My Hands
3. I PUT MY LIFE IN MY HANDS — that is, I exposed my life to peril and danger in a doubtful battle against the Ammonites, as if to say: When you were called to the hazard of war but refused the danger, I alone undertook it for you and as victor drove it away from you and all Israel. Therefore you should not make an uproar against me but give me thanks. Thus Job says (chapter 13, verse 14): "I carry my life in my hands." And David: "My soul is in my hands always" (Psalm 119:109). "And I put my life in my hand" (1 Samuel 28:21). For whoever does not store away gold, oil, wine, or a similar precious thing to keep it safe, but carries it in hand, certainly risks having it snatched away, or having it fall to the ground and spill — he exposes it to danger.
Verse 4: Gilead Is a Fugitive from Ephraim
4. GILEAD IS A FUGITIVE FROM EPHRAIM; AND HE DWELLS IN THE MIDST OF EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. — This is the force and significance of this insult, as if to say: You, O Jephthah, together with your Manassites dwelling across the Jordan in Gilead, are a base and worthless man, because as a spurious son cast out of your father's house you fled to Gilead, just as your Manassites were excluded from the common habitation of the tribe of Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who dwell on the western side of the Jordan with all the other tribes of Israel. Therefore you seem as if expelled and rejected like fugitives, driven back to this edge and corner of the Gileadite territory across the Jordan, as if unworthy to dwell with the other tribes in the promised land on the western side of the Jordan — as if to say: You are mere miserable Gileadites; you are the refuse of Israel; you are the dregs of Ephraim and Manasseh dwelling on the western side of the Jordan. Therefore, though you boast of dwelling in the midst of these two most noble tribes and of belonging to them, because you live near them, yet in truth you are their castoffs, because you do not dwell among them but as fugitives expelled by them, you dwell in remote Gilead, as if at the extreme edge of the promised land, and as such you are regarded and esteemed by the Ephraimites and the other Manassites on the western side of the Jordan. Secondly, in a proper sense: "Gilead is a fugitive from Ephraim," as if to say: When we Ephraimites suddenly and unexpectedly invaded and ravaged the Gileadite territory, the Gileadites fled from their villages to their cities. Therefore they are fugitives, and they neither can nor dare resist us. So they spoke proudly. But shortly afterward, the Gileadites, mustering their forces, showed they were not fugitives, but struck down the Ephraimites themselves and forced them to flee. See here the insolence and damages of an intemperate tongue. For on account of this word and insult, forty-two thousand from Ephraim were slain by Jephthah (verse 6).
Verse 5: Are You an Ephrathite?
5. ARE YOU AN EPHRATHITE? — that is, one originating from the tribe of Ephraim, which stirred up this quarrel and fight against us.
Verse 6: Say Then Shibboleth
6. SAY THEN SHIBBOLETH, ETC., AND HE WOULD ANSWER SIBBOLETH. — The Gileadites, pursuing the fleeing Ephrathite enemies, when those men denied being Ephrathites so as not to be killed by them, tested the truth through the pronunciation of the word 'Shibboleth.' For the Ephrathites could not pronounce 'Shibboleth' with the aspiration, but instead said it softly and as if with a lisp, saying 'Sibboleth'; namely, they were unable to pronounce the letter shin, but said sin in its place, and from this they were recognized as Ephrathites and enemies, and were therefore slaughtered. In exactly the same way, through the pronunciation of the same aspiration, the Flemish test whether someone is French or not: Pronounce, they say, 'acht en tachtentich' (that is, 88). For the French, being unable to utter the aspiration 'ch,' say softly 'acht en tachtentich,' and by this are recognized as French.
WHICH IS TRANSLATED 'EAR OF GRAIN.' — 'Shibboleth' can also be translated as 'the flow of a river,' 'a channel,' or 'a flood,' as Pagninus, Vatablus, and others render it, and this fits the location. For this test of the Ephrathites was conducted at the fords and current of the Jordan, as if they had received this word rather than others from the present circumstances, as a sign and password of their nation and people. The Septuagint translates: 'Say now ear of grain as the password,' that is, pronounce the password, namely the word 'Shibboleth,' meaning 'ear of grain.' For soldiers have their password at night, by which they can recognize whether someone is a friend or an enemy; for friends know it, while enemies do not.
Verse 7: Buried in His City in Gilead
7. BURIED IN HIS CITY IN GILEAD — that is, in Mizpah, which was a city of the Gileadite region; this is clear from the Hebrew, in which 'Gilead' is in the genitive case. So Serarius and others.
Verse 8: Abesan of Bethlehem
8. ABESAN OF BETHLEHEM. — Maldonatus on Matthew chapter 2, verse 1, takes it as the Bethlehem that was in the tribe of Zebulun, and therefore judges Abesan to have been a Zebulonite. But others generally take it as the Bethlehem in the tribe of Judah, and assert that Abesan originated from there. Furthermore, the Rabbis conjecture that Abesan is Boaz, the husband of Ruth; but they do not prove it, even though the chronological sequence roughly agrees.
Verse 11: Ahialon Succeeded Him
11. AHIALON SUCCEEDED HIM. — The Septuagint: Elon. It is remarkable that he is omitted by Eusebius in the Chronicon. In the time of Ahialon, Troy was destroyed by the Greeks, Priam was killed, and Aeneas fled to Latium, where he reigned; before him there had reigned in the same place Janus, Saturn, Picus, Faunus, and Latinus for 150 years. Ascanius succeeded Aeneas, and after him others, from whom at last descended Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome around the time of Ahaz, king of Judah. At that time also occurred the wanderings of Ulysses, the exploits of Pylades and Orestes and the other Trojan and Greek princes, who flourished after the destruction of Troy, or are imagined by the poets to have flourished. So Eusebius, Bellarmine, Salianus, Torniellus, and others in their Chronicles.
Verse 13: Abdon, Son of Hillel
13. ABDON, SON OF HILLEL, THE PIRATHONITE. — Hence it is clear that Abdon was from the tribe of Ephraim; for Pirathon was in this tribe, as is clear from verse 15 and from Josephus, book 13 of the Antiquities, who also adds that his burial was splendid.
Verse 15: In the Mountain of Amalek
15. IN THE MOUNTAIN OF AMALEK. — This mountain, says Abulensis, was named Amalek, either from a man whose proper name was Amalek, whose mountain this was, as Dionysius holds, or because it formerly belonged to the Amalekites.