The Reign of Jephthah Continued

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Chapter 12. This chapter continues the story of Jephthah and his dealing with complaining Ephraimites. Back in Chapter 8 they were angry with Gideon because he hadn't called them to help fight the Midianites. Here they were angry because they thought that Jephthah hadn't asked them to help with the Ammonites. Actually, Jephthah had asked the Tribe of Ephraim for help and they had refused. So Jephthah was angry not only because they had falsely accused him but because they had belittled the troops of Gilead that had responded and defeated the Ammonites.

Jephthah was so angry that he mobilized an army and attacked the Ephraimites and killed 42,000 of their troops. It was hard to tell Ephraimites from other Israelis but they had a distinguishing characteristic, they could not pronounce the letter "H" so to determine if they were Ephraimites, they asked them to pronounce the word Shib-bo-leth. If they said Sib-bo-leth, they were killed.

5. Their rest:
   
   • Jephthah was 8th. Judge of Israel and reigned for 6 years.
   • Ibzan was the 9th. Judge of Israel and reigned for 7 years.
   • Elon was the 10th. Judge of Israel and reigned for 10 years.
   • Abdon was the 11th. Judge of Israel and reigned for 8 years.
   • There was peace in Israel for 31 years.

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