Saturday - Judges 12 - Civil War

Much like the Ephraimites had complained against Gideon for not including them in his war plan (Judges 8:1); they also became angry against Jephthah because they perceived that he had slighted them. The confrontation was so severe that a regional civil war erupted (in which Jephthah's men killed 42,000 of their Ephraimite brethren). The 2 sides were so close together that the way Jephthah's men differentiated between their side and the members of the Ephraimite army was by a linguistic test that required proficiency in speaking a specific word in their local dialect to prove which side each man was on.

After putting the Ephraimite troublemakers in their place, Jephthah served as a judge in Israel for 6 more years before his death. He was followed in succession by lbzan who judged Israel for 7 years, Elon who judged Israel for 10 years, and Abdon who judged Israel for 8 years. And, on the horizon is the great champion Samson.