One of my favorite stories from when I was a coach for the local high school before it closed, happened in my second year. When the local high school had sports, I coached two years, with only three loses. Both years saw teams that where pretty good and had a lot of potential. If they kept their grades up, they could have gone a long way in their state tournament.
As a coach I was very detailed and in my approach to the game. From day one every player was treated as if it were their first time touching a baseball, and so we worked from the ground up. But one of the things that makes a team great, is their ability to work as a team. The 2003 Florida Marlins exemplified this idea. In the World Series that year they were playing the New York Yankees. The Yankees were well known for spending a lot of money to bring in talent to win pennants. They had people like Roger Clemens, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, and Raul Mondesi. These guys were giants. Up to that point, starting in 1996, the Yankees had made it to the World Series five out of the seven years, winning four of them. These guys were wrecking balls. The Marlins on the other hand were a young team with basically a bunch of unknowns. They fought to make it to the World Series that year. And they won a huge upset with a four games to two win.
Team cohesion is very important, so when one of my guys didn’t follow the rules, the whole team suffered. One instance was when I told them that as long as the girls’ softball team was practicing near by, they had to wear their shirts. One boy didn’t like that and proceeded to practice without his shirt. Because of that, the rest of the team had to run the bases. That means they had to sprint from home to first, shuffle from first to second, sprint from second to third, and shuffle from third to home; then they had to do it again without a break. I told them they had to keep doing this until the boy put his shirt back on. After about fifteen minutes of this the team began to complain that they were tired. So I told them, as long as that boy kept his shirt off they would be doing it until practice was over. Then I told them that I was going to go get some water, and would be right back, maybe they could convince the boy to put his shirt back on, one way or the other. Once I turned my back to head to the dug out, I hear a scream and after a few moments I turned back and saw that the team had tacked the boy and forced him to put his shirt on.
After that, we never had a problem with following the rules, because the team self-regulated. They found something far more useful that day than any drills I could put them through, they found unity as a team.
And it’s this idea of unity that brings us back into our summer series, where we’ll be picking it up in chapter 12 of the book of Judges. And as we open up to Judges 12:1, let’s look back on where we are so far in our series.
We’ve been talking about three themes throughout the book, because Judges is a condensed version of the entire Scriptures. God’s faithfulness in the face of unfaithfulness, God’s call to obedient life, and the consequences of disobedience affecting all areas of life, can be seen throughout the whole of Scripture. From Genesis, the first book of the Bible, to Revelation, the last book, we can see how these three themes appear again and again. The book of Judges takes those three overarching themes of Scripture and shows us a period of time in the nation of Israel’s history where these three themes happened again and again. In this cycle of downward spiraling that leads to horrific situations. Like human sacrifice, which we saw last week.
It was in the first part of Jephthah’s story where she saw morally corrupt leaders, call on a morally corrupt man to fight their battle for them. This led to Jephthah, the morally corrupt man, making a rash vow of sacrifice which led to his daughter’s, which was his only child, death. And so it’s during this time that seems to take place after that event where we pick up the second part and the end of Jephthah’s story. Let’s read together Judges chapter 12, starting in verse 1.
“1 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, ‘Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.’ 2 And Jephthah said to them, ‘I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. 3 And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?’
“4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, ‘You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.’ 5 And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, ‘Let me go over,’ the men of Gilead said to him, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ When he said, ‘No,’ 6 they said to him, ‘Then say Shibboleth,’ and he said, ‘Sibboleth,’ for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.
“7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.”
This moment in time seems to take place soon after the sacrifice of Jephthah’s daughter, and if not, is intended to link the two events together. So we must put Jephthah into this context of just having to fulfill his vow and sacrifice his daughter. Last week we said, there’s two interpretations of the girl’s sacrifice, either she was killed in the sacrifice, or she had to stay a perpetual virgin. Either way the dynasty of Jephthah, which he wanted to happen by taking the position of head of Gilead, came crashing down around him.
It’s in this place where his self-centered desired to be great is no longer an option, that we get another tribe of Israel showing up. Ephraim has been involved several times with fighting throughout the book of Judges, but this isn’t the first time they have accused another Israelite group from not calling on them. Just four chapters early in chapter 8 verse 1, Ephraim shows up and says this to Gideon, “‘What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?’ And they accused him fiercely.” The accusation is against Gideon, which gives us another connection between these two judges like we saw last week. What these connections mean is that Jephthah is like Gideon, in so many ways, yet whereas Gideon did trust God, with Jephthah, there is no that he trusted God.
Even though these two men are being connected in their life events, the way they deal with their situations with Ephraim lead to two different outcomes. Gideon tries to approach the situation diplomatically; which works and we’re told that “[Ephraim’s] anger against him subsided…(8:3)”
Whereas Jephthah, like he did with the Ammonites in chapter 11, goads his Israelite cousins into open war. Instead of seeking peace, like Gideon did, Jephthah accuses Ephraim of not coming when called. And war breaks out when Ephraim calls the Gileadites fugitives, implying that they have no claim to what they are doing, and in turn seem to be going outside of God’s prescription for Israel’s tribal boundaries.
This leads to a war between the tribe of Ephraim and the clan of Gilead, one in which Jephthah wins, but there are no good guys here. Instead what we see is the first major open conflict within Israel. It’s the first of many future civil wars.
Jephthah’s story ends on a low note. He has no daughter and no legacy, he has killed 40+ thousand of his own cousins in Ephraim, and his rule only lasts six years. To put that into perspective, the average rest time of the previous seven judges was thirty-five years; with the shortest rest time being twenty-two years up to this point.
It’s here that we read the last three Judges starting in verse 8 of chapter 12.
“8 After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.”
“11 After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. 12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
“13 After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. 15 Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.”
These three judges show us that we have come to the end of section three of the Judges’ stories, after this there is only one more Judge, Samson.
But these three judges aren’t here just to let us know we’ve ended another section, but to show us how the sin of Gideon, continued on past Jephthah.
The first and third judges are given more focus than the second one, letting us know that he isn’t very important. But what’s interesting about this whole situation is that unlike the majority of judges so far, we are never told what these judges did. The focus turns away form how God has delivered Israel through the judges and now is focused on their offspring. Ibzan and Abdon, like Gideon and Jair, have a dynastic view. The focus is their large families, and like what have said before, this is a sign that these judges are conducting themselves in a royal way.
In addition to the focus being turned away from their job as God ordained warriors for Israel, on to their own goals of being a ruler, one thing these three judges have in common is the shortness of their tenure. We can include Jephthah here where his rule was six years, Ibzan is seven years, Elon is ten years, and Abdon is eight years. This points to the downfall of the judges and how as they were seek their own kingdoms and dynasties, and as they did, their rule shrinks to a decade or less for each.
So ends section three of the book of Judges, as we move into the final judge next week. Who, is not just the last judge, but also the worst of them all.
What can walk away from this with? There’s really two things that walk hand-in-hand together here. Disunity and selfishness. Each of these last four judges seem to have one thing in common, they’re selfish. They’re out for their own kingdoms, not God’s. In Jephthah’s case this selfishness leads to a civil war between God’s chosen people.
Looking back all the way to the book of Joshua and then looking to the opening pages of the book of Judges, we saw that the unity of Israel was prevailing because the focus was on God bringing the victory for everyone. Now at the end we see that focus completely disappeared, and with the they unity, and all that’s left is the selfishness of the people.
If you follow any type of end of the world preparation, there’s always a question that arises. If you prepare and your neighbor doesn’t will you help them, knowing that it will be detrimental for you?
In situations where nothing matters but me, we make decision that benefit me and no one else. When God isn’t the standard by which we see the bigger picture of his kingdom, our kingdom becomes what’s most important. So we will work towards that end of getting what I deserve and leaving a trail of distrust and agony behind us.
This is why Jesus calls his people, Matthew 6:33, to “…seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Our needs will be met in the kingdom of God, but we must seek it above our own kingdoms. In fact this shared vision of seeking the kingdom of God, is the bases for on of God’s greatest commands to the Church as a whole. In Jesus final prayer he says this about those that would follow his original disciples in John 17:20-26, “20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
God’s Church is called to be unified. It’s the greatest calling next to the Great Commission that we, who say we are Christians, are to work towards. Unity is what Jesus says will show to the world that he truly did come. The enemy of unity is selfishness. It’s getting my way instead of the way that best glorifies God. And the Church as a whole has not done a very good job. There are over fifty-thousand denominations world-wide, with hundreds of thousands of subgroups within those denominations.
And there are reasons to not be unified in areas where the core of the Christian faith comes to a breaking point, but where we can give grace and overlook preferences, unity should be our highest goal within Jesus’ Church.
But where we can be unified we are called to, and that unity starts with me. Me giving grace to someone who has a different interpretation of a passage of Scripture that still fits within the context. It starts with me, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to people and encouraging them to check it with Scripture. It’s me enjoying the music I grew up worshiping with, and understanding that a new generation will also be led by the Spirit to make new music to God. And on the other side of that, it’s giving respect to those that came before us and worshiped and worked, maybe not how we would do it, but they were also led by the Spirit and not diminishing that work.
It’s seeing each other’s flaws, faults, and sins, and giving grace. It’s speaking to lift up and not tear down, and to give the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming someone’s intentions. If our goal is not unity, then we are Ephraim complaining about not being called out to battle and we are Jephthah goading our brothers and sisters to war.
The result is seeing God’s work diminished around us; not because he isn’t working, but because we are to blinded by our selfishness to see it.
My challenge for you is to take an inventory this week. Re-read chapter 12 of Judges, and as you do, look at all the things that you see within the Church that upsets you, whether in the local body here, or in the greater community of believers out there. What upsets you? Then categorize them into three categories: core teachings of the Scriptures, strong convictions that can be different between believers, and things that don’t matter at all. Let’s put into perspective what matters and what doesn’t, so that we can see where unity is to be built.
God is calling us to unity, if we don’t follow and heed that call, destruction and civil war is all that awaits us. Let us be followers of Jesus, unified by his work on the cross on our behalf, and in whom we proclaim to the world. And as the world sees our unity, they will know that Jesus has truly come to bring forgiveness to a dying world. Amen.
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