When the Gileadites had beaten the Ephraimites, they took the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites (or towards Ephraim: see Judges 3:28; Judges 7:24), to cut off their retreat and prevent their return to their homes. And "when fugitives of Ephraim wanted to cross, the men of Gilead asked them, Art thou Ephrathi," i.e., an Ephraimite? And if he said no, they made him pronounce the word Shibboleth (a stream or flood, as in Psalm 69:3, Psalm 69:16; not an ear of corn, which is quite unsuitable here); "and if he said, Sibboleth, not taking care to pronounce it correctly, they laid hold of him and put him to death at the fords of the Jordan." In this manner there fell at that time, i.e., during the whole war, 42,000 Ephraimites. The "fugitives of Ephraim" were the Ephraimites who had escaped from the battle and wished to return home. The expression is used here in its ordinary sense, and not with the contemptuous sense in which the Ephraimites had used it in Judges 12:4. From this history we learn quite casually that the Ephraimites generally pronounced sh (shin) like s (samech). הכין is used elliptically for לב הכין, to direct his heart to anything, pay heed (compare 1 Samuel 23:22; 1 Chronicles 28:2, with 2 Chronicles 12:14; 2 Chronicles 30:19).

Judges 12:11 Parallel Commentaries

A.M.

2830 B.C.

1174 An. Ex. Is.

317. `A civil judge in North-east Israel.'