Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

Contentious people produce contention. The Ephraimites are contentious, but so is Jephthah. The Ephraimites ought to be happy that their sons did not have to fight and die in this war against the Ammonites. They should thank God for their deliverance from the oppression. Note that Jephthah is far more contentious with the Ephraimites, his own people, than with the Ammonite king. He is diplomatic with the Ammonites and yet astonishingly impatient with his own countrymen. This is an unnecessary war. But jealousy, envy, and every sort of evil (Jas 3:14–18) can consume God’s people. So it is with the petty, unimportant, and unnecessary fights that consume many a church. While forty-some thousand may not die,107 the emotional and physical damage can be astronomical—especially in its long-term effects. There is a need for humility and repentance.