The Ephraimites richly deserve to be taught a lesson. But in the midst of that lesson, Jephthah once again shows his ignorance of God's will and God's way. When the defeated Ephraimites attempt to flee across the Jordan, Jephthah and his men seize the crossings and test each traveller. Apparently, the Ephraimites' dialect did not use the ″sh″ sound. So whenever a man comes along who cannot say ″Shibboleth″, Jephthah's men put him to death. By the end of the battle, 42,000 Ephraimites are dead (Judges 12:5-6).

Those numbers are staggering. In one event Jephthah kills more of his fellow Israelites than all the judges combined killed of the enemy, with the exception of Gideon's destruction of the Midianites. Israel has become its own worst enemy.

Do you see the problem? Jephthah treated his fellow Israelites as if they were Ammonites. It is one thing to be provoked to battle, but it is quite another thing to cold-bloodedly execute Ephraimites. Jephthah was a hard-headed legalist; he could not tolerate the Ephraimites' unjustified provocation. He had experienced God's grace in his own life, but did not practise it in his relations with others. He knew nothing of the tenderness, love, and grace of God.

Jephthah is not alone, unfortunately. Church history contains many examples of Christians, including well-known leaders, falling out over differences with other believers and treating fellow believers as if they were enemies of the gospel.

Legalism is a deadly thing, and, more than that, it is a disaster. Jephthah's view of God appeared to be that He was a stern, unhappy judge who robbed life of joy. There is a great danger of Christians getting bound up in the ignorance of legalism. An old hymn based on Psalm 100 originally included the lines, ″Sing to the LORD with cheerful voice, Him serve with mirth″. Now that is beautifully biblical and faithful to what the psalmist wrote. But it was viewed as flippant and later changed to ″Him serve with fear″. Of course reverence has its place in worship, but so does mirth, and how sad it is that a distorted view of God resulted in a change to a beautiful hymn.

Jephthah had so much in his favour, but produced little lasting positive influence because of his ignorance. He did not adequately know the Word of God or the God of the Word, and he, his daughter, and his nation paid a high price for it. There is no substitute for the knowledge of God that comes through the study of His Word.