Death by Language
Judges 12:5-6
"The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No," they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.' " He said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
Reading this passage, I was thinking to myself how it was both a clever and horrible thing that Gileadites did. On one hand, they knew their neighbors well enough to identify them with a simple test... on the otherhand, the people that they were killing were basically their countrymen - Israelite on Israelite slaughter.
In application, I'm struck by how often within the Christian community, we're quick to start arguments and find minor differences with which to tear each other down. It reminds of the that stupid letter I wrote about in my blog, the "Christian" lady attacking people for not speaking English. Sheesh.
"The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No," they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.' " He said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
Reading this passage, I was thinking to myself how it was both a clever and horrible thing that Gileadites did. On one hand, they knew their neighbors well enough to identify them with a simple test... on the otherhand, the people that they were killing were basically their countrymen - Israelite on Israelite slaughter.
In application, I'm struck by how often within the Christian community, we're quick to start arguments and find minor differences with which to tear each other down. It reminds of the that stupid letter I wrote about in my blog, the "Christian" lady attacking people for not speaking English. Sheesh.
posted by G @ 11:36 PM
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