S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

A word occurring only once in the Bible (in Judges 12:6), shibboleth literally means "ear of corn" or "river." However, it is not the literal meaning of shibboleth that marks its significance but its clever use by the tribe of Gilead to distinguish between enemy and ally.

 During the time of the judges, there was a mighty warrior from Gilead named Jephthah who had been banished by his half-brothers because his mother was a prostitute. However, when the king of the Ammonites began to war against Gilead, the elders of Gilead approached Jephthah, begging that he might become their commander (Judges 11:1-3). Jephthah accepted the call and, filled with the Spirit of the Lord, led a great victory against the Ammonites (verses 29-32). This victory was won without the help of the Ephraimites, who had refused to help Gilead (Judges 12:2).

 The use of the word shibboleth figures into Jephthah's story this way: the tribes of Israel were divided by the Jordan River-some located on the west and some on the east. The eastern tribes, including Jephthah's, had adopted certain pronunciations and practices of foreign nations, distinguishing themselves from their brothers in the west. The word shibboleth was an example. Those in Gilead pronounced it "shibboleth," but those in Ephraim, west of Jordan, pronounced it "sibboleth." The dialect was different.

 After Jephthah's great victory against the Ammonites, the men of Ephraim crossed the river to fight against their brothers from Gilead. The Ephraimites' stated reason for fighting was that they were enraged they had not been included in the battle (Judges 12:1), although it is more likely they just wanted part of the spoil.

 In the ensuing fight, Jephthah's men captured the fords of the Jordan leading back to Ephraim, but many Ephraimites still tried to cross over, hoping their Gileadite brothers would not be able to distinguish friend from foe. However, the men of Gilead knew the people of the west could not pronounce the sh sound, as they had not mixed with foreigners as their brothers from the east had. So the Gileadite soldiers asked each man who tried to cross over the fords to say, "Shibboleth." Every man who was from Ephraim would respond, "Sibboleth," therein revealing his identity. With the help of this clever tactic, Jephthah's men caught forty-two thousand men and put them to death that day (Judges 12:2-6).

 Shibboleth is one of many words that the English-speaking world has borrowed from the Bible. In modern contexts, a shibboleth is any identifying word, manner of speaking, or behavior that shows someone to be part of a particular group. A person's reference to gasoline as "petrol" is a shibboleth pointing to British influence. The word shibboleth can also refer to an old, oft-repeated idea that is widely believed but of questionable veracity; for example, a trite saying such as "great minds think alike" could be considered a shibboleth.


See https://www.gotquestions.org/shibboleth.html

October 04 2018 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter Arizona Bible College graduate and Dallas Seminary graduate

This one single word seems to me like an excellent password today. May I suggest it? The poet, John Milton, wrote: 

And he said Sibboleth.—

“And how ingrateful Ephraim

Had dealt with Jephthah—who by argument

Not worse than by his shield and spear

Defended Israel from the Ammonite

Had not his prowess quelled their pride

In that sore battle where so many died,

Without reprieve, adjudged to death

For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth.”

Milton, the poet, Samson Agonistes, 282-289. (Milton lived from December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) and was an English poet).


Judges12:6 say Shibboleth The Gileadites use differences of dialect as a test of identity. The Ephraimites were unable to properly articulate the sh of shibboleth. The Ephraimites likely could not even hear the distinction between shibboleth and shibboleth.

The Hebrew word shibboleth refers either to an ear of corn or to a flowing river or stream. The Ephraimite dialect apparently did not differentiate the sound “sh” from “s.” Unique features that mark a distinction between dialects like this are called isoglosses. -FSB

The headlines of that day could have read "Fatal Phonetics, Hill-country Accent cost 42,000 Lives." 42,000 Jews dropped their h's--something like Brits do today. "If I had a hammer" becomes "If I 'ad a 'ammer." --Stephen M. Miller

My favorite light blue, thick, single-volume OT commentary is Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (JFB). It says, "The method adopted for discovering an Ephraimite was by the pronunciation of a word naturally suggested by the place where they stood. Shibboleth, means "a stream"; Sibboleth, "a burden." The Eastern tribe had, it seems, a dialectical provincialism in the sound of Shibboleth; and the Ephraimites could not bring their organs to pronounce
it. " JFB

"The tribes living on the east of Jordan, separated from their brethren on the west by the deep ravines and the rapid river, gradually came to adopt peculiar customs, and from mixing largely with the Moabites, Ishmaelites, and Ammonites to pronounce certain letters in such a manner as to distinguish them from the other tribes. Thus when the Ephraimites from the west invaded Gilead, and were defeated by the Gileadites under the leadership of Jephthah, and tried to escape by the "passages of the Jordan," the Gileadites seized the fords and would allow none to pass who could not pronounce 'shibboleth' with a strong aspirate. This the fugitives were unable to do. They said 'shibboleth,' as the word was pronounced by the tribes on the west, and thus they were detected (Judg. 12:1-6). Forty-two thousand were thus detected, and without reprieve, adjudged to death, For want of well-pronouncing shibboleth." ~bible.org

December 14 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report