{"id":4466,"date":"2022-12-31T15:56:07","date_gmt":"2022-12-31T21:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4466"},"modified":"2022-12-31T15:56:07","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T21:56:07","slug":"devotional-on-judges-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-judges-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Judges"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-slDaehtf6So\/Xa4uizoK8hI\/AAAAAAABCKw\/FxijD8Ugc9YIF-1UNxKmHRMOrhbBNOiqQCKgBGAsYHg\/s1600\/P9259753.JPG\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; Grand Canyon, AZ<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>How\u2019s your accent?<br \/>\nJudges 12: Say \u201cShibboleth.\u201d But he would always say \u201cSibboleth\u201d \u2013 he couldn\u2019t say it right.<br \/>\nFollowing Jephthah\u2019s victory over the Ammonites the people of Ephraim are insulted that they weren\u2019t called in to be a part of the army. Apparently, there was some kind of mix up in which Jephthah did call for their help but they didn\u2019t get the message. The result is a skirmish and then all-out war between the forces of Gilead and those of Ephraim. Before long, Ephraim is routed by their foes. In disarray they flee and attempt to cross back over the Jordan to their own territory. However, Jephthah\u2019s army has tasted blood and takes control of the most likely fords of the river. There are no uniforms, the soldiers on both sides look alike, and they speak the same language. It seems that the defeated Ephraimites will be able to claim to be with Gilead and escape. However, there\u2019s one difference. The people of Ephraim, living across the river for several generations have developed their own accent. A challenged soldier is required to say \u201cShibboleth\u201d (I think it means \u201criver\u201d). However the \u201ch\u201d sound is missing from their accent, so he says \u201cSibboleth\u201d instead. For the lack of an \u201ch\u201d he is executed. On this day thousands of Ephraimites die at the hands of their relatives. As I read this I\u2019m reminded of the New Testament statement that when Jesus comes back that \u201cevery knee will bow&#8230;and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.\u201d Everyone will say the right thing, but some will be commanded to \u201cdepart.\u201d Why? The wrong accent of life! It takes more than lip service to be connected to the Lord.<br \/>\nTake Away: Just saying the right things isn\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How\u2019s your accent? Judges 12: Say \u201cShibboleth.\u201d But he would always say \u201cSibboleth\u201d \u2013 he couldn\u2019t say it right. Following Jephthah\u2019s victory over the Ammonites the people of Ephraim are insulted that they weren\u2019t called in to be a part of the army. Apparently, there was some kind of mix up in which Jephthah did [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1511,7],"tags":[137,643,664],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4466"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4466"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14157,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4466\/revisions\/14157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}