Title: Overcome Local Feelings
Overcome local feelings (Judges 12:1-6)
< Civil War between Gilead and Ephraim >
The text depicts the civil war between the tribes of Gilead and the Ephraimite tribes that occurred in Israel. After Jephthah defeated Ammon and made a great contribution, the Ephraimites, who had a particularly strong tribal consciousness, went to Jephthah because they were descendants of Joseph (verse 1). “Why didn't you call us to go with us when you went to fight Ammon? We will definitely burn you and your house!”
Before the battle with Ammon, Jephthah recommended that the tribe of Ephraim participate in the war, but when the tribe of Ephraim was from Gilead, Jephthah, the son of a prostitute, became the general commander, and did not participate in the war because of his pride. So proud and jealous of the tribe of Ephraim, they always felt that they had to take the lead. He fought with all his might and defeated Ammon, but Jephthah was very angry when the tribe of Ephraim came out and threatened him. Eventually, a war broke out between the Gileadites and the Ephraimites over emotional issues.
Jephthah, who was enraged, summoned the Gileadites to punish the tribe of Ephraim, whom he had always despised with tribal sentiment, and eventually defeated Ephraim. The reason why the Gileadites were angry at that time was that the Ephraimites provoked the tribal sentiment and disregarded the Gileadites as if they were inferior, saying, “You men of Gilead, originally from Ephraim, were among Ephraim and Manasseh (verse 4).” because you did
The Gileadites were descendants of Gilead, the son of Machir, of the tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 26:29), but they were not separated from the tribe of Ephraim. However, at that time, the people of the western tribe of the Jordan secretly despised the Gileadites on the east side of the Jordan, so if there was a problem, they would say, “What about the people of Gilead!” When the people of Ephraim spoke discriminatory words about the war with Ammon while they were usually in a bad mood, they were angry and said, “You do not know the grace that defeated Ammon, and you speak provocative words!” In the end, a fratricide broke out.
After winning that battle, the Gileadites took control of the Jordan River Narutuk. So when the remnant of Ephraim asked for permission to cross the Jordan River, he asked. “Are you an Ephraimite?” Then, if he said that he was not an Ephraimite, I had him pronounce the word Shepbolet. Shipbolet is a word that means ‘brook’, and the pronunciation of that word was a way to identify the Ephraimites who could not pronounce the word correctly.
At that time, the Ephraimites couldn't pronounce Shipbolet well, so they pronounced it as Shipbolet. If they pronounce it that way, they thought he was an Ephraimite, and they caught him and killed him at the trestle of the Jordan River. If you look at this scene, you can see how much the people of Gilead, who were usually ignored by tribal sentiment, hated the people of Ephraim. Such prejudice and discrimination on the wholesale level will eventually lead to great tragedy.
< Overcome local feelings >
Why did local sentiment arise? The biggest reason is that the leader with a desire for power often tries to seize power or stimulates him to solidify the power he has seized. Therefore, believers must constantly pray so that they do not fall into the trap of local emotions induced by such wrong leaders. "God! Give us good leaders with a parental heart!”
Parents do not abandon their children because they are upset, but try to raise all children equally. As such, political leaders must give each region an equal opportunity. Depending on the region, differences in development fields can be taken care of, but the level of love and interest must be the same so that differences are not perceived as discrimination. In the end, it is the responsibility of a leader with a narrow ‘me-centered’ mindset rather than a broad ‘we-centered’ mindset to create a sense of discrimination. The narrow thinking of ‘I-centered’ makes the differences between regions ‘the basis of discrimination’, but the broad thinking of ‘we-centered’ develops the differences between regions into ‘cultural individuality’.
If you look closely, the powerful often use local emotions as a high-level governance technique. In particular, for a government with a weak support base, the people's united power is not advantageous to maintaining power, so it often creates a situation where it is difficult to heal the size of minor conflicts and cracks between regions by skillfully expanding and reproducing them. With such political engineering possible, each individual must be alert and protect himself from getting caught up in local sentiment issues.
Above all else, protect yourself from the anonymous Mr. Judge soberly so as not to be swayed by public opinion that is powerful enough to bury each person's thoughts, and furthermore, have a "higher sense of hometown." So, if there is an area that is more difficult than your hometown, you need a mature citizenship to consider that area first.
A parent has several separated children, some rich and poor. Then, if a wealthy child helps a poor child materially, who will be most pleased with it? Parents. This is because parents usually care more deeply for their poor and needy children than their affluent children. God will be more pleased than anyone else if we try to care for and help the marginalized souls and marginalized areas more.
Now, take more interest in the marginalized and underprivileged areas, and develop the ‘consciousness of my hometown’ into ‘a higher level of mature citizenship’. Don't think of this as an impossible story like a dream come true in a textbook. If you know what happiness is and manage your selfishness well, you can overcome the problems of local emotions. In particular, I believe that saved saints are called to be the vanguard of overcoming such unfortunate emotions.