Chapter 12 of Sefer Shoftim closes the account of Yiftach with a harsh tragedy: an internal quarrel among the tribes of Israel that ended in the slaughter of forty two thousand men of Ephraim at the hands of their brethren, the men of Gilad. Afterward Scripture concludes the days of Yiftach and lists three additional judges - Ivtzan, Elon and Avdon - during whose days nothing occurred that required elaboration. We will go through the chapter in order, in light of the Malbim, the Radak, the Metzudat David, the Ralbag and the words of Chazal.
וַיִּצָּעֵק אִישׁ אֶפְרַיִם וַיַּעֲבֹר צָפוֹנָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ לְיִפְתָּח מַדּוּעַ עָבַרְתָּ לְהִלָּחֵם בִּבְנֵי־עַמּוֹן וְלָנוּ לֹא קָרָאתָ לָלֶכֶת עִמָּךְ בֵּיתְךָ נִשְׂרֹף עָלֶיךָ בָּאֵשׁ׃ - The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward, and said to Yiftach: Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down over you with fire.
The men of Ephraim were angry that the men of Gilad had chosen for themselves a head and a leader, while they had no part in the matter: they were not consulted and were not asked. Their claim rested on their status: after all, "He set Ephraim before Menashe" - Ephraim is the head. If so, how can you men of Menashe appoint a head for yourselves without asking our opinion? This is the meaning of "Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and did not call us."
וַיֹּאמֶר יִפְתָּח אֲלֵיהֶם אִישׁ רִיב הָיִיתִי אֲנִי וְעַמִּי וּבְנֵי־עַמּוֹן מְאֹד וָאֶזְעַק אֶתְכֶם וְלֹא־הוֹשַׁעְתֶּם אוֹתִי מִיָּדָם׃ - And Yiftach said to them: I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand.
וָאֶרְאֶה כִּי־אֵינְךָ מוֹשִׁיעַ וָאָשִׂימָה נַפְשִׁי בְכַפִּי וָאֶעְבְּרָה אֶל־בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן וַיִּתְּנֵם יְהֹוָה בְּיָדִי וְלָמָה עֲלִיתֶם אֵלַי הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה לְהִלָּחֶם בִּי׃ - And when I saw that you would not save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Hashem delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day, to fight against me?
Yiftach answers them with three claims. The first: "I and my people were at strife with the children of Ammon" - the quarrel was mine alone. The children of Ammon came against us, the war was our war, and if so, what business is this of yours? The second claim: "and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand" - all those days we cried out that the Egyptians afflict us and oppress us, but as long as you yourselves were not harmed, you remained at ease and did nothing. I cried out, and you did not stir.
The third claim: "And when I saw that you would not save me, I put my life in my hand." Had you wished to save, you could have done so long ago; I saw that you had no interest in saving, and therefore I put my life in my hand. The Metzudat David explains the expression: like a person holding an object in the palm of his hand, which with one light blow slips away and falls. Such was my situation - danger so great that in a single moment my life could have departed from me. That is: I acted with self sacrifice.
And finally: "Why then have you come up to me this day, to fight against me." When I needed help I did not hear from you and did not see you; now, after I have won and we have come out crowned with glory, suddenly you appear. To fight against me you are strong, but to fight against the children of Ammon to help me you did not come.
The Metzudat David emphasizes the words "and Hashem delivered them into my hand": had I gone to battle and suffered defeat, you would have had a claim - you appointed for yourselves a weak head who went out to war on his own initiative, caused disgrace and damage to us all, and should have called us. But we went alone and won. If we had lost, there would be room to say "had you called us we would have won"; but even without you we won, and if so, what are you now complaining about?
And some explain that there was also a historical sting in the words "And when I saw that there was no savior." Yiftach reminded them: when the children of Ephraim left Egypt before the appointed time, the Emorites came and struck them and their strength did not stand up for them. I saw that your fortune is shaky, I saw historically that no salvation comes from you, and therefore I said, let us go and fight on our own.
וַיִּקְבֹּץ יִפְתָּח אֶת־כָּל־אַנְשֵׁי גִלְעָד וַיִּלָּחֶם אֶת־אֶפְרָיִם וַיַּכּוּ אַנְשֵׁי גִלְעָד אֶת־אֶפְרַיִם כִּי אָמְרוּ פְּלִיטֵי אֶפְרַיִם אַתֶּם גִּלְעָד בְּתוֹךְ אֶפְרַיִם בְּתוֹךְ מְנַשֶּׁה׃ - And Yiftach gathered all the men of Gilad and fought Ephraim, and the men of Gilad struck Ephraim, because they had said, "You Giladites are fugitives of Ephraim, in the midst of Ephraim, in the midst of Menasheh."
Here the difference between Yiftach and Gideon stands out sharply. The children of Ephraim came to Gideon with the very same complaint, and he answered them with soft words: "Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the vintage of Aviezer?" - what you did at the end of the battle is worth more than what I began. He stroked their ego and they calmed down. But Yiftach, instead of words of appeasement, answered them forcefully, and even reminded them of grievances from history. See how much killing he caused by not conciliating them but stabbing them with his words.
The Malbim explains that once Yiftach saw that his words did not make them retract, war broke out. And what exactly was their claim, "because the fugitives of Ephraim said, You Giladites are in the midst of Ephraim, in the midst of Menasheh"? This is a cryptic verse, and this is its meaning: the men of Ephraim say to Gilad - we are the essence of the house of Yosef, for "May God make you like Ephraim and like Menasheh," Ephraim is the head, and half the tribe of Menasheh dwells with us in the Land of Israel. But you, the children of Gilad, are fugitives: you were cast off from your tribe, for half the tribe of Menasheh left and went with the children of Gad and the children of Reuven to the far side of the Jordan. You are merely fugitives from among us, so who then is the essence? We are. And how dare you appoint yourselves a leader?
The Metzudat David explains the insult in a different way: in every society there are important people and lowly ones. The men of Ephraim said to them - your important people, the children of Gilad, are no more than fugitives and the lowly among Ephraim; our lowly ones are better than your important ones. According to this it is understood why the men of Gilad went out in a fury: after such humiliating words they fought for their honor.
וַיִּלְכֹּד גִּלְעָד אֶת־מַעְבְּרוֹת הַיַּרְדֵּן לְאֶפְרָיִם וְהָיָה כִּי יֹאמְרוּ פְּלִיטֵי אֶפְרַיִם אֶעֱבֹרָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוֹ אַנְשֵׁי־גִלְעָד הַאֶפְרָתִי אַתָּה וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא׃ - And Gilad seized the fords of the Jordan against Ephraim, and it was, when the fugitives of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilad said to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" and he said, "No."
וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוֹ אֱמָר־נָא שִׁבֹּלֶת וַיֹּאמֶר סִבֹּלֶת וְלֹא יָכִין לְדַבֵּר כֵּן וַיֹּאחֲזוּ אוֹתוֹ וַיִּשְׁחָטוּהוּ אֶל־מַעְבְּרוֹת הַיַּרְדֵּן וַיִּפֹּל בָּעֵת הַהִיא מֵאֶפְרַיִם אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁנַיִם אָלֶף׃ - And they said to him, "Say now, Shibolet," and he said, "Sibolet," for he could not manage to pronounce it so. And they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan; and there fell at that time from Ephraim forty two thousand.
The men of Gilad seized the fords of the Jordan, the place where the children of Ephraim would cross the river. And why does it say specifically "fugitives of Ephraim"? The Metzudat David explains: the important people of Ephraim were recognizable and known, it was evident that they were Ephraimites; but the lowly ones were not recognizable, and therefore it was precisely them that needed to be tested. When they asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" he would answer, "No," for he knew that if he admitted it, they would kill him. Therefore they set for him a short test: say now, Shibolet.
The children of Ephraim were known for their faulty speech, for in place of a shin they would pronounce a samech. And why was precisely this word chosen? Rashi explains simply: the man wished to cross the river, and "shibolet" is the current of the river, as in "and let not the current of water sweep me away." They said to him: you want to cross the current of the river? Say "shibolet." And he said "sibolet," "for he could not manage to pronounce it so" - they stammered in their speech.
And there is a further explanation by way of hint: they tested him regarding the fear of Heaven. They told him to say "shibolet" - that idolatry has worn away and come to an end. And he answered "sibolet" - siv from the language of old age, meaning perhaps it has grown old but not worn away. They said to him: is that what you say? You are fit to be killed. And this is what Yaakov our father hinted in his blessing, "and may they multiply like fish" - that they were caught by their tongues like fish. The fish is caught by its mouth, and they too were caught by their throats, for they could not pronounce the shin and said a samech in its place.
And it is worthwhile to dwell on the end of the verse, which is a shocking matter: forty two thousand men fell. In all of Israel's wars up to our own day some twenty two thousand have fallen, and here twice that number - in a single day. And in Tanach we will see still larger numbers, hundreds of thousands. But the most terrible of all is that these things were done at the hands of brothers: it was not a foreign enemy that killed us, but children of one father, the children of Yosef themselves - the children of Menasheh killed the children of Ephraim. Dreadful and terrifying.
וַיִּשְׁפֹּט יִפְתָּח אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים וַיָּמָת יִפְתָּח הַגִּלְעָדִי וַיִּקָּבֵר בְּעָרֵי גִלְעָד׃ - And Yiftach judged Israel six years, and Yiftach the Giladite died, and he was buried in the cities of Gilad.
What does "and he was buried in the cities of Gilad," in the plural, mean? The Radak brings the Midrash we already mentioned: Yiftach kept losing his limbs one by one from city to city, for such is the way of one stricken with tzaraas, whose limbs fall off him, and wherever a limb fell off him they buried it there. Thus he was buried in many cities. And this punishment came upon him, says the Radak, because he killed his daughter and did not inquire about annulling his vow, or, according to the second explanation, because he confined her to solitude all her days and did not inquire about annulling his vow.
Some explain according to the plain meaning that "in the cities of Gilad" means in one of the cities of Gilad, as in the verse "by one of the two you shall become my son in law," which means one of the two, and likewise "riding on a donkey," one of the donkeys. The Ralbag offers an original explanation: Yiftach left behind neither son nor daughter, for even his only daughter bore no children, and therefore he commanded that his bones be buried in many places in the cities of Gilad so that he would have a memorial and monument everywhere. This is a novel and astonishing idea, for it is not good and not comfortable for the soul that a person's body is not concentrated in one place; and perhaps there is another hint here that Yiftach was not a Torah scholar.
Some say that one of the reasons the people of Efraim came to fight Yiftach was the matter of the sacrifice of his daughter. Their argument was: you reached a situation of danger in battle, and because of the danger you made your vow. Had you called us, our forces on the battlefield would have been many, you would not have entered into danger and would not have needed to vow. It follows that the responsibility for all that happened rests upon you as well. And as we said regarding Pinchas, that he could have annulled the vow, and since he did not annul it he was punished and prophecy departed from him.
וַיִּשְׁפֹּט אַחֲרָיו אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל אִבְצָן מִבֵּית לָחֶם׃ - And after him Ivtzan from Beis Lechem judged Israel.
וַיְהִי־לוֹ שְׁלֹשִׁים בָּנִים וּשְׁלֹשִׁים בָּנוֹת שִׁלַּח הַחוּצָה וּשְׁלֹשִׁים בָּנוֹת הֵבִיא לְבָנָיו מִן־הַחוּץ וַיִּשְׁפֹּט אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים׃ - And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he sent abroad, and thirty daughters he brought in for his sons from abroad, and he judged Israel seven years.
Ivtzan had thirty sons and thirty daughters, and by the kindness of Hashem he succeeded in marrying off all of them: none of them suffered from late singlehood. His daughters he sent abroad, and for his sons he brought in wives from abroad. The Metzudas David says that here the greatness of his success is told, that he married off all sixty of his children in his lifetime.
And who is Ivtzan? Chazal say: Ivtzan is Boaz. Megillas Rus opens "And it was in the days when the judges judged," and we search in Sefer Shoftim and do not find Boaz, and Chazal reveal to us that the Ivtzan written here is Boaz himself. And from here Chazal learned that a person should take no pride either in wealth or in children. For Ivtzan made sixty weddings, and to none of them did he invite Manoach, the father of Shimshon. And why? He said: a barren mule, how will he repay me? For he has no children, and when will he invite me to his celebrations? Chazal thereby connect the end of this chapter to the beginning of the next chapter, in which we enter into the matter of Manoach and Shimshon.
And one must know that this is not to be taken literally, for then we would make Boaz into a cruel and self interested man, as if he calculated who would return him a favor. The deeper meaning is: when you invite a person to a wedding, you rejoice with him and he rejoices with you, and this is called "repayment." But when you alone rejoice and he can never repay you with a celebration of his own, you cause him distress: he sees wedding after wedding, and he does not have even one child. Therefore Boaz did not want to invite him. And nonetheless, since in the end there was a slight here, and he should have also weighed how the matter would be received by Manoach, for to him it looked as though he was not being invited because nothing comes forth from him, there was here something exceedingly subtle, and on account of it all sixty of his children died in his lifetime. It is awesome to one who contemplates it. Whereas Manoach, who was slighted, merited one son who judged Israel and saved the people of Israel from the hand of the Pelishtim.
And according to the plain approach, says the Radak, the verse describes the tremendous success of Boaz. And why was he called Ivtzan? From the term of cooling. When Rus came down to the threshing floor, Boaz controlled himself and did not come to sin, and what is said of Boaz is greater than what is said of Yosef the Tzaddik. Chazal say that his flesh became like the tops of turnips, meaning he reached a state in which he could have sinned, and even so he restrained himself. Therefore he was called Ivtzan, a father of cooling, of restraining himself. And so too the name Boaz hints: that he overcame his evil inclination with strength (oz). And another explanation: Ivtzan is like "father of the flock," for he was like a father who sees the flock of Israel and shepherds them faithfully.
וַיָּמָת אִבְצָן וַיִּקָּבֵר בְּבֵית לָחֶם׃ - And Ivtzan died, and was buried in Beit Lechem.
וַיִּשְׁפֹּט אַחֲרָיו אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵילוֹן הַזְּבוּלֹנִי וַיִּשְׁפֹּט אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל עֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים׃ - And after him Eilon the Zevulonite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years.
וַיָּמָת אֵילוֹן הַזְּבוּלֹנִי וַיִּקָּבֵר בְּאַיָּלוֹן בְּאֶרֶץ זְבוּלֻן׃ - And Eilon the Zevulonite died, and was buried in Ayalon in the land of Zevulun.
Notice: for all of these figures about whom no details are given, this is a sign that in their days there was no special activity that the prophet saw a need to mention.
וַיִּשְׁפֹּט אַחֲרָיו אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל עַבְדּוֹן בֶּן־הִלֵּל הַפִּרְעָתוֹנִי׃ - And after him Avdon son of Hillel the Piratonite judged Israel.
וַיְהִי־לוֹ אַרְבָּעִים בָּנִים וּשְׁלֹשִׁים בְּנֵי בָנִים רֹכְבִים עַל־שִׁבְעִים עֲיָרִם וַיִּשְׁפֹּט אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁמֹנֶה שָׁנִים׃ - And he had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years.
Forty sons - as with Boaz, plainly not from one wife, since one wife does not produce sixty children. "And thirty grandsons" means his grandchildren. The Radak says that this account too comes to make known his success: that he saw sons and grandsons, and they rode on seventy donkeys. Because of their great wealth and prominence they did not need to occupy themselves with farming or labor, but rode on donkeys, and he himself was appointed as judge over Israel.
וַיָּמָת עַבְדּוֹן בֶּן־הִלֵּל הַפִּרְעָתוֹנִי וַיִּקָּבֵר בְּפִרְעָתוֹן בְּאֶרֶץ אֶפְרַיִם בְּהַר הָעֲמָלֵקִי׃ - And Avdon son of Hillel the Piratonite died, and was buried in Piraton in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekite.
The Rama of Fano writes in his work Gilgulei Neshamot about Avdon son of Hillel the Piratonite, who was buried in Piraton: he was from Ephraim and was among the judges, and he is called "son of Hillel the Piratonite" because he came to repay the debt of his "father" - not a biological father, but an ancient root in history. And who was that father? The Sages say it was the one who erred about the end, whose name was Gaven. He brought two hundred thousand men of the children of Ephraim out of Egypt before the appointed time, and told them that the Holy One, blessed be He, had revealed Himself to him in order to bring them out, and they believed in the end and the redemption and went out after him, and in the end they were struck down and died there.
And those who died, who perished before their time, later merited a reward: according to one opinion they were the dead whom Yechezkel revived in the valley of Dura, as we will see further on. And some say that they actually lived and continued to live, and one of the Sages testifies in the Gemara that he possesses tefillin that belonged to them.
And that hunchback is reincarnated again, and afterward is reincarnated in Bar Kochba, who is Ben Koziva. He too was certain that redemption would come through him, to the point that even Rabbi Akiva erred concerning him and believed in him. And since he did not complete his rectification, says the Rama of Fano, he is called Bar Koziva, Koziva from the term "a deceptive stream," for many of the people of his generation were certain that he was the Mashiach, and in the end he was killed. And who will be his rectification? Mashiach ben Ephraim, and there too he will be killed, and through this he is rectified.
And we must understand: the redemption is meant to be both spiritual and physical. The physical redemption, the wars and all that is bound up with them, will be carried out by Mashiach ben Yosef; the spiritual redemption will be carried out by Mashiach ben David, who is the true Mashiach. And concerning Mashiach ben Yosef it is written that he will be killed, "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Hashem, was caught in their pits." It is written in the name of the Arizal that in the blessing of "Shomea Tefillah" one should have in mind Mashiach ben Yosef, that he not be killed by the wicked Armilus. And it is known that in every single generation there was someone worthy of being Mashiach ben Yosef: some say that the holy Arizal hinted to his students that he was Mashiach ben Yosef and that they should pray for him, and since we were not worthy it did not come to be; likewise it is said of the holy Ohr HaChaim that he was meant to be Mashiach ben Yosef, and of many other great and numerous ones it is said that they were meant to bring the redemption.
And this is what is hinted at in tractate Sanhedrin, that the son of David will not come until a fish is sought for a sick person and cannot be found. They explain by way of hint: "fish" is Mashiach ben Yosef, for concerning Yosef it is said "and may they multiply like fish in the midst of the land"; "sick" is the people of Israel caught in distress; "and cannot be found" because Mashiach ben Yosef will be killed, and then the son of David will come to redeem us in the spiritual, complete and eternal redemption. And it is worth mentioning that the Gaon of Vilna holds that Mashiach ben Yosef will not ultimately be killed, as brought in the book Kol HaTor and in other places, and apparently through the prayers of all Israel he will be saved.
And since we have mentioned Bar Koziva, let us conclude with a fine idea. It is told that the Rav of Brisk and his students were traveling on a train, and a priest sat down beside them and began to speak with them about the Christian faith and about "that man." The students argued with him and said: the Sages of Israel lived in that generation and determined that the matter was falsehood and vanity, and you, two thousand years after them, know better than they? The priest replied: the Sages of Israel erred. Behold, Rabbi Akiva said of Bar Kochba that he was the Mashiach, and he erred. The students fell silent and did not know what to answer. The Rav of Brisk, who was absorbed in his book but had heard the words, lifted his eyes and turned to him: And who told you that the Sages of Israel erred when they said Bar Kochba was the Mashiach? The priest replied: Surely they erred, for in the end he died. The Rav said to him: If so, then you too admit that a Mashiach who dies in the end is not the Mashiach. And the priest walked off with his head bowed.
Chapter 12 teaches how precious a good word is and how destructive a hurtful word can be. The men of Ephraim came with a grievance of honor, Yiftach answered them with three just arguments, but he did not appease them as Gidon had done, and the quarrel of brothers cost forty two thousand slain at the fords of the Jordan. Yiftach died and was buried in the cities of Gilad, as a punishment for his vow. After him arose Ivtzan, who is Boaz, whose entire success did not stand him in the place where he failed in a subtle matter and did not invite Manoach; Elon the Zevulunite, of whom nothing is said; and Avdon ben Hillel, whose soul-root is bound up with those who erred concerning the End and with the rectification that is destined to come in the days of Mashiach ben Yosef. And from all these there emerges one lesson: honor, pride, and harming one's fellow exact a heavy price, whereas humility and appeasement save much blood from Israel.