The Peacemaker

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Duration: 8min
 •  7 min. read  •  grade level: 8
Listen from:
• BibleTruthPublishers.com
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matt. 5:99Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9)). “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 6:2323Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 6:23)).
The beginning of the life of the two sons of Joseph was bright and blessed. Manasseh was the elder son, but the aged and experienced Jacob blessed Ephraim over Manasseh. Jacob was the second son, and he had learned something of God’s way of blessing. Joseph thought this was a mistake, but Jacob refused to change the blessing. Rivalry in the family may start from small things, but it easily carries on for generations. May we benefit in learning this lesson. Jacob had a hard time learning that real blessing comes from God. When God is left out of our lives, self-asserting zeal easily spoils the peace among the brethren. In the Book of Judges, we have two examples of rivalry between Ephraim and Manasseh.
Gideon
When the Lord called Gideon to deliver Israel from the impoverishment of the Midianites, he said, “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man” (Judg. 6:15-1615And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 16And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. (Judges 6:15‑16)). We see in this that though Gideon was tested with poverty, he was content, showing no aspirations to leave his family heritage. He took the lowest place in his family. Human reasoning would discard this type of person, but the Lord our God has a special way of using those that are humble. For one thing, they are not likely to fall into the snare of family rivalry.
As Gideon prepared the thousands of Israel to fight against the Midianites, the Lord told him that they were too many, “lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me” (Judg. 7:22And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. (Judges 7:2)). Because of their low spiritual state, it was necessary to keep those that went to the battle from seeking a claim to fame. But the children of Ephraim, who were not called at first to go to the battle, did not witness this lesson. They chided with Gideon after the victory over Midian. They did not understand God’s purpose in working through human weakness to magnify His glory.
“The men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that” (Judg. 8:1-31And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. 2And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that. (Judges 8:1‑3)). Here we see Gideon as a peacemaker. Three things are noteworthy. First, he takes the low place, at the beginning and ending of his response: “What was I able to do in comparison of you.” “Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth” (Prov. 26:2020Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. (Proverbs 26:20)). Second, he distinguishes the heritage of Ephraim from his own in Abiezer (Manasseh). He turns their focus on the heritage the Lord had given them, magnifying their heritage. While recognizing the abundance given to Ephraim, Gideon holds fast to his own portion from God. There is ample blessing for each and every one within the bounds of our own heritage. We need not go elsewhere for better things. Third, he acknowledges what God had done through the men of Ephraim. Gideon had not forgotten how insignificant he and the three hundred men had been in the battle. The Lord had gained the victory. Gideon could easily recognize the same with the children of Ephraim. His words were not mere flattery; he sought to pacify them in their wrong attitude by pointing out what the Lord had done through them. “Then their anger was abated.”
It does the heart good to read at the close of the chapter, “The country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon” (Judg. 8:2828Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. (Judges 8:28)). This is the result of a real peacemaker.
The Sons of Gideon
In the sequel of the story, we have the sad ending of the sixty-nine sons of Gideon who were put to death by their half brother, Abimelech. One cannot help but think that all those sons will be among those called “the children of God” that the Lord spoke of when He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Those who, like Abel, laid down their lives for their brethren, in the resurrection with Christ will be in God’s family. Jotham, who survived, spoke against the wrong done but never took into his own hands the vengeance of their lives. The Lord returned upon Abimelech the innocent blood he had shed.
Jephthah
A second case of rivalry between Ephraim and Manasseh happened while Jephthah was judge. “The men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? We will burn thine house upon thee with fire. And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me? Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites” (Judg. 12:1-41And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire. 2And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. 3And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me? 4Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites. (Judges 12:1‑4)). In this case, we see that personal anger and self-defense take predominance over the deliverance from the enemy. Personal insults become confused with faithfulness in preserving the heritage God had given them. Jephthah is provoked to go to war against the men of Ephraim. He was faithful in defending their heritage from Ammon and is mentioned by name in Hebrews 11 for his faith, but where was the peacemaker among them? Where was the intercessor who would lay down his life for his brethren?
In the battle, the anger deteriorates to vengeance. “The Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand” (Judg. 12:5-65And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; 6Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. (Judges 12:5‑6)). It certainly was wrong for the men of Ephraim to go up to Jephthah as they did, but what started as an insult against Jephthah, because he was the son of a harlot, now prompts the men of Manasseh to pick on a faulty trait in the speech of the men of Ephraim and judge them on that basis. Peace is difficult to come by when words and speeches are confused with haughty and vindictive attitudes. The wrong attitude of the men of Ephraim should have been dealt with, not their faulty speech. The result of such indiscriminate judgment is that 42,000 men of Ephraim die. Some of them, perhaps, deserved to die; the Lord alone — their Peacemaker — knows how many died through lack of judgment.
These things “were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:44For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4)). May the Lord give us to hold mercy and truth together, that righteousness and peace may kiss each other. This is the blessed role of a peacemaker.
D. C. Buchanan