The Proud Tribe of Ephraim

Ephraim was the second son of Joseph, but Israel established him as the firstborn. Ephraim later became a synonym for the northern kingdom of Israel. The tribe of Ephraim was given the best land in the central hill country of Canaan, where they rarely faced foreign invasions. They also possessed places of great spiritual significance, such as Shiloh, Bethel, and Shechem. The accomplishments of Joshua, who was an Ephraimite, further fueled their sense of superiority. However, these blessings made them proud and jealous, leading them to refuse to follow Gideon of the tribe of Manasseh. They had not come forward to fight when the Midianites oppressed the people for seven years; but after God raised up Gideon to defeat their enemy, they felt they had missed an opportunity for personal glory and for taking spoils of war.

Pride and jealousy were the biggest issues for the tribe of Ephraim. They later quarreled with the judge Jephthah for the same reason, leading to a great disaster. The Ephraimites were angry with Jephthah for not inviting them to join the battle against the Ammonites. They threatened him, and he was forced to fight them. A devastating 42,000 Ephraimites were killed, most of them at the Jordan River crossings because they couldn’t pronounce a specific password correctly.

Before entering Canaan, the number of men in the tribe of Ephraim was 32,500 (Numbers 26:37). The loss of 42,000 men was catastrophic, and the tribe never fully recovered. Although the Gileadites were too harsh with their brothers, these 42,000 Ephraimites were crossing the Jordan with the intent to slaughter their fellow Israelites. Therefore, God allowed them to undergo severe discipline. This discipline also prepared the way for God to raise up a king for the kingdom, as the jealous Ephraimites would have found it difficult to accept a king from another tribe, and other tribes would have had a hard time accepting a proud and arrogant Ephraimite as their king.

The time of victory is also the easiest time to become careless and stumble. The people had not yet fully triumphed over their enemies, yet they fell into another kind of defeat—a great quarrel among brothers. In spiritual warfare, if we do not truly acknowledge in our hearts that victory comes from God and feel even a tiny bit of personal credit, Satan will immediately turn defeat into victory, making our success a snare that leads to our downfall.