At some point I need to do a few posts on significant words and terms that have come down into our culture through the Bible. But for today, I’m going to go with a lesser-known one: Shibboleth.
Of course, the reason it’s a lesser-known term is that it comes from a fairly obscure passage. It’s Judges 12, after the more-widely-known “Jephthah’s Rash Vow” passage. To sum up the happenings, the Ephraimites got under Jephthah’s skin, threatening him with a burned-down house. Well, Jephthah went with a bit of his patented rashness and brought the hammer down on those short-sighted folks from Ephraim.
Judges 12: 5-6 (ESV)
5 And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, "Let me go over," the men of Gilead said to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" When he said, "No," 6 they said to him, "Then say Shibboleth," and he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.
So the clever men of Gilead employed a linguistic test to determine if they were dealing with an enemy. So, the narrow definition of “shibboleth” is such a linguistic test. But the term has also been broadened to basically any cultural test. So it could be asking a suspected imposter about a local sports team, or a supposed classmate about a memorable professor.
And that’s about it for today’s tidbit. Wikipedia has more if you’re interested.
Well, okay, I can’t just let it go like that. What if the Jephthah/Ephraim incident happened in America? Between New Yorkers and Bostonians?
The men of New York said, “Are you from Boston?” When he said, “No,” they said “Then say Market,” and he said, “Maaaket,” for he could not pronounce it right.
Or between Redskins fans and Cowboys fans?
The men of D.C. said, “Are you a Cowboys fan?” When he said, “No,” they said “The say Oil,” and he said, “Ohl,” for he could not pronounce it right.
Or between Oregonians and a bunch of ignoramuses from other parts of the country?
The men of Oregon said, “Are you less than intelligent?” When he said, “No,” they said, “Then say Oregon,” and he said, “Oragawn,” for he was a product of the public school system, and they issued him a good fustigation.
Not to rant about my thinking that a high school diploma should come with the ability to pronounce the names of all fifty states or anything. I mean, I’m not asking them to be able to properly pronounce Willamette or Sequim or Puyallup, you know?
This was really theology-y, wasn’t it?