together towards a common goal. Sometimes their differences lead to civil war. Even though a victor may have come out of this civil war, the reality was that the whole of Israel lost. This war weakened them as a whole as well as weakened the tribe of Ephraim. This tragic story teaches us the importance of good, clear communication. These two groups of Israelites had communication problems in two ways. First, when there was a discrepancy in the call to the Ammonites, and secondly, in the dialect pronunciation of the word shibboleth led to a civil war. Christians today need to speak clearly and precisely on the matters concerning God's message. If we use terms that those, outside of Christianity do not understand, then we risk the danger of not communicating the message of God's grace to them. Each culture has its own "shibboleths" and Christianity is no different....
