I grew up in a city with a French name—which, for some folks, seems to make it open for private pronunciation.
After our wedding, my husband and I moved far away from my hometown, Eau Claire. Ironically, one day I found myself in a discussion about its pronunciation with a man who claimed authority on the matter. With confidence, he said, “I have passed by that city many times while driving through the state, and I happen to KNOW it’s pronounced YEW Claire.”
How can you argue with that?
I couldn’t resist a smug smile and a stifled giggle when I replied, “Well, I’m FROM Eau Claire, born and raised, and I know for an absolute FACT that it is pronounced OH Claire.”
Though I never realized it when I lived there, for some, my hometown’s name was a kind of shibboleth. IYKYK.
I have always found the shibboleth story in the Bible (Judges 12) fascinating. The men of Ephraim were determined to cross the Jordan River and pick fights with their neighbors, the Gileadites. As it turned out, the Ephraimite bullies were more bark than bite and were quickly defeated. But Jephthah and the men of Gilead were resolved to rid themselves of the invaders once and for all.
Before the Ephraimites could escape back home, the men of Gilead came up with a plan. They set up a checkpoint at the river crossing. Every man attempting to cross was given a short quiz: “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he lied and said, “No,” he was told, “Okay, then say shibboleth!”
The fact is, Ephraimites could not pronounce the “sh” sound, so they pronounced it “sibboleth.” As a result, it was their speech that betrayed them. Their deception was exposed by their dialect, and they paid for it with their blood.
Why shibboleth? The Hebrew word literally means “a flowing stream,” but because of its use in history, it has also come to mean a kind of password. After all, it wasn’t really a speech test—it was a lie detector test. It was meant to reveal whether people really WERE who they claimed to be. Their dialect told the truth, even if their lips and actions spoke a lie.
People were judged, their tribal identity exposed, and their fate sealed simply by how they pronounced—or mispronounced—the password: shibboleth.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21 KJV)
During World War II, a word was sometimes used as a shibboleth by the English to detect possible German infiltrators, who often had trouble wrapping their deutscher mouths around it—squirrel. Interestingly, the Germans in turn used their own word for squirrel—“Eichhörnchen”—as a counter-shibboleth to expose non-German speakers. In the Netherlands, the town name Scheveningen served a similar purpose, as its pronunciation is nearly impossible to master like a local, unless you actually ARE one. Other words like “flash,” “thunder,” and “welcome”—and even which fingers one held up to indicate numbers—were also used as shibboleths during the war years.
In the story of Jesus’ trial, we find Simon Peter falling into a shibboleth trap of his own. Under pressure, Peter denied even knowing Jesus, but his accusers knew he was lying—his speech betrayed him. He talked like a Galilean.
Now, I’m sure not every person from Galilee would have been identified as a follower of Jesus. Yet somehow, they KNEW Peter WAS. His speech revealed the flowing stream of what was in his heart, for “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34)
The irony in Judges 12 is almost funny: the men of Ephraim likely thought they were pronouncing shibboleth correctly when they said sibboleth. Their crime was not in how they spoke—there was nothing inherently wrong in saying sibboleth. But when put to the test, their pattern of speech exposed their wrongful intent—to deceive.
A path, plan, or even a persona may feel completely logical or justified to a person for whatever reason. But if it is, in reality, nothing more than a deception, it can only lead to spiritual, emotional, or physical ruin.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12 NKJ)
It is good to ask ourselves:
- Is my faith genuine?
- Does my speech betray ME as a true disciple of Jesus?
- Is Jesus in ME a flowing stream too obvious to hide?
- The way I choose my words, express my feelings, curb my temper, verbalize patience, forgiveness, and wisdom—does it confirm or contradict my profession of faith?
- Does my conversation provide clear evidence of my faith in Jesus, or am I living a lie and only fooling myself?
In other words, Am I really who I say I am? And WHOSE I am?
It’s not something you can fake for long. Either you are an authentic, born-again, dyed-in-the-wool follower of Jesus … or you are not.
There IS a test: “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 John 2:4 ESV)
If you fail that test, you are not fooling anyone.
There will come a day when we make that final journey over Jordan, from this life to the next. At that crossing, there will be no opportunity for deception—no pretending to be a child of God if we are not. No shibboleths, no polished explanations, and no name-dropping will suffice.
But if, at that moment, we are truly His, then the LORD Himself will speak for us, for “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1 ESV)
If our sins have been washed away by the blood of the Lamb, there will be no need for a shibboleth. The applied blood will be all that is needed to allow us to pass over.
Even now, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and while we still have the choice, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity (deceit).” (2 Timothy 2:19 ESV)
