Here’s a tough one. Try saying this tongue twister five times very fast.
She sells shibboleths by the seashore.
Now, what exactly is a shibboleth?
It doesn’t even sound like a real word. It’s as if the word has been formed from abandoned shards, loose syllables and comical phonetic sounds.
Yet, shibboleth is a genuine word. In Hebrew, it has two meanings, one of which is ‘an ear of corn’ and the other is ‘river’.
When you say shibboleth aloud, the last syllable lands clumsily into a trap. The tongue ends up sandwiched in between the top and bottom row of teeth.
It gives the impression that your speech is a mashup of King James and Shakespeare. What doth thou thinkest?
On the other hand, it also makes you sound like you’ve acquired an adorable speech impediment.
I first stumbled across this unusual word from reading Judges 12:5 and 6.
True Gileadites
Jephthah and his tribe, the Gileadites are trying to authenticate members of their own clan. The Ephraimites bear a striking resemblance to the Gileadites, since both tribes stem from Israel’s bloodline.
So, the Gileadites devise a password protection test. Through their ingenuity, they also secure all the fords of the Jordan River.
The Gileadites order each man wishing to the cross the river to say the word ‘shibboleth’.
The Ephraimites’ dialect has no ‘sh’ sound.
Ephraimites spring out like noxious weeds, as each one of them fails the test by saying ‘sibboleth’ instead of ‘shibboleth’.
A soldier’s inability to say the ‘sh’ sound is met with the pointy end of a Gileadite’s sword. (Sounds harsh or hars, so to speak, but they’re in the middle of a war.)
Only a true Gileadite could pronounce shibboleth properly.
From the biblical account in Judges, this word has assumed a modern definition.
A shibboleth is a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important. (Oxford Dictionary)
True Words
Consider the words jungftak, esquivalience and exegesis.
Out of the three, the first two are fake words. Nonetheless, they’ve been published in credible publications like the New Oxford American Dictionary and Webster’s New Twentieth Century (1943).
A jungftak is a Persian bird, the male of which had only one wing, on the right side, and the female only one wing, on the left side;
instead of the missing wings, the male had a hook of bone, and the female an eyelet of bone, and it was by uniting hook and eye that they were enabled to fly—each, when alone, had to remain on the ground.
Equivalience means the willful avoidance of one’s official responsibilities.
An exegesis is the critical interpretation or explanation of a text.
Fabricated or fake words inserted in reference books such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias are known as mountweazels.
Through inserting fake words in their texts, publishers can ferret out the competitors that are illegally plagiarizing from their publications. It’s a practice that’s been going on for at least a hundred years.
Fabricated entries are known as mountweazels after Lillian Virginia Mountweazel. She’s not real either, and her fake entry appears in the 1975 edition of the New Colombia Encyclopedia.
Apparently, she was a photographer of unusual subject matter who died in an explosion while on assignment for Combustibles magazine.
Hilarious.
Side by side, it’s often difficult to distinguish between what’s true and what’s false.
True Christians
In Acts 8, we find a sorcerer named Simon Magus living amongst the people of Samaria. He is a grand master of the dark arts. The magnitude of his skill is second only to the enormity of his ego.
Simon mesmerises the townsfolk with his magic for years. Caught up in their delusion, the Samaritans cry out that Simon is ‘the great power of God’.
Suddenly, Philip enters the city proclaiming the gospel. The truth of Christ’s words juggernauts through the dark spiritual forces that have enslaved the Samaritans for so long.
In every dust-filled corner of the town, Philip is working wonders, spreading joy and giving hope. The mute can sing, the lame can run, and the lepers can kiss and embrace their loved ones without fear.
A multitude turn to Christ for salvation. Even Simon the sorcerer believes and is baptized.
News reaches Peter and John of the swelling number of new Christians in that city; eagerly they travel down from Jerusalem. Day after day, they lay hands on the new converts to receive the Holy Spirit.
In rapt curiosity, Simon watches Peter and John laying hands and the Holy Spirit’s anointing on the new Christians. Desiring that power, he offers silver and gold for the ability to do the same.
With that power, Simon can regain control over the Samaritan people and advance his position and reputation.
Peter is not so naïve, and exposes Simon for the fraud that he is.
Simon is a false Christian.
But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. Acts 8:20-22
Simon’s belief was superficial and his baptism was merely a formality. He wanted to promote his own name and not Christ’s.
Simon’s god was himself; he desired self-exaltation.
You may fool others, you may fool yourself, but you can’t fool an omniscient God.
Bibliography
Commentaries, Bible Hub. Retrieved on Dec 1, 2020 from
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/acts/8-14.htm
Davis, R. 2016, ‘The “gall of bitterness” in Acts—it isn’t resentment’, BJUGrace. Retrieved on May 3, 2021 from
http://bjugrace.com/2016/08/10/the-gall-of-bitterness-in-acts-it-isnt-resentment/
Henry, M. 1961, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Zondervan, Michigan.
Keener, C.1993, The IVP Bible Background Commentary New Testament, IVP Academic, Illinois.
McNaughton, J. 2016, ‘Sermon 106—Gall of Bitterness’, e-preacher.org. Retrieved on May 3, 2021 from
Sermon 106 – Gall of Bitterness
Pfeiffer C,F. 1990, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Moody Publishers, Illinois.
The Quest Study Bible, 1994, Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan.
Servais, E. 2012, ‘The Incredible story of Lillian Virginia Mountweazel and dictionary tomfoolery’, Grammar Party. Retrieved on May 3, 2021 from
The incredible story of Lillian Virginia Mountweazel and dictionary tomfoolery
Very Interesting one
Thanks 🙂