Judges 11, Jephthah

A number of judges have come and gone, as Israel descends into idolatry and slavery. The latest oppressors are the Philistines (invading from the coast) and Ammonites (invading from the east.) The people of Israel have once again cried out to YHWH and begged for both forgiveness and salvation.  YHWH has decided (somewhat reluctantly?) to answer their plea, but there may be few people of character left for YHWH to use. 

Judges 11: 1-3, Jephthah

Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman."

So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him.

Jephthah, the son of a prostitute, is driven away by his step brothers. Exiled to a land call Tob, he draws a gang of ruffians around him. (The location of Tob is unclear but was probably east of Gilead, which itself was just east of the Jordan.)

Judges 11: 4-10, Commitment to Jephthah

Some time later, when the Ammonites made war on Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. "Come," they said, "be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites."

Jephthah said to them, "Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? Why do you come to me now, when you're in trouble?"

The elders of Gilead said to him, "Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in Gilead."

Jephthah answered, "Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me--will I really be your head?"

The elders of Gilead replied, "The LORD is our witness; we will certainly do as you say."

The elders of Gilead change their mind and go to Jephthah and ask him to lead an army.  (Presumably there is something they recognize in Jephthah, most likely his leadership of a band of warriors in a nearby region.)

As we move through the book of Judges, we see less and less of YHWH.  Here the name YHWH is invoked in a conversation between the elders of Gilead and Jephthah but there is no indication that the people are following the covenant of Moses or have any interest in throwing off the idolatry mentioned in the previous chapter.

Judges 11: 11-13, Conversation with Ammonites

So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.

Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: "What do you have against us that you have attacked our country?"

The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers, "When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably."

Jephthah is made commander of the people of Gilead and now seems to directly invoke YHWH at Mizpah. He begins a communication with the Ammonite leaders, who claim they want their land back, and taken previously when the Israelites came out of Egypt.

Judges 11: 14-22, Response of Jephthah

Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, saying: "This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the desert to the Red Sea and on to Kadesh. Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, `Give us permission to go through your country,' but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

Next they traveled through the desert, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.

"Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, `Let us pass through your country to our own place.'

Sihon, however, did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He mustered all his men and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.

"Then the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his men into Israel's hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

Jephthah is giving the Ammonite king a history lesson, summarizing the exodus and the desert wandering. The emphasis here is probably not on history, but is a verbal defense of Israel's side in the upcoming war.

Judges 11: 23-27,

"Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God has given us, we will possess.

Are you better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them? For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn't you retake them during that time?

I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites."

Jephthah argues that the Ammonites took over the land of the defeated Amorites and that centuries have since gone by. In this dispute, Jephthah invokes the names of both YHWH (his God) and Chemosh (the god of the Ammonites.) Jephthah's view of YHWH is not clear but he does recount the history of Israel since the exodus.

Judges 11: 28-33, Jephthah attacks the Ammonites

The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him. Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 

And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."

Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

The Ammonites ignore Jephthah's argument.  Jephthah then is suddenly under the influence of the "Spirit of YHWH" and advances on the Ammonites.  In this process, Jephthah makes a rash vow. 

Barry Webb, in his commentary on Judges, argues that Jephthah has a very shallow view of God and essentially offers God a bribe.

The vow Jephthah makes is both strange and foolish.  (What does he expect to come out his door to meet him?)

Judges 11: 34-40, Foolish vows

When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.

When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."

"My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."

"You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Jephthah's daughter, like Miriam before her, celebrates victory by dancing and playing on a drumhead. 

It is not clear what happens to Jephthah's only daughter.  She, at least, is "consecrated" to God and cannot marry.  A Jewish webpage suggests that the consecration need not include death. That website provides both some interpretation of the Hebrew words and the fact that the girl's virginity is mentioned, a rather useless statement if she is put to death. That site argues that her consecration is to serving God as a single woman. A Christian website makes a somewhat similar argument. Surely killing one's daughter in sacrifice violates the Mosaic Law; child sacrifice was practiced by the worshipers of Molech and vigorously condemned. However, Barry Webb, in his commentary on Judges, argues that Jephthah probably sees YHWH as the local god whom he bribed to defeat Chemosh, local god of Ammon.  In that case, Jephthah has little genuine knowledge of YHWH.