Jephthah - Judges 11

Last we heard, Israel was ready to fight the Midianites and Ammonites because they were encroaching on their land and had formed an army against them, and Israel was looking for a general to lead the into battle. Apparently, some time earlier, there was a man named Gilead who had many sons with his wife but also had an illegitimate son with a prostitute as well. TB makes a couple of notes here, first that some scholars argue that this woman wasn’t a prostitute but it is mistranslated to mean concubine. TB disagrees with that and says that this is just them reaching and that the Hebrew word used to describe this woman is ever only used to mean “prostitute” in any other place in the Bible. Second, this just demonstrates how far Israel has fallen because not only was prostitution popular among Israelite men, but that Gilead recognized this prostitute’s son as his own showed that even high ranking men committed constant adultery. But it was unusual that Gilead recognized this kid as his own son, usually they were the dregs of society.

It wasn’t until Gilead’s other sons grew up, that “they thrust out Jephthah” and told him that he wasn’t welcome anymore nor would he inherit anything from their father. I’ve seen inheritance destroy so many families, it’s really sad. I’m not getting an inheritance so that kind of simplifies matters for me. Anyway, this bastard son Jephthah (which is really long to write, so I’m just going to use Jeph for short from now on) runs away from his brothers who no doubt would commit violence against him if he didn’t and ends up forming some sort of roving, robbing gang similar to the one formed by the son of a slave girl a couple of chapters ago, who defeated Abimelech. TB says that this was a common way for societal outcasts to support themselves and happened frequently. So Jeph forms this robber gang and he’s very brave and fiercesome and admired/terrifying to the people of Israel in that area of the land, which also consisted of his brothers who rejected him.

When looking for a general for their army, Gilead’s leadership, which almost certainly had Jeph’s brothers on the council, and decided to ask Jeph “come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.” Jeph’s answer is no surprise, “did nor ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? And why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?” The people promise that if he wins this battle and defeats the Ammonites that he will be their ruler in the city. This is a pretty good deal, so Jeph agrees and they go to the military capital in Mizpeh and make a vow before God.

Jeph is painted so far as this dejected thug, but he’s pretty smart, he sends messengers to the king of the Ammonites and asks what he wants, like what’s it going to take to settle this? The Ammonite king answers, “Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt… now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.” Jeph knows this guy is tripping and recounts the entire history of what happened between Israel and the Ammonites including that the Amorites declined to let them pass peacefully and attacked them. Because they were attacked, Israel defended itself. Jeph recounts, “And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.” Note how it says “Amorites” and not “Ammonites.” There is a slight spelling difference, the Amorites were the people who attacked Israel and was defeated and had their land taken from Israel. The Ammonites were just the people there trying to take the land now. So basically Jeph says “not only do you not have claim to this land now because we won it in battle, you don’t have claim to this land at all because it was a completely different people who lost it. He’s showing himself to be pretty intelligent here. Additionally, this land was won from the Amorites 300 years previously, and Jeph asks why are you coming for this land now, and not any time in the last 300 years? He knows the answer, that they are just conquerors making excuses, but he’s letting them know that he knows they are full of crap.

Verse 29 makes an interesting statement, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah” as he traveled over the land to where the Ammonites were. It’s interesting because just a short time previously he was a robber and the leader of a violent gang, and now God is with him, working through him to do His will. Interesting how God chooses the most unlikely, flawed people to do his work. He chooses the young, he chooses those who are great sinners, murderers, robbers, those who sought to destroy Him, those who fought against Him, the deeply flawed, adulterers, and these are the ones he chooses to do his work. It’s interesting, I saw a video about this just today and it said something like, when Jesus needed to choose his disciples, he didn’t go to the synagogues or the princes or the leadership to find them, he went to the fishermen, he went the politically extreme, he went to the societal rejects and called those men, and at the end, almost all of those whom he called, died for their testimonies. They were transformed from their lowly state to the pinnacle of human spirituality. There must be something in the process of being the lowest of the low that prepares people to become great servants of God. It’s really interesting to think about.

As Jeph is traveling to the battlefield, he makes a very rash vow to God, “If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mind hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh froth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer up up for a burnt offering.” This is a notorious story and often discussed when it comes up in scripture study. One thing I want to note here is that growing up, I always assumed that whoever was discussed in the Bible was good, and so God approved of everything they did, which caused a lot of cognitive dissonance for me because some of this stuff was clearly against what God commanded so how was it ok? I’ve learned a lot since then and this story was one of the ones where I had to say “Wait, what?” Anyway, this vow that Jeph makes was evidence that he recognized God’s authority and power and that he needed God’s favor in order to win this battle, which is a pretty incredible thing to accept, considering those who worshipped that same God were so awful to him previously. Jeph made this vow assuming that it would be a dog or some animal that comes running to greet him when he returned and he could sacrifice that animal as thanks/favor. Jeph takes Israel’s army and “with a very great slaughter” wins the war “thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.”

Jeph returns home to fulfill his sacrifice promise to God and out runs… his only daughter to greet him. He immediately knows what this means and is devastated. He tells his daughter what happened and she accepts her fate, saying, “My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even the children of Ammon… Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.” The daughter agrees to be a human sacrifice and only asks for a 2 month break to go to the mountains with her friends to mourn her life. TB notes that Jeph would have known about the law of Moses’ prohibition on human sacrifice, so that was a factor there too. The story ends with the daughter taking 2 months in the mountains with her friends, then coming back to “her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days a year.”

TB and the IM both note that there is significant debate between what really happened to the daughter, if she was actually sacrificed or not. The alternate theory was that she wasn’t physically killed as a sacrifice but instead was dedicated to God and was to remain an unmarried virgin. TB notes that by the reading he favors the opinion that he did sacrifice her, but he’s not married to that opinion and would happily be proven wrong. The IM favors the opinion that she was not sacrificed and instead the vow was concluded by her remaining a virgin and unmarried for the rest of her life. I can see the arguments both ways, and don’t have a strong opinion either way. The IM and TB both have extensive work ups on different arguments for an against. TB’s main argument for her being sacrificed is that scripturally and traditionally, it was accepted among the writer of the book of Judges, all priests and rabbis, all the readers and teachers of the scriptures, and everyone who listened to it, that Jeph had sacrificed his daughter physically as a human sacrifice and not a single word was uttered to the contrary until the middle ages, 2,000 years later. That’s a fair, logical, and compelling point. TB then makes 5 more points about why they say she wasn’t sacrificed physically, only sacrificed in the service of God as an unmarried virgin for the rest of her life.

1. Jephthah knew the Law of Moses and knew it prohibited human sacrifice so he would not have done it or even contemplated it.

2. Jephthah’s name appears in Hebrews 11:32 as one of the short list of great people of faith. How could someone who committed a human sacrifice be included in such a list?

3. Jephthah had been anointed with the Holy Spirit of God. No one under the Holy Spirit guidance could commit such a terrible thing as a human sacrifice.

4. There is evidence that there was an order of full-time women workers in the Tabernacle, and they were virgins

5. That we should read into Jephthah’s vow to God that IF what came through his door was an animal it would become a burnt offering, but if it was a human being that human would be some kind of a vow offering by means of their permanent service to God. This point is made because in the Hebrew translation, the word Jeph used for “Burnt offering” is “Olah” which means a “near offering” which was usually a gift burnt up to get near to God, but not always.

Most of these points are also made in the IM to support their opinion in agreement with many other Bible scholars that she wasn’t killed, but instead dedicated to God as a unmarried virgin. One interesting point that TB made was that because she was his only daughter, her being killed in the sacrifice or remaining an unmarried virgin had the same outcome for him biologically because his bloodline ended there, assuming he didn’t have any more children later.

It's very interesting that he is mentioned in Hebrews as being a spiritual man of great faith even though he had such a tragic and wicked starting position. TB makes this final note that I thought summed up Jeph and also gave an inspiring way for us to look at our own actions and the characteristics that we look at in other people. He says, “I have no doubt that Jephthah never imagined his own daughter would in any way be involved. He may have been a leader of a gang, but the reasoned way he conducted himself with the elders of Gilead who wanted his help, he sought no real revenge on his family, he approached the enemy king of Ammon in a thoughtful way without rushing into battle, and he showed himself to be very concerned that Yehoveh was with him, all indicates that he may have been rough but he was no ignorant thug by nature. Yes, he made a rash vow. But haven’t we all at one time or another when we were deeply concerned over something, made a promise to God that we either had no real control to keep, or one which we though better of later on? So that hardly means he was a rash person.” Just goes to show us who God can use despite their circumstances, and might I suggest that sometimes those circumstances or curated by God to form those character traits in those whom he will call later. Makes us think about not only our own circumstances but those of others as well, and to not close the book on someone we think might be too far gone. This was an excellent study session, I learned a lot, and I'm grateful.