Judges 11: 1 – 40
Don’t Be Too Quick To Make A Vow
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. 4 It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. 5 And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.” 7 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” 8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them to me, shall I be your head?” 10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah. 12 Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?” 13 And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.” 14 So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, 15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon; 16 for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. 17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh. 18 And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land into our place.” 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. 22 They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. 23 ‘And now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it? 24 Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. 25 And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them? 26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? 27 Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the LORD, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’” 28 However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him. 29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, 31 then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” 32 So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hands. 33 And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith—twenty cities—and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. 34 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it.” 36 So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.” 37 Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.” 38 So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. 39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
We are going to come across a chapter that has drawn much interest. For in it we read about this man who had made a vow to God that he would offer a burnt offering if he was victorious in the war against Ammon. In his vow he swore that upon his return the first thing out of his house he would offer as a burnt offering. What a dope. I mean come on now, what would come out of his house. This wasn’t the Beverly Hillbillies, where the pigs and goats walked around in the house. What would this guy expect to come out of his house. Anyway, we are going to take a look at this and some other significant issues that our Precious Holy Yahweh Elohe Yisrael – The Lord God Of Israel – teaches us.
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”
The man the leaders of Gilead had their eye on was named Jephthah. His name means ‘opens’ and was probably short for Yiptah-el - ‘God opens (the womb)’. He was a great warrior. But there were problems. His father Gilead had begotten him by either an ordinary prostitute or by a wanton woman, although it has to be said in Gilead’s favor that he had then taken him into his home. But it was a different matter with his family. For when Jephthah grew up he was thrown out of his home as the son of ‘another woman’, that is not a true wife or even a concubine. This was contrary to the teaching of the law which protected ‘the fatherless’, for thereby they had made Jephthah fatherless as our Lord declared to the Israelites in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 10, “18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.”
It would seem that Jephthah was Gilead’s first child, whom he took into his house. But then his own wife bore him children, and as they grew up the question of inheritance cropped up. One problem was that he was the firstborn, (although not legally), and assertive. We can understand why they feared for the future. But even the child of a prostitute could expect some kind of inheritance from his father when he was a part of the household, and he certainly had a right to his father’s reasonable provision. They, however, begrudged him even that, which was why they drove him out. As Gilead would presumably not have permitted this we must presume that he was either ill, or more probably dying, although it may be that he was driven to it by a constantly nagging wife, as Abraham partly was by Sarah as we learn in the book of Genesis 21:10-11, “10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” 11 And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.”
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.
So Jephthah had to leave his home and make his living as best he could in an unfriendly world. He had every disadvantage. He went to live in the region of Tob. Tob was an Aramaean city and area north of Gilead, his worth was recognized there by similar stateless and rejected men and other adventurers who joined him under his leadership.
‘Went out with him’ indicates their purpose. They sought booty and spoils, probably attacking caravans, rustling and even attacking small towns and villages. And so, like David would after him, he developed skills in leading men, in fighting and in generalship, ready for when he would hear the call of Yahweh. He also built up a force of efficient, trained fighting men. It is probable also, that, like David, he did not attack his own countrymen, even possibly coming sometimes to their defense, otherwise they would not have considered him for the leadership.
4 It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel.
Having encamped and waited for an approach from the elders of Gilead with the tribute due, the Ammonites now began to move into a war position and made a few sorties in preparation for the main attack.
5 And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
Recognizing the imminence of the coming main attack the elders swallowed their pride, and some went personally themselves to see Jephthah to plead with him to come to their assistance. Here was one trained fighting general who would know how to deal with the enemy.
6 Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”
Their aim was that he should be general of their fighting men and bring his men with him. Victory would provide them with booty sufficient to satisfy them. They were admitting that without him they could not face Ammon with any hope of victory, and he knew it.
7 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”
Jephthah’s reply demonstrates that in his time of need he had found no help from the elders. They had sided with Gilead’s true born sons and had had no time for his illegitimate son. He had been in dire need of someone to care and help him in the past but all these people had turned against him and were unwilling to help. Why did they now that the shoe was on the other foot that they thought he would be any different? Why should he listen to them?
8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
They say that everyone has a price in which they will change their convictions. The elders frankly and humbly replied that the reason they had come was so that he would fight for them and lead them against the children of Ammon. In return they would offer him the headship of the people who had rejected him. This had not been their first intention but they now recognized that it was necessary. It was a big step, for strictly he had no right to be recognized as a true Israelite, never mind their head.
Can you see how far the Israelites have fallen away from the only true and living God. Since they were doing whatever was right in their own mind and forsook following the Commandments of the Lord and Worshiping Him and Him Alone they have fallen to be cowards. They are so bad that what they have done in their worldly wisdom was to hire mercenaries to do the fighting for them. They have lost their common sense. Do they actually think that things will work out in the long run okay?
9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them to me, shall I be your head?”
Jephthah wanted to be quite clear about what they were offering. He had had no reason to trust them in the past. Why should he trust them now? But his reply demonstrated that in spite of his way of life, he trusted in Yahweh. His faith had been tested in the fires of affliction, and in his military way of life, and now he recognized that in order to obtain victory he would need Yahweh’s help. But his reply also gave them comfort. If Yahweh did give him victory, surely this would prove that Yahweh was satisfied for him to be their head. And if not, well, what had they lost?
10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.”
The elders told him, ‘we cross our hearts and hope to die, if we are fibbing.’
11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.
Satisfied with their oath Jephthah went with them, and no doubt took his men with him, promising them due reward. They would form his spearhead attack. Then he was appointed head and commander-in-chief by acclamation of the people and in the presence of Yahweh by an oath. This was done at Mizpah where the Gileadite forces were gathered, somewhat fearful at the thought of the approaching enemy. ‘Before Yahweh.’ It may well be that the Ark had been brought there to lead them into battle. Or the oath may have been made at some recognized holy place.
12 Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?”
Jephthah’s fighting experience was immediately revealed. He knew that nothing was more important than to try to put fear in the hearts of the enemy and to show them that his own army was unafraid. His words were really a challenge. They would also help to delay things until a reply was received, giving him time to organize his forces.
Note the words ‘my land’. He was now its head and its chief and could so speak of it. But we must also remember that he was speaking to the king of Ammon as ‘king’ to king. It emphasized to the king of Ammon to whom the land belonged. He did not expect the king simply to acknowledge his claim and go away. But he knew that the challenge would make him more uncertain.
13 And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”
The reply came back just as haughtily. The king demanded the return to him of lands now under the control of Israel, (the territory of Reuben and Gad), which he claimed had once belonged to Ammon, (although Israel had taken them from the occupying Amorites, not from Ammon). But that land had never belonged to Ammon, it had belonged to Moab as we learn in the book of Numbers chapter 21, “26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and had taken all his land from his hand as far as the Arnon.”
Thus it is clear that the king of Ammon was here linking Moab with himself in his claims. In other words he was speaking on behalf of an Ammonite/Moabite confederacy. In the book of Deuteronomy chapter 2, “9 Then the LORD said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’”
Both were to be treated as the same by Israel because they were the descendants of Lot. They were ‘brothers’. Furthermore he knew perfectly well how impossible it would be for Jephthah to acknowledge his claims. It would be to admit that Reuben and Gad should pay tribute to him in perpetuity. That would be worth sacrificing a bit of Gilead for, especially as he could always come back for that later and no doubt would levy tribute, but he did not really expect it to happen. What he hoped was that Jephthah would give up and pay tribute.
One special importance for us of this statement is that it demonstrates that this attack was therefore not only by Ammon, but included Moab who regularly allied themselves with Ammon, for they were ‘the descendants of Lot’ and therefore ‘brothers’. Had it not been for verse 13 we would have thought it was Moab alone. We do not of course have here the full text of the message from the king of Ammon, and what follows suggests strongly that he did indeed stress that the territory had belonged to Moab their ‘brother’ and that it was theirs because it belonged to Chemosh their god.
14 So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, 15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon; 16 for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. 17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh. 18 And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land into our place.” 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. 22 They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. 23 ‘And now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it? 24 Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God takes possession of before us, we will possess.
Jephthah did not expect for one moment that the king of Ammon would give way. Nor was he arguing a legal case. And he no doubt had the message read out to his own army before sending it. It was written as much for them as for the enemy. The aim of both armies was to put themselves in the right and justify their claims before their deities so as to be sure of their help, and to stir up their armies to support a ‘righteous (in their eyes) cause’. No one fights better than the man who fights for a patriotic principle and considers that he has a grievance and that his god is with him in it. And they would want their gods to fight for them.
So Jephthah was not only trying to put the king of Ammon in the wrong, he was also demonstrating to Yahweh why He should fight for Israel, and demonstrating that Melek and Chemosh had no good reason for fighting for Ammon, indeed that it was Chemosh who had given away the land in the first place.
The words he used show a good knowledge of history. This may partly have been a result of guidance and coaching from the elders and priests of Gilead, but he had grown up in an important family and would be aware of the history of the past which exalted Yahweh. But the essential message was his, for he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to put his enemies in the wrong, disarm their gods, and take away the sense of the patriotism of their action. Whether he really believed in their gods is beside the point. His recipients certainly did.
Note the majestic opening, ‘thus says Jephthah’. Jephthah wanted the king of Ammon to recognise with whom he was dealing. We can sense here the pride of the newly appointed chief. Then he followed it by reminding the king of Ammon about how Yahweh had delivered them from the might of Egypt. ‘They came from Egypt.’ Not many nations could say that. It was a part of history, and what Yahweh had done in delivering them from Egypt was widely known in the area. Let him think about that! Then they had travelled through the wilderness seeking a home. But when they arrived at Edom, Edom would not help them, and neither would Moab. Every word is loaded as he depicts how Israel were wronged.
His aim here was to put Moab in the wrong. They had refused to help Israel and had made life difficult for them, even though Israel had promised to refrain from attacking them, recognizing them as related tribes holding their land under Yahweh’s good hand. This was base ingratitude and demonstrated that they actually deserved worse than they got. Thus they had no case against Israel.
Then he went on to point out that not only had Moab or Ammon no right to the land in dispute but that their god Chemosh had actually handed it over to Sihon and the Amorites. And that Israel had obtained it from the latter by right of conquest. Thus the land belonged by right of conquest to the people of Yahweh Who had dispossessed the Amorites.
But first he wanted to put Moab now even more in the wrong. Israel, he pointed out, had carefully avoided Moabite territory. Rather than appropriating it they had left it alone. Thus they had treated Moab more than fairly. Why then were Ammon and Moab now attacking them?
Israel had not only been generous to Moab they had also dealt in a friendly way with Sihon and the Amorites, with their capital city at Heshbon. All they had asked to do was pass through without fighting. They had had no intention of conquest. They had just wanted to reach ‘their place’ safely, the land which Yahweh had promised to them and which was therefore theirs. It was Sihon who insisted on fighting for the land. Israel’s behaviour was thus in contrast to Ammon’s now, for Ammon was positively invading it without provocation.
Jephthah stressed that they had been forced to fight Sihon and the Amorites against their will. But that when they had had to do so, Yahweh had delivered it into their hands. It had thus clearly been Yahweh’s intention that they should have the land. So they had divine rights to it. Then he carefully stressed that it was the Amorites who were the actual inhabitants of the country at that time, not the Moabites, so that Israel had not taken it from Moab but from its inhabitants, from the Amorites.
He also probably hoped that the king of Ammon would note in passing what had happened to Sihon and the Amorites as a result of them confronting Yahweh.
So Jephthah emphasised that their right to possession of the land was because they had possessed it when Yahweh had dispossessed the Amorites on their behalf. Thus the Ammonites and Moabites had no right of possession such as they claimed. Let them beware. Yahweh would not be pleased with their claims.
Please take note what he was trying to do. He was not denying that the Ammonites could argue that if they conquered it then it meant that their god had given them the land as against Yahweh. He would have accepted that as being correct. But what he wanted them (and Yahweh and Chemosh and Melek) to recognise was that if they did so it was by right of conquest, not because of any previous rights. They had no justification other than conquest. Thus no nationalistic pride was involved. They had no inherent right to it.
Chemosh was in fact the god of Moab, not the god of Ammon. Their god was Melek (Molech, Milcom). Thus many have claimed that Jephthah here made a mistake. But he has made no mistake. The king of Ammon was arguing about and laying claim to land that had in times past, before the Amorites had captured it, belonged to Moab, and he was making his claim on those very grounds. From his viewpoint that land had once belonged to Chemosh. So Jephthah wanted him to face up to the fact that it was Chemosh who had relinquished it to the Amorites.
Essentially, he was saying, it was Chemosh, their own god (one of the gods of the confederacy) who had not given its possession to the Moabites, nor to the Ammonites, and it was this Chemosh to whom the king of the Ammonites was in the last resort appealing, Chemosh who had given it to the Amorites. Let them therefore possess what he had patently given to them, and recognize that he gave that other land to the Amorites and that Yahweh has taken that land from the Amorites and given it to Israel. And that that is why they now claimed possession of it.
Once we recognize that the king of Ammon was speaking on behalf of an Ammonite/Moabite alliance (which he had to be to make the claim for the land that he made) the difficulty disappears. He was speaking on behalf of both Melek and Chemosh, and in relation to that particular land, of Chemosh. It was Chemosh who could theoretically claim a past right to the land, not Melek.
We must also recognize the possibility that Jephthah was cleverly trying to sow the seeds of division between the two allies. If he could get them to argue Melek against Chemosh, and that it was the king of Moab who should be asking for the land and not the king of Ammon, he would have divided their ranks.
Sometimes we tend to think of the people who lived during these times in the same category as cave men. However, the intelligence and wisdom of this mind battle surpasses what many can do today in intellectual battles.
Jephthah now went on to point out that their delay in making this claim itself demonstrated that they had no case, and that no one in the past had dared to argue with Israel about it.
25 And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them?
Now Jephthah sought to stress the superiority of Israel and of Yahweh their God. Even the famous Balak of Moab had not dared to claim back the land Israel had taken from the Amorites. Indeed, as they would be aware, he had been so unwilling to take on Israel, because he had heard what they had done to the Amorites with the help of Yahweh their God that he had had to seek the help of the famous prophet Balaam against them.
26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?
Indeed since then Israel had occupied the cities of the area, even those on the very borders of Moab, for ‘three hundred years’. And there had been no attempt at any time to claim even those cities along the border of the Arnon as theirs, never mind the capital Heshbon itself. Why, if these towns really belonged to Chemosh and Moab, had they not recovered them previously? Thus they had clearly not seen it in the way the king of Ammon did now.
27 Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the LORD, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’”
Jephthah then finished on a note of injured hurt. He, representing Israel, had done nothing wrong to Ammon. It was Ammon who were behaving wrongly. Thus Yahweh the righteous Judge would judge appropriately and act accordingly. Yahweh would be on his side. He no doubt trusted that Yahweh, and his own army, would note his words as well as the king of Ammon.
Note how he spoke of himself as representing the nation. He was already behaving like a king. By now, he knew, the king of Ammon would be thinking seriously. These were not the words of some frightened leader trying to bolster up his own courage, these were the words of a man of iron, who was unafraid, who was aware that Yahweh was on his side and would act for him, who was righteously indignant and who had no fear of Ammon. The king had been used to the cowering ways of the elders of Gilead when he received his tribute. Now he would realize why that tribute had recently been refused. A new man had arisen in Israel, a man of Yahweh.
28 However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.
That is, the king did not admit that he was in the wrong and return to Ammon. No one would have been more surprised than Jephthah if he had. It was not likely that he would easily relinquish the tribute that they had been receiving for so long. But Jephthah had made the impact that he wanted to make, both on his own troops and on the enemy, and, he trusted, on Yahweh. He had declared his faith and dependence on Him. Now he looked for Yahweh to respond. And He did.
29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.
Jephthah was now taken possession of by Yahweh, and he went through Gilead and Manasseh gathering further troops to join those already gathered in Mizpeh. Then he reviewed his army at Mizpeh of Gilead and was satisfied. So then he set off with his men and his army to face the Ammonites.
Now here comes this amazing comment.
30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, 31 then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
Before going into battle Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh. He promised to ‘offer as a whole offering’ to Him whoever first came to meet him from the doors of his house, to be Yahweh’s for ever, a precious gift to God which God could choose for Himself. He possibly also hoped that news would filter through to the Ammonites of what he had done so that they would hear and fear. He may even have ensured that it did. That may well be why he put it in sacrificial terms. They would interpret his words in terms of their own god Melek who demanded such sacrifices. His previous speech demonstrated the value he put on propaganda.
The question of what Jephthah actually intended here has been hotly debated. At face value, in terms of the system of sacrifices in Israel, it appears to mean that he would offer such a person up as a burnt offering, a human sacrifice, for that is what the technical phrase ‘offer up as a whole offering’, when used of animals, always indicated. It was also what Abraham originally understood of his son in Genesis chapter 22, until God then reinterpreted it. But is that what Jephthah, who probably intended Ammon to see it in that way, actually meant Israel to understand by it?
In considering the matter we should consider the following:
• That the only reference up to this time of a human being ‘offered up as a whole offering’ resulted in his being substituted by a ram and himself dedicated to the covenant of Yahweh. The letter to the Hebrews can actually say of this, “By faith Abraham offered up Isaac”. Thus the whole transaction was seen as ‘the offering up of Isaac’.
• That when the firstborn of Israel were ‘due’ to be sacrificed to Yahweh, they were redeemed by the substitution of a lamb and themselves dedicated to serve in the Tabernacle as ‘belonging to Yahweh’- [Remember Samuel’s life.]
• That in Israel the offerings of a human being or of an ass were unacceptable. They were ‘unclean’. Thus they had to be replaced by a substitute.
• That it is unlikely that a priest would be found to make the offering, or that the tribal confederacy would have permitted it or done nothing about it.
• That what is said about the actual event fits well with Jephthah’s daughter being dedicated as a virgin to service at the door of the Tabernacle.
So if Jephthah had really intended an ‘acceptable’ human sacrifice involving death surely he would have offered, right from the beginning, to sacrifice his own child in accordance with custom, for that was the concept which in the area in question lay behind such sacrifices. To do anything less would indeed be an insult to Yahweh. On the other hand if he was thinking of someone being sanctified to the service of the Tabernacle he would think in terms of a male, and would thus consider a male servant acceptable as he had no son. The man would then be ‘adopted’ as a Levite, servicing the sanctuary, like Samuel.
The simplest explanation which alone fits in with all the above facts is that ‘offering a human being as a whole offering’ was seen as fulfilled in Israel when a person was specifically dedicated to Yahweh by a vow and a substitutionary burnt offering was then made in his stead. The person in question being then seen as belonging to Him and ‘sanctified to Yahweh’, ‘offered as a whole offering’.
32 So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hands. 33 And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith—twenty cities—and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
The details of the battle are brief. Jephthah had been filled with the Spirit of Yahweh and had revealed his dedication by his vow. Thus Yahweh fought for him and the battle was won.
Note the way that verses 29-32 sweep forward. They begin with the Spirit of Yahweh coming on Jephthah, and end with Yahweh delivering the enemy into his hand, with his vow mentioned in the middle. This confirms that his vow was acceptable to Yahweh and militates against it indicating human sacrifice.
The final state of things is described. Ammon, and probably her brother nation Moab, were subdued. They were no longer able to trouble Israel. Yahweh had fulfilled His promised deliverance.
34 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
Yahweh had heard his prayer and had given him victory. Now He took him at his word. For when Jephthah approached his house, his daughter led the welcoming procession that came out to greet him. She was full of joy at her father’s success, as were those who followed her, and they danced and waved their tumbrels. We all have been waiting for this moment and know in our hearts the sadness that will result.
‘She was his only child, besides her he had neither son nor daughter.’ The pathos of the situation comes home. She was all that Jephthah had in the world in order to secure offspring to ensure the future of his house. But now he knew that she must be dedicated to Yahweh, remaining a virgin and serving Him in the Tabernacle. The point is not only that she was his only child, but that, in view of that, after so many years of trying, he was unlikely to have any others.
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it
When he saw who first came from his house he was devastated. He ‘tore his clothes’, an expression of great emotion and deep grief. He was not blaming his daughter. He was simply letting her know how deeply he felt the consequences of his vow. But his firm faith comes out in his final words. He intended to fulfill his vow whatever it cost him.
36 So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.”
His daughter comforted him as best she could. Yahweh had fulfilled His part in the matter, she stressed, now it was up to him to do the same. She wanted him to know that she was in full agreement with what he had to do. Her love for him flowed out through her words. She did not want anything to hurt her father. But she also revealed her trust in Yahweh.
37 Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.”
From now on she was to be a perpetual virgin. Like Samuel after her she was sanctified to Yahweh by her parent’s oath ‘all the days of her life’. To a woman of Israel childbearing was everything. Yet for her this was to be denied. What she asked was that she might have two months to prepare herself for her new vocation and to get herself used to her new calling, to bewail the fact that she would never be a mother. And she went with her companions as though she were preparing for her wedding.
And in this preparation she went into the mountains. She knew that this was where Abraham had gone to ‘sanctify’ his son. She knew that this was where Moses had gone to meet and commune with Yahweh. Thus she herself would go into the mountains to make her peace with Yahweh, for there was nowhere else that she could go. But it would not have been seemly, or wise, for her to go alone.
38 So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.
Jephthah granted her request immediately. And she left him and prepared herself for what was to come, on the mountains, and faced up to her coming lifetime virginity. She remained there for two moon periods. She would be a symbol of what Israel should be, and a contrast with the Canaanite cult prostitutes. But we should note that it was due to her father’s rash vow rather than because Yahweh desired it. Yet Yahweh would use it for good.
39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
Obedient to her calling and to her father’s vow, she returned, and he took her to the central sanctuary and there she served Yahweh at the door of the Tabernacle, possibly even as a prophetess. The only thing that bound her was her father’s vow and her gratitude to Yahweh for the victory he had given to her father.
Jephthah’s daughter became an inspiration to the women of Israel. Every year they would gather and ‘rehearse’ with her the righteous acts of Yahweh and celebrate her life and devotion in song. And it seems very probable that she became a source of guidance and comfort to them in their lives, and an inspiration to Israel. For all who saw her would know of her obedience and dedication to Yahweh and would remember the great victory that Yahweh had given them through her father.
