To prepare for the recital of Israel's victory over the Ammonites the writer provided the reader with some background information concerning the man God raised up to lead this deliverance.
Verses 1-3 provide information about Jephthah's personal background. His name means "He [an unspecified deity] has opened [the womb]."Jephthah lived on the east side of the Jordan River. Unlike Gideon he was a courageous and valient warrior. He was, however, the product of his father's sexual liason with a prostitute, another clue to the moral level in Israel. Evidently Jephthah's grandparents named his father in honor of an ancestor named Gilead, perhaps the man from whom the region of Gilead derived its name.
Today we would say that Jephthah was an abused child (v. 2). His half-brothers rejected him in violation of the Mosaic Law that commanded the Israelites to love their neighbors and outcasts (Lev. 19:33-34; Deut. 10:12-22). David may have suffered the same kind of hostility in his family (cf. Ps. 27:10). One also recalls Jesus' rejection (cf. Isa. 53:3), though we have no reason to believe His parents abused Him.
Jephthah fled to Israel's frontier on the edge of civilization. Tob (v. 3) was between Ammon and Syria northeast of Gilead (cf. 2 Sam. 10:6, 8). The Hebrew term translated "worthless fellows"in the NASB is more accurately "adventurers,"as in the NIV. These men were not necessarily evil, but they were wild. Jephthah evidently lived a Robin Hood style of existence.
Jephthah's personal background was quite similar to Abimelech's (8:31-9:4). His character though seems to have been considerably purer in view of what follows. Unlike Abimelech he was more sensitive and submissive to Yahweh.
Jephthah was such a gifted warrior that when the Ammonites threatened Gilead the elders of that region overcame their personal dislike for Jephthah, humbled themselves, and begged him to defend them (vv. 4-6). This story reminds me of a theme that is very common in western movies. The townsfolk drive the young misfit who has grown up among them away because his love of violence makes them uneasy. However when a gang of outlaws threatens the town they send for the gunslinger to save them.
Jephthah's complaint about being appealed to as a last resort reminds us of God's similar words in 10:14. To persuade Jephthah to accept their invitation the elders promised that he would be their leader (sheriff?) and that they would follow his directions in the battle (v. 8).
He acknowledged that if he defeated the Ammonites it would be because the Lord gave them over to him (v. 9). Interestingly, Jephthah used the name of Yahweh more frequently than any other person in Judges. He was a man of faith even though he was a rough character.
The elders of Gilead made a formal public agreement with Jephthah at Mizpah in northern Gilead contracting the conditions of his leading Israel in battle (vv. 10-11). They pinned the sheriff's badge on him. Evidently Jephthah told the Lord about this covenant in prayer.
Notice how the writer of Judges constructed these first 11 verses parallel to 10:6-16. The elders of Gilead had treated Jephthah exactly as Israel had treated Yahweh.
". . . where is God in this complex process of engaging Jephthah? Far from playing the decisive role, as he had in the provision of all the other judges, God is relegated to the role of silent witness to a purely human contract between a desperate people and an ambitious candidate."220
Jephthah did not rush into battle but wisely tried to settle the Ammonites' grievance with Israel peacefully. His approach reveals his humility as well as his wisdom. Most men would have wanted to demonstrate their prowess in battle to impress the ones who had expressed confidence in them and to guarantee their future security with a victory. However, Jephthah restrained himself and appealed to the king of Ammon very logically through messengers. He initiated peace-talks rather than launching a war.
Jephthah appealed to the king of Ammon with three arguments. His point was that the Ammonites had no right to Israel's territory east of the Jordan that they were trying to obtain by force. First, he traced the history whereby this territory had come into Israel's possession showing that Ammon had no claim on Gilead (vv. 15-22). Israel had not attacked any territory held by Ammon or Moab when God's people approached the Promised Land in Moses' day. Israel had taken the land in dispute from the Amorites who had previously wrested it from the Ammonites.
Second, he emphasized the fact that Yahweh had given Israel this land. Thus it would have been wrong theologically to allow the Ammonites to take it from them (vv. 23-25).
"Even the pagans recognized that when victory was given by a deity, the victors had full right to possess that territory."221
"Jephthah's theology contains at least one serious flaw: Chemosh was not the patron deity of the Ammonites but of Moab. The divine patron of Ammon was Milkom."222
King Balak of Moab had never fought with Israel (Num. 22-24). This powerful king realized that opposing Israel in battle would be futile in view of the power of Israel's God.
Third, he appealed logically that Ammon had not tried to take the land she now claimed for 300 years. If she had a legitimate claim on it, she should have tried to secure it long ago (v. 26).
Jephthah's reference to 300 years (v. 26) is an important benchmark in biblical chronology. It had been approximately 300 years since the Israelites had defeated Sihon and captured Heshbon (in 1406 B.C.). Shortly after Jephthah spoke these words he defeated the Ammonites (v. 33; about 1106 B.C.) and ended the 18 year Ammonite oppression (10:8). The Philistine oppression of Israel began at the same time as the Ammonite oppression (10:7; in 1124 B.C.). The Philistines harassed Israel for 40 years (13:1; ca. 1124-1084 B.C.). The dates of the Philistine oppression are important because they provide a framework for the ministries of Eli and Samuel as well as Samson. This time reference along with the one in 1 Kings 6:1 indicates that the Exodus took place about 1446 B.C. rather than about 1280 B.C.223
Finally Jephthah called on Yahweh the Judge to judge who had rightful title to the land (v. 27). The Ammonite king disregarded Jephthah's message (v. 28). He obviously believed he could take Gilead in battle.
God's Spirit then clothed Jephthah guaranteeing divine enablement and victory in the approaching encounter with the Ammonite army (v. 29; cf. 3:10; 6:34; 14:6, 19; 1 Sam. 10:10). He travelled through Gilead in the tribal territory of Gad and eastern Manasseh to the north recruiting soldiers. He led his troops back to Mizpah in Gilead (cf. v. 11) and then eastward into Ammon.
Jephthah made a vow before going into battle. He promised that if the Lord would give him victory he would give God whatever came out of the door of his house when he returned from the conflict (vv. 30-31). He would offer this person or animal either as a sacrifice of dedication to the Lord or as a burnt offering of worship (v. 31). The masculine gender of the Hebrew word translated "whatever"can apply to a person or an animal, but he was probably thinking of an animal.
"His negotiations with the elders, his diplomacy with the Ammonites, and his vow, have all amply displayed Jephthah's facility with words. Jephthah, we know, is goodat opening his mouth. (How ironical that his name means literally he opens'!). What has precipitated the crisis with his daughter is that he has opened his mouth to Yahweh, that is, he has tried to conduct his relationship with God in the same way that he has conducted his relationships with men. He has debased religion (a vow, an offering) into politics."224
Webb pointed out in the helpful article quoted above that Israel had done the same thing Jephthah did. This tendency to negotiate with God marked and marred her relationship with Yahweh during this period of her history.
The Lord gave Jephthah success in the battle, and he destroyed 20 cities in Ammon. He broke the Ammonites' strong power, so they ceased oppressing Israel (v. 33).
Note the chiastic structure of verses 29-32. This section begins and ends with the promise and fulfillment of God's giving Jephthah victory. When the Spirit came on him there was no doubt that he would defeat the enemy. The center of the chiasm relates Jephthah's bargaining with God to insure victory. He did not need to make this vow. He had already testified that God had given His people victory in the past (vv. 21, 24). Apparently his faith was not as strong as it might have been, and this weakness led him to seek a guarantee of success by making the vow.
Jephthah's vow reveals that he had a rather unenlightened concept of Yahweh. His commitment to the Lord was strangely strong, but his understanding of God was not Scriptural. He did not know what the Law revealed about Yahweh, or he had forgotten this. His concept of God bears the marks of Canaanite influence. His belief that he needed to bargain with and bribe God to get Him to bless His people was unfortunate (cf. Jer. 29:11). He also believed that Yahweh took pleasure in what hurts people, that He is sadistic. This idea was also inaccurate and pagan. Furthermore he believed that God might abandon him before he finished his battle. God had promised that He would not do this as long as His people trusted and obeyed Him (Deut. 28:1, 7). Jephthah made his tragic vow because he did not have a Scriptural view of God.225He should have vowed to offer the inhabitants of the cities he would conquer as sacrifices to God (Num. 21:2).
The secret to Jephthah's success was his essential trust in and obedience to Yahweh. This is always the key to spiritual success. His life teaches us that God can and does use people with all types of backgrounds. God does not produce His instruments with a cookie cutter. Each one is different. He even uses people whom others reject because of their families and lifestyles. He prepares His tools throughout their lives and uses everything in their backgrounds to equip them to conduct a unique ministry for Himself.
Verses 1-33 record Jephthah's success. The rest of his story (11:34-12:7) relates his failure. The writer likewise recorded Gideon's success first (6:1-8:23) and then his failure (8:24-9:57). We shall find a similar pattern when we come to Samson's story. As with Gideon and Samson, Jephthah's failure grew out of his success. In all three of these judges' cases, failure resulted from ignorance of God's Word or disregard of it.
God gave us little information about the personal lives of the first three major judges, namely, Othniel, Ehud, and Deborah. He gave us much more personal information about the last three major judges: Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. This selection of material helps us appreciate the deterioration that took place in Israel during the judges' period as God's people did what was right in their own eyes (21:25).
When Jephthah returned home from battle, his only child, a daughter, greeted him gleefully (v. 34). The writer's description of her recalls Miriam's joy and dancing after the Lord gave the Israelites victory over their Egyptian pursuers (Exod. 15:20). Her joy became Jephthah's grief (v. 35). He falsely blamed her for his sorrow (cf. 1 Kings 18:17-18). Really he was responsible for it because of his vow to God (vv. 30-31). "Given my word"is a play on words (vv. 35-36). Jephthah's name means "he opens"and "given my word"is literally "opened my mouth."Jephthah evidently believed that to go back on his vow to God would involve a denial of his integrity, his very name. He felt he would be denying everything he believed in and stood for.
Jephthah believed he could not get out of his vow (v. 35). Unfortunately he did not know or had forgotten that God had made provision for His people to redeem things they had vowed to give Him. Leviticus 27:1-8 told the Israelites that if they vowed someone or something to God and then wanted it back they could pay a stated ransom price and buy it back. Even though Jephthah had great zeal for God, it was a zeal without knowledge. Had he known the Word of God he could have avoided sacrificing his daughter. With his vow he sought to secure his present, but through it he ended up sacrificing his future.226
"Although the present story ends with the death of the young girl, her father is the tragic figure, presenting a pathetic picture of stupidity, brutality, ambition, and self-centeredness. Ironically, the one who appeared to have become master of his own fate has become a victim of his own rash word. . . . The man who had tried to manipulate Yahweh to guarantee his peace' (shalom) is doomed by the one whose life he was willing to sacrifice for his own well-being."227
The submission of Jephthah's daughter was as commendable as it was tragic. She did not know Leviticus 27 either, but she submitted as an obedient child (cf. Gen. 22). She too believed that the Lord had given her father the victory over the Ammonites (v. 36).
There are primarily two possible interpretations of the fate of Jephthah's daughter as the record of Jephthah's fulfilling his vow unfolds in this section of verses.228
1. Jephthah offered her as a human sacrifice (burnt offering) to Yahweh.229
The more important arguments in favor of this interpretation are as follows.
a. Jephthah's desolation when his daughter greeted him points to an ultimate sacrifice (v. 35).
b. The fact that she received a two-month reprieve before Jephthah carried out his vowed action suggests that she died (vv. 37-38).
c. The institution of a four-day annual feast in Israel as a result of her fate argues for her death (v. 40).
d. Until the Middle Ages this was the uniform interpretation of the commentators.
e. The writer said the Israelites worshipped the gods of Ammon and Moab (10:10), and the leaders of these nations sacrificed children (2 Kings 3:27).
The rebuttals to these points are these.
a. Jephthah naturally would have been very sorry that his daughter met him rather than some animal. He had only one heir, and she could not now perpetuate his family in Israel.
b. The two-month reprieve would have been appropriate if she left his home from then on for a life of perpetual service at the tabernacle. She mourned because she would live as a virgin, not die a virgin.
c. The Israelites established the feast because she so admirably submitted to the will of her father and God. Moreover she was the daughter of a famous judge in Israel.
d. The antiquity of an interpretation does not guarantee its accuracy.
2. Jephthah dedicated her to the service of Yahweh at the tabernacle where she ministered from then on as a virgin.230
Some of the stronger arguments in favor of this view are these.
a. The text allows this possibility. The words and expressions used do not require a human sacrifice.
b. God specifically forbade human sacrifice in the Mosaic Law and called it an abomination in His sight (Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut. 12:31; 18:10). That a judge in Israel such as Jephthah would have practiced it is unthinkable.
c. There is no record that the Israelites made human sacrifices until the godless kings Ahab and Manasseh introduced them many years later.
d. The writer did not picture Jephthah as a rash person who would impetuously or desperately promise God such a sacrifice (cf. vv. 9-11, 12-27).
The responses to these arguments that critics of this view have made are as follows.
a. Human sacrifice is the normal implication of the terms used in the passage.
b. Jephthah violated the Mosaic Law as did other of Israel's judges (e.g., Gideon's multiple marriages, Samson's violations of his Nazirite vow, etc.).
c. This could be the first human sacrifice the Israelites offered that God recorded in Scripture. The king of Moab later offered his crown prince as a human sacrifice to assure victory in battle, so this pagan practice may have influenced Jephthah (cf. 2 Kings 3:27).
d. Jephthah's background suggests that he was a rash person. He might have resorted to such an extreme measure to secure victory and acceptance by the Gileadites (cf. vv. 1-3).
I believe Jephthah offered his daughter as a human sacrifice. A few years later Saul also made a foolish vow and almost slew his son Jonathan (1 Sam. 14:39, 44-45). The only thing that prevented that tragedy was the intervention of the Israelites. Ignorance of God's Word is not only unfortunate, it is also dangerous.
"Long neglect of the Mosaic law had left the Israelites with many mistaken notions about God's will."231
The writer's emphasis now shifts from Jephthah's foolishness to Ephraim's arrogance.
The Ephraimites were the Gileadites' neighbors to the west. They resented the fact that Jephthah had not requested their assistance in the war with the Ammonites. We noted earlier that the Ephraimites considered themselves superior to their brethren in some respects (cf. 8:1). They foolishly threatened to punish Jephthah for this affront (v. 1).
"Why should the Ephraimites complain about a victory accomplished through God's intervention for the benefit of all the tribes? It was a strange jealousy that spurred on Ephraim."232
Jephthah opened his mouth wisely again and replied that he had indeed requested their help, but they had not responded (v. 2). This did not satisfy the Ephraimites, however, who mobilized a large fighting force to teach the Gileadites a lesson. These proud Israelites wanted to dominate, to control, and to receive recognition among their brethren. They evidently regarded the Gileadites as "fugitives"(v. 4) because they had settled east of the Jordan River.
"As is so often the case, internal disputes broke out after the common enemy was subdued. The main issue appears to be Jephthah's unilateral action in Transjordan. However, a much more serious issue is apparent, a developing independence among the tribes east of the Jordan. The conflict between the Ephraimites and the Gileadites is a sad commentary on the lack of Israelite unity in this period."233
When the Ephraimites had confronted Gideon, he responded with psychology (8:1-3). Jephthah was a different kind of person from Gideon, however. He responded with a sword. Jephthah was a nobody, and nobodies are unimpressed with people who think they are somebodies, as the Ephraimites did.
In the battle that followed east of the Jordan, 42,000 Ephraimites (or 42 military units) suffered defeat, a high price for jealousy. The Gileadites stopped those who tried to flee back home at the fords of the Jordan. The Ephraimites' accent did not permit them to say shibboleth(meaning "ear of corn"or "flowing stream") normally.234In this way the Gileadite soldiers identified the fleeing Ephraimites.
"Here is graphic evidence that language distinctions had begun to mark the rapidly widening division of the nation."235
Unfortunately Jephthah treated his own brethren, the Ephraimites, as he had dealt with Israel's enemy, the Ammonites. He unleashed his zeal and took vengeance far out of proportion to what might have been legitimate.
Jephthah served as a judge in Israel probably just over the Transjordanian tribes. He did so for six years after his victory over the Ammonites and his appointment by the elders of Gilead.
"Gideon was a weak man who was transformed into a fearless warrior. Jephthah was a valiant warrior. Because of his tragic family life, he had to become strong to survive. The story of his life is of God taking a strong man, and, by His Spirit, turning him into a usable man. Whatever our strengths and weaknesses, the secret of our usefulness is our availability to our God."236
Earlier we saw that Gideon's failure had bad consequences for his nation (ch. 8) and for him personally (ch. 9). Likewise Jephthah's failure had bad consequences for him personally (ch. 11) and for his nation (ch. 12). We shall see that Samson's failure also had bad consequences for his nation and himself (ch. 16). The bad personal consequences Gideon experienced involved the premature death of his 70 sons. Jephthah's personal tragedy involved the premature death of his only daughter. Samson himself died prematurely (cf. Rom. 6:23).
Gideon's failure was compromise with idolatry. The appeal of the world, Gideon's cultural environment, brought him down. Jephthah's failure was ignorance of or inattention to God's Word. In the record of Satan's temptations in Scripture he always sought to get people to doubt, deny, disobey, or disregard what God had said (cf. Gen. 3; Matt. 4). Jephthah fell before Satanic attack. Samson's failure was indulging his fleshly appetites. These three major judges all experienced success, but they also failed. Each of the three major sources of temptation was responsible for the failure of one of them. All three judges failed to follow God fully. Each one turned aside to self-will. All three represent Israel in the period of the judges. Moreover all three are typical of all believers. They experienced a measure of spiritual success, but they also failed for the same reasons we fail.
