Judges 11-12

English Standard Version Chapter 11

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

29 Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” 32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand. 33 And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow.” 36 And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” 37 So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” 38 So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. 39 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Jephthah’s Conflict with Ephraim

12 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” 2 And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. 3 And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” 4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.” 5 And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,” 6 they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.

7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.

Spring Into Action - Meet the Judge: Jephthah

29 Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.

V29 - God saw fit for the execution of His plan and is now regarded not just “head” over the inhabitants of Gilead (man’s plan), but “judge” and deliverer of Israel (God’s plan), and he strategically empowered Jephthah to complete the Lord’s task. (very quick - 3 verse task)…*if only the spirit of the Lord would have helped his bad judgment!

GS - maybe Jephthah has changed, and now the Lord finds favor in him!?

V29 - “Spirit of the Lord” - Much different than our understanding of the our experience of the Holy Spirit today. This encounter was known as “an extension of the presence, power, and authority of Yahweh” (Hill & Walton, survey. The Holy Spirit as which is known today (indwelling, baptism and filling) were not fully revealed as they are today. The greatest difference between the Holy Spirit OT vs NT is that today, the Holy Spirit has great effect upon our moral character as it seals us with a new nature and status in the Kingdom of God. For Jephthah, this experience with the Holy Spirit only equipped him with the power to complete a task desired by God, but had no effect upon his moral character…as we will see with his foolish vow.

Quick Interlude: Jephthah

30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

V30 - “The Vow” - Jephthah was loose with his lips. Seems like he was a betting man, a man who surrounded himself with wreckless fellows when he was in the land of Tob. “Really Jephthah, you really want to do a human sacrifice?”

GS - Notice God’s response! (that’s right, there is no interaction). The vow seems to linger in the air as God’s silence suggests his scorn.

Human Sacrifice - this practice is sadly a common practice in scripture, although it was strongly forbidden in the Pentateuch (; ; ; ; cf. , ). So this tells us that God did not lead this initiative, but it was man’s initiative which they adopted from the Canaanite Religion (modeled by the Moabite king, Mesha).

(; ; ; ; cf. , ),

What did Jephthah’s vow say upon his heart? He had split interests and created his own seudo-religion of Israelite & Canaanite worship.

Kenneth C. Way, Judges and Ruth, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2016), 104.

Back to Action - Meet the Judge: Jephthah

32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. 33 And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

Out of the desire and will of the Lord, He used Jephthah to “silently” deliver Israel at this time

CR

1 Samuel 12:11 ESV

And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.

One might think…well maybe the Lord condoned this vow and human sacrifice as he followed through with delivering this nation. But look at the structure here…we have 3 verses taking account of the action of battle (God’s intervention). The structure does not suggest that, but it does suggest that there is a whole lot of talking coming from Jephthah, and silence from the Lord.

Under the surface of this vow was an unnecessary and self-serving agenda of Jephthah trying to still, manipulate God.

Jephthah’s Consquence for Loose Lips

34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”

V35 - Jephthah the mouth-opener blames his daughter here… “who brought him very low” (wasn’t this self-inflicted). While vow breaking is a sin, he could have actually broken this vow (if it were valid) which was possible through monetary redemption (; cf. ).

(; cf. )

Kenneth C. Way, Judges and Ruth, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2016), 102.

36 And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” 37 So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” 38 So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. 39 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

V36-38 - Dark skies coming in over Israel…as the impending death of Jephthah’s daughter is lurking around the corner. Her legacy, to die as a virgin and not fulfilling a God-given function of child-bearing…she is a victim of her father’s recklessness.

V39-40 - Jephthah, determined that his vow was to be carried out, and it is memorialized as a national 4-day holiday to remember the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Wreckless Fellow Jephthah

12 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” 2 And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. 3 And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?”

V1 - As the second half of this book serves as a clear indication of civil war within the nation of Israel, we see another episode here which is similar to Abimelech’s rage towards Shechem and Thebez.

As God is silent at this point in the book…we know that the Lord is giving them over to destroy themselves…after so much progression through the leadership of Moses and Joshua…we have literally a “reverse Exodus”…How great the result of compromise can be.

Civil War: Gileadites vs Ephraimites

4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.” 5 And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,” 6 they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.

V5 - “Fugitives of Ephraim” - Group of Ephraimites fleeing Gilead and crossing the Jordan.

V6 - Shubboleth - “ear of grain” or “torrent of water” - showing that there was a clear dialect difference between the tribes on each side of the Jordan. (Ephraimite’s used an “s” sound…Gilieadites used a “sh” sound)

7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.

The Jephthah cycle concludes without any mention of a period of rest in the land. He served dually as an “agent of God” and “agent of atrocity”

The sadest reality of Jephthah’s legacy is that he was more concerned for his vow/sacrifice than on God’s instructions or on obedience.