Judges 10-12 Jephthah
Notes
Transcript
11
Last time on Saviors that Fail: The “kingship” of
Gideon only lasted one generation. His son,
Abimelech, was killed after killing everyone in his
hometown as revenge for a coup. Abimelech was
a king chosen by men, and killed by a woman.
How would things be different if God had chosen a
king? Is Gideon’s legacy finally over?
The LORD said to the Israelites, “When the
Egyptians, Amoritesnot-Ammonites, Ammonites,
Philistines, 12 Sidonians, Amalekites, and
Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to
me, did I not deliver you from them? 13 But you
have abandoned me and worshiped other gods.
Therefore, I will not deliver you again. 14 Go and
cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them
deliver you whenever you are oppressed.”
Israel’s Rebellion and
Repentance
6
Then the
Israelites again
did what was evil
in the sight of
the LORD. They
worshiped the
Baals and the
Ashtoreths, the
gods of Aram,
Sidon, and Moab,
and the gods of
the Ammonites
and the
15
But the Israelites said, “We have sinned. Deal
with us as you see fit; only rescue
us today!” 16 So they got rid of the foreign
The evil
The author has defined “the
evil” several times: following
other gods. In Deuteronomy,
“the evil” always meant
following other gods and doing
the terrible things that result.
“Evil” is murder/theft/adultery
but “the evil” is violating the
first commandment—"I am
the Lord your God, who
brought you out of the land of
Egypt, out of the place of
slavery. Do not have other
gods besides me.”
Philistines. They
abandoned the LORD and did not worship
him. 7 So the LORD’s anger burned against
Israel, and he sold them to the Philistines and
the Ammonites. 8 They shattered and crushed
the Israelites that year, and for eighteen years
they did the same to all the Israelites who
were on the other side of the Jordan in the
gods among them and worshiped the LORD, and
he became weary of Israel’s misery.
17
The Ammonites were called together, and
they camped in Gilead. So the Israelites
assembled and camped at Mizpah. 18 The
rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Which
man will begin the fight against the
Ammonites? He will be the leader of all the
inhabitants of Gilead.”
Rebellion and mercy
Israel was attached on both sides: Philistines from the
east and Ammonites from the west. This story of
Jephthah (say “Jeff-the”) concerns the Ammonites. The
next major judge, Samson, will fight the Philistines.
The author reminds us how Israel violated the first
commandment, and the anger that God has for it. God’s
anger turned them away, but mercy won the day. Did
God “Deal with us as you see fit”?
This section lists a lot of names. It sets up the players
for the next several chapters.
land of the Amoritesnot-Ammonites in Gilead. 9 The
Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight
against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of
Ephraim. Israel was greatly oppressed, 10 so
Jephthah Becomes Israel’s
Leader
they cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have
11 Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant
sinned against you. We have abandoned our
warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute, and
God and worshiped the Baals.”
Gilead was his father. 2 Gilead’s wife bore him
sons, and when they grew up, they drove
Jephthah out and said to him, “You will have no
inheritance in our father’s family, because you
Jephthah Rejects Ammonite
Claims
are the son of another woman.” 3 So Jephthah
fled from his brothers and lived in the land of
Tob. Then some worthless men joined
Jephthah and went on raids with him.
Like Gideon’s concubine, the prostitute who bore
Jephthah may have been a Canaanite woman.
Ritual/cultic prostitution was a feature of Canaanite
religion, and it ensnared many in Israel.
12
4
Some time later, the Ammonites fought
against Israel. 5 When the Ammonites made war
with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get
Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 They said to
Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the
Ammonites, asking, “What do you have against
me that you have come to fight me in my
land?”
13
The king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah’s
him, “Come, be our commander, and let’s fight
messengers, “When Israel came from Egypt,
the Ammonites.”
they seized my land from the Arnon to the
7
Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead,
“Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of my
father’s family? Why then have you come to me
now when you’re in trouble?”
8
They answered Jephthah, “That’s true. But
now we turn to you. Come with us, fight the
Ammonites, and you will become leader of all
the inhabitants of Gilead.”
9
So Jephthah said to them, “If you are bringing
Jabbok and the Jordan. Now restore it
peaceably.”
14
A lie
Jephthah again sent messengers to the king
of the Ammonites 15 to tell him, “This is what
Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the
land of Moab or the land of the
Ammonites. 16 But when they came from Egypt,
Israel traveled through the wilderness to the
Red Sea and came to Kadesh. 17 Israel sent
messengers to the king of Edom, saying,
me back to fight the Ammonites and
‘Please let us travel through your land,’ but the
the LORD gives them to me, I will be your
king of Edom would not listen. They also sent
leader.”
messengers to the king of Moab, but he
10
The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah,
refused. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.
“The LORD is our witness if we don’t do as you
18
say.” 11 So Jephthah went with the elders of
and around the lands of Edom and Moab. They
Gilead. The people made him their leader and
came to the east side of the land of Moab and
commander, and Jephthah repeated all his
camped on the other side of the Arnon but did
terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.
not enter into the territory of Moab, for the
“Then they traveled through the wilderness
Arnon was the boundary of Moab.
19
“Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of
the Amoritesnot-Ammonites, king of Heshbon. Israel
said to him, ‘Please let us travel through your
land to our country,’ 20 but Sihon would not trust
Israel to pass through his territory. Instead,
From Hamlet to Avengers: Sacrificing a daughter is a literary trope.
Sihon gathered all his troops, camped at Jahaz,
and fought with Israel. 21 Then the LORD God of
Israel handed over Sihon and all his troops to
Jephthah’s Vow and Sacrifice
Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took
possession of the entire land of the AmoritesnotAmmonites
who lived in that country. 22 They took
possession of all the territory of the AmoritesnotAmmonites
from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from
the wilderness to the Jordan.
23
“The LORD God of Israel has now driven out
29
The Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah, who
traveled through Gilead and Manasseh, and
then through Mizpah of Gilead. He crossed over
to the Ammonites from Mizpah of
Gilead. 30 Jephthah made this vow to the LORD:
“If you in fact hand over the Ammonites to
me, 31 whoever comes out the doors of my
the Amoritesnot-Ammonites before his people Israel, house to greet me when I return safely from
and will you now force us out? 24 Isn’t it true
the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I
that you can have whatever your god Chemosh will offer that person as a burnt offering.”
conquers for you, and we can have whatever
the LORD our God conquers for us? 25 Now are
you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king
of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or
fight against them? 26 While Israel lived three
hundred years in Heshbon and Aroer and their
surrounding villages, and in all the cities that
are on the banks of the Arnon, why didn’t you
32
Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to
fight against them, and the LORD handed them
over to him. 33 He defeated twenty of their cities
with a great slaughter from Aroer all the way to
the entrance of Minnith and to Abel-keramim.
So the Ammonites were subdued before the
Israelites.
When Jephthah went to his home in Mizpah,
take them back at that time? 27 I have not
34
sinned against you, but you are doing me
there was his daughter, coming out to meet
wrong by fighting against me. Let the LORD who him with tambourines and dancing! She was his
is the judge decide today between the
only child; he had no other son or daughter
Israelites and the Ammonites.” 28 But the king of besides her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his
the Ammonites would not listen to Jephthah’s
clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You
message that he sent him.
have devastated me! You have brought great
More than any prior judge, Jephthah is a diplomat
first. We would have expected the “valiant warrior” to
pick a fight, but he makes a long speech trying to get
out of it. Chemosh was not the god of the Ammonites,
but of the Moabites. Jephthah’s flawed pagan
theology underlines for us his flawed overall theology:
God acts and we respond, not the other way around.
misery on me. I
have given my
word to
the LORD and
cannot take it
back.”
36
Then she said to him, “My father, you have
because Ephraim had said, “You Gileadites are
given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you
Ephraimite fugitives in the territories of
have said, for the LORD brought vengeance on
Ephraim and Manasseh.” 5 The Gileadites
your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 She also said
captured the fords of the Jordan leading to
to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me Ephraim. Whenever a fugitive from Ephraim
wander two months through the mountains
said, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites asked
with my friends and mourn my virginity.”
him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered,
38
“Go,” he said. And he sent her away two
months. So she left with her friends and
mourned her virginity as she wandered through
the mountains. 39 At the end of two months, she
returned to her father, and he kept the vow he
“No,” 6 they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If
he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not
pronounce it correctly, they seized him and
executed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that
time forty-two thousand from Ephraim died.
had made about her. And she had never been
7
intimate with a man. Now it became a custom
died, he was buried in one of the cities of
in Israel 40 that four days each year the young
Gilead.
women of Israel would commemorate the
daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
What the daughter right to encourage Jephthah to
finish the vow? Was her theology correct? What did
God think about the vow?
Conflict with Ephraim
12 The men of Ephraim were called together
and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to
Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight
against the Ammonites but didn’t call us to go
with you? We will burn your house with you in
it!”
2
Then Jephthah said to them, “My people and I
had a bitter conflict with the Ammonites. So I
called for you, but you didn’t deliver me from
Jephthah judged Israel six years, and when he
Short rule, no dignity in death, no heir.
Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon
8
Ibzan, who was from Bethlehem, judged Israel
after Jephthah 9 and had thirty sons. He gave
his thirty daughters in marriage to men outside
the tribe and brought back thirty wives for his
sons from outside the tribe. Ibzan judged Israel
seven years, 10 and when he died, he was buried
in Bethlehem.
11
Elon, who was from Zebulun, judged Israel
after Ibzan. He judged Israel ten years, 12 and
when he died, he was buried in Aijalon in the
land of Zebulun.
13
After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, who was from
their power. 3 When I saw that you weren’t
Pirathon, judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and
going to deliver me, I took my life in my own
thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy
Gideon’s legacy.
15
hands and crossed over to the Ammonites, and donkeys. Abdon judged Israel eight years, and
when he died, he was buried in Pirathon in the
the LORD handed them over to me. Why then
have you come today to fight against me?”
4
Then Jephthah gathered all of the men of
Gilead. They fought and defeated Ephraim,
land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the
Amalekites.
Questions for application:
What things do I do that seem like following God, but aren’t?
How should I respond to God when he blesses me? What
parts of my life am I trying to be right on my own?