Judges Chapter 12

Introduction
In chapter 12, we conclude the story of Jephthah, the Judge who liberated the northern tribes of Israel from the oppression and threat of king Ammon. In the last chapter, a good deal was written about the matter of Jephthah's only child who became the subject of a rash vow made by Jephthah. This vow was to sacrifice as a burnt offering the first thing to greet him out of the door of his home when he returned from battle. The vow was in exchange for the LORD giving Jephthah and his army (consisting of men mainly from Gilead) victory. It is key to note that nowhere in Scripture do we have the LORD acknowledging the validity of this vow.

After Jephthah was victorious, he returned home only to be (unexpectedly) greeted by his daughter. Later, we are told that he did to her what he had vowed. The subject is controversial on a number of levels. First, there has been much doubt cast on whether or not Jephthah actually offered his daughter as a human sacrifice. We find that recent scholars (both Jew and gentile) suggest that instead of her being sacrificed, she was simply given over to the Levites to serve as a Tabernacle worker. Thus, the difficult consequence of her father's vow required her to remain an unmarried virgin all the days of her life.

The second controversy is that this notion of Jephthah's daughter not being sacrificed only arose 2000 years after the event occurred. All written and oral tradition prior to 500 A.D. claim Jephthah's daughter was killed. Only after that time did a new theory arise among scholars which found an alternative explanation to Jephthah's vow.

The third controversy over Jephthah's vow is the ancient Hebrew makes it clear that it was not any thing which came out of the door of Jephthah's house, but it was a person. In other words, the usual rationale for this story is that Jephthah envisioned an animal running to greet him when he returned from war. Instead, he was shocked to see his daughter emerge from his home. The Hebrew term asher refers to a human and not an animal. Further, the idea that a sheep or cow or some type of clean animal suitable for a sacrifice would run to greet Jephthah is rather illogical. As dog might come to meet his master, but a dog is an unclean animal, which is unsuitable for a sacrifice to God.

In Jephthah's era, it was expected and required that when the master returned from a journey the chief house servant would be on the lookout for him, Then, the servant would run to greet the master, wash his feet and offer him refreshment. Only after that would his family greet him. Thus, Jephthah more likely fully expected and had in mind to sacrifice a servant when he made the vow. Instead, Jephthah was grief-stricken when his daughter broke the Middle Eastern protocol and greeted her father before the chief servant did.

The fourth controversy is that in the New Testament, in the Book of Hebrews, Jephthah is listed as one of the great heroes of Israel. He is lauded for his service to God. It is this biblical mention which causes some Christian scholars to surmise that such a praise would not have been allowed has Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter.

While there might be reasonable room for disagreement on this subject, my position is that it is always to take Scripture for what it plainly states, within the context and with the understanding of what specific type of literature we are reading (poetry, history, prose, etc.). It is nearly impossible for me to think the plain meaning of the text in Judges chapter 11, which is a historical account, and the 2000 years of commentary and oral tradition confirm the biblical story about the ill fate of Jephthah's daughter. To set aside all this and accept new interpretation which corresponds to our more modern expectations only allows us to feel better. It does little to actually support the written account. I believe Jephthah sacrificed his daughter even though it was a horrific action which was against the Torah and countered all God's principles.

As we read Judges chapter 12, we will see more of Jephthah's flawed character revealed. This allows us to see he would not have viewed killing his own daughter as a pious religious act, but he would have viewed it as expected and proper even if it was devastating to him personally.


JEPHTHAH AND THE EPHRAIMITES; THREE MINOR JUDGES

A. Jephthah and the Ephraimites conflict

1. (Judges 12:1) The men of the tribe of Ephraim are angry with Jephthah
Then the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you." 

Then the men of Ephraim were summoned: This short chapter ties up some loose ends and brings an era to a close. Remember, the Book of Judges is NOT a work authored by one person. Rather, it is a compilation of tradition and history ancient editors put together to give an accurate and cogent account of the three to four hundred year time span in between the death of Joshua and the anointing of King Saul. Thus, this is not a complete and full account of the history of this time period. Instead, it is highlights which give a picture of the events during this time period. It is wove together to give a logical order and for it to be effective and have meaning for future readers. 

The main thrust revolves around the tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim plays a critical role in Israel's past. Ephraim sees himself as above the other tribes. He feels self-important and displays quite a bit of arrogance and self-righteousness. 

Part of the reason Ephraim had this overblown sense of national grandeur is that Ephraim was given the firstborn blessing. (Remember, Reuben was Jacob's firstborn. However, the firstborn blessing was given to Joseph. When Jacob adopted Joseph's sons (Ephraim and Manasseh), Jacob gave the blessing to Joseph's second-born son Ephraim. See Genesis 48.) In addition to this, Ephraim was probably the largest of all the tribes. It also was the tribe of the venerated conqueror of Canaan, Joshua. The tribe of Judah might have been equal to Ephraim in size and strength. So while Ephraim was definitely preeminent in the northern area of Canaan, Judah would have held sway in the south. If Ephraim would have been powerful enough, it probably would have taken on the tribe of Judah to gain complete control over all the tribes of Israel.

Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you: In chapter 12, we have the leaders of Ephraim coming to Jephthah with a familiar complaint: "You did not invite us to the party!" A few chapter ago, Ephraim did the same thing with Gideon. AFTER Gideon had beaten Israel's enemy, Ephraim shows up and wants to be praised, bowed down to and given its place at the head of the line for the lion's share of the spoils won by Gideon and the other tribesmen of Israel.

Gideon showed himself to be an able diplomat as well as a superb leader of warriors, and thus he appeased Ephraim. Jephthah, on the other hand, is not Gideon. He has no interest in granting Ephraim's demands nor does he have the patience to give their ridiculous assertions any credibility. Jephthah is a pure warrior and when challenged, he reacts in one way--attack!   

We will burn down your house on you: Ephraim made a fatal mistake in judgment--in verse one, they came to Jephthah and threatened to kill him and his whole household for supposedly insulting Ephraim by not consulting them regarding the war with Ammon.


2. (Judges 12:2-3) Jephthah responds to the people of the tribe of Ephraim
Jephthah said to them, "I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon; when I called you, you did not deliver me from their hand. When I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?" 

When I called you, you did not deliver me from their hand: Jephthah refutes Ephraim's complaint. He states that when it came time for Ephraim to help, they stood on the sidelines. (This is undoubtedly exactly what happened knowing Ephraim's history.) 


3. (Judges 12:4-6) The Gileadites (led by Jephthah) overwhelm the people of the tribe of Ephraim
Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, "You are fugitives of Ephraim, O Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh." The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead would say to them, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No," then they would say to him, "Say now, 'Shibboleth.'" But he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. Thus there fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim. 

Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim: Apparently this confrontation with Ephraim happened some weeks after Ammon had been defeated because Jephthah had already dismissed his army as verse four states Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead. It seems as though the final straw was an insult which Ephraim hurled at Jephthah. Ephraim basically says the men of Gilead are really only deserters from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim is describing the army of Gilead as nothing but a rag-tag mob, probably not to be counted among the brothers as Israelites. It has no status to lead or govern because they are not noble enough as Ephraim sees itself as so illustrious and thus automatically deserving of ruling status.

No doubt this accusation brought up a long held burning bitterness within Jephthah as he had been exiled from Israel because his mother was a prostitute. He had been banished from his own family because they saw his status as too lowly. It was this exile which caused him to put together his band of bandits and raid Israelite and other caravans to make a living. Then, later, the leading me of Israel (when they were in dire straits) asked Jephthah to come home and use his army to fight for them. It was Jephthah's band which was now the lead troops in ending Ammon's oppression over Israel, but Ephraim who did not even participate in the battle, says the men of Gilead were never worthy of such a task.

Let's pause a moment and discuss a little bit about just how divided Israel had become by Jephthah's era since the days of Moses and Joshua. Ephraim was a rival with Judah. They both lived on the west side of the Jordan River. Gilead was located on the east side; thus, it was seen and treated by those on the west side of the river as practically another nation even though there were Hebrews. Ephraim and Judah were well aware that even though Moses had legitimized some of the Israelite tribes living in the Trans-Jordan, in fact it was not the holy Promised Land as described to Abraham. Thus, those nine and a half tribes living inside Canaan saw themselves as better than the two and a half tribes who had chosen to live on the east bank of the Jordan River (outside the Holy Land). Those two and a half tribes were quite sensitive to this reality and not just a little bit touchy when the subject was brought up.

So we see there was an enormous and growing schism between the Israelite tribes who lived in the Trans-Jordan versus those who lived in Canaan. There was also a division between those Israelite tribes who lived in Canaan but were more aligned with Ephraim in the north versus those who were more aligned with Judah in the south. 

The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim: Jephthah attacks Ephraim and routs them. Ephraim realizes despite their large number of loyal soldiers, they have no chance against the experienced and tough army of the men from Gilead. We find the Ephraim troops fleeing in all directions trying to save themselves and lying about their identities when they are caught. The fight between Jephthah's men and Ephraim was occurring mainly on the east side of the Jordan River. The Ephraimite soldiers were trying to get back over the Jordan River to their own land in the west. Knowing this, Jephthah sent his men to guard the fording points. It seems when the Epraimite men were caught and questioned, they denied they were Ephraimites. Some clever officer from Gilead devised a simple test. Every male who was trying to ford the Jordan River was required to say the word shibboleth. If they could not properly pronounce it and instead said sibboleth, then it identified them as an Ephraimite, and they were killed on the spot.

Shibboleth: Like many Hebrew words, shibboleth has two entirely different meanings. It can mean an ear of corn or it can mean the flood of a stream. Its use depended on its context. Since the context here is that this questioning took place at the ford of the Jordan River, it is obvious the meaning was flood of a stream and not ear of corn.

We see the split among the Israelite tribes had become very deep and had developed over such a long time that each tribe (or coalition of tribes) had by now even gained their own dialect. Just as in the USA we have developed different dialects of English which enable us to readily tell whether the person is from the south, northeast, midwest, etc., so it was among the Israelites.

Apparently the Ephraimites had lost their ability to pronounce the letter sheen, which is the "sh" sound. Instead, they could only say it was an "s" sound. This dead giveaway proved to be fatal.

Then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. Thus there fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim: Jephthah's army devastated the Ephraimite army and killed 42,000 men, many because they could not make an "sh" sound, which prevented them from escaping across the river. This would have no doubt for many years greatly curtailed Ephraim's ability to both protect itself and to project its power over others. So, its status would have diminished for a time as a result of its arrogance which led to this ill-conceived and completely unnecessary battle with Jephthah and the highly insulted men of Gilead who had done such a good service for Israel.


4. (Judges 12:7) The remainder of Jephthah's time as a Judge
Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities in Gilead.

Jephthah judged Israel for six years: We are told Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then he died. This did not go unnoticed by the ancient Hebrew sages, and we ought to make a note of it ourselves. Judging for only six years was a very short length of time. Anywhere from 20-80 years was the normal length of time for Judge during all the previous accounts. Further, the original Hebrew stated he was buried in some undisclosed cities (yes, it is plural, meaning multiple cities) in Gilead. He was not buried in one city as our English translations seems to imply.

There had to be in the minds of the ancient sages a good reason for such a short duration of judging considering the great victories Jephthah had won over God's enemies and to explain how he could have been buried in multiple cities. The sages determined because of Jephthah's great sin of killing his daughter to complete his vow, the LORD punished him. This is an excerpt from a midrash in the Talmud on this subject:

"Because he was stricken with leprosy as a punishment, his death was lingering and his limbs fell off one by one, and were buried in different cities where they happened to drop off."

Whether this account is accurate or not, it again points out that even though on the one hand Jephthah had done some great things for the LORD, on the other hand he had committed some dastardly and nearly unthinkable sins.

We have discussed of one those great sins, but another is because Ephraim insulted Jephthah in a very sensitive area of his psyche, Jephthah went on an unabated binge of revenge, killing Ephraimites. There is no evidence Ephraim ever harmed Jephthah; rather, they merely threatened and insulted him. But in response, Jephthah attacked and ruthlessly killed 42,000 men from Ephraim. In fact, he went so far as to blockade the fording points of the Jordan River, and then soldiers were murdered who had dropped their weapons. These men were merely trying to return home. Again, this was NOT some foreign enemy; it was his Hebrew brothers he was slaughtering for no other reason than the leaders of Ephraim had slighted him and deeply upset him. These were not Canaanites who were to be expelled from the land at God's instructions. They were his fellow Israelites. Jephthah was a man whose bloodthirsty ways were used by God for His purposes, but when not under the Holy Spirit's guidance, these same attributes led him to do monstrous things.


B. Three minor judges

1. (Judges 12:8-10) The Judge Ibzan
Now Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel after him. He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage outside the family, and he brought in thirty daughters from outside for his sons. He he judged Israel seven years. Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem. 

Now Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel after him: The era of Jephthah is over. After him came Ibzan. Almost nothing is said of him. We are not even sure of his tribal affiliation. Some say he must have been of the tribe of Judah because he was from Bethlehem. But just like any other place names, there were a number of Bethlehems in Canaan. Bethlehem simply means "house of bread". Since Ibzan took over after Jephthah, he would either have ruled over the north central part of Canaan or over Gilead on the east bank of the Jordan River. It is exceedingly unlikely the Bethlehem mentioned is the one we think of today in the territory of Judah, which is in the south of Canaan. 

He had thirty sons and thirty daughters: The Judge Ibzan had 30 sons and 30 daughters. This indicates how wealthy he was. It draws an interesting contrast between this man who immediately followed Jephthah, and Jephthah who had only ONE child, which was his daughter. 

Ibzan bringing in foreign wives for his sons fits well with the constantly deteriorating condition of Israel. Not only is this against the Torah commands, but it also highlight how the Israelites were more interested in following typical Middle Eastern customs as practiced by their own gentile neighbors than in obeying God. This bringing in of foreign wives was predicated on one purpose alone--to make peace treaties with nearby pagan kingdoms. Inter-marriage was then and has remained for centuries the primary means of creating an alliance between nations.

He judged Israel seven years: We see Ibzan only judged Israel for seven years, which is one more than Jephthah. Again, we only need to compare his short rule with his poor leadership and lifestyle to understand why such a relatively brief period of time he judged Israel. Yet, by all accounts, he was a Judge anointed by God nonetheless.


2. (Judges 12:11-12) The judge Elon
Now Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel after him; and he judged Israel ten years. Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. 

Elon the Zebulunite: After Ibzan came the Judge Elon from the tribe of Zebulun. Even less is told of him. He ruled only ten years and then died. 


3. (Judges 12:13-15) The Judge Abdon
Now Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel after him. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he juded Israel eight years. Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites. 

Abdon the son of Hillel: Next came Abdon who had 40 sons and 30 grandsons. These sons rode on donkeys. This was a very royal and aristocratic family. Having so many children indicates Abdon had many wives and very well had 40 or more daughter in addition to all his sons. He most likely also ruled during a time of peace and prosperity. The time from his anointing to his death was a mere eight years.

Judges Chapter 11 Part Four (Verses 36-40)

5. (Judges 11:36-40) Jephthah fulfills his vow to God
So she said to him, "My father, you have given your word to the LORD; do to me as you have said, since the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon." She said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may go to the mountains and weep because of my virginity, I and my companions." Then he said, "Go." So he sent her away for two months; and she left with her companions, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she had no relations with a man. Thus it became a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

My father, you have given your word: Jephthah's daughter makes it clear she understood her father had no choice in the matter. She tells him to do what he has vowed he would do.

At the end of two months she returned to her father: In verse 39, we are told after a two month reprieve, her father followed through with his promise to God.   

Now, of all the issues these few passages bring up, the one which causes the most controversy is whether or not Jephthah actually made a human sacrifice of his daughter or whether he did something else with her which did not involve her death. We will explore this topic, but first, we must set the stage. If we are to do more than just use our own sensibilities, opinions and various denominational doctrines as the answer to this dilemma.

Jephthah's vow reviewed in more detail
Let us start at the very beginning. In verse 31, the usual English rendering of the original Hebrew is that Jephthah vows to God that "Whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me...will be offered to the LORD as a burnt offering."

The first keyword of this sentence is "whatever". "Whatever" is a very poor translation which reflects a predisposition of the translator to what he thinks was in Jephthah's mind when he made the vow. The Hebrew word is asher, and it does NOT mean "whatever" or "whatsoever". It means who. This is very important because by slightly altering the meaning of the word asher to mean "whatever", it means ANYTHING which comes out of the door first upon Jephthah's triumphal return home will be sacrificed. It could be an animal or a human. But if we correctly translate asher as whoever, then it points toward the sacrifice as being a human. The only question would be which human. The word "what" refers to an "it" and the word "who" refers to a person. We do not call people "it"; we do not call animals "who".

It has become a standard Christian apologetic to explain that when Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, what he innocently had in mind is some kind of animal would be the first out the door to greet him. Thus, he would use that animal as a sacrifice to God. But, in addition to the fact that using the term asher refers to a person and not an animal, there is another problem, animals are clean or unclean.

Clean and unclean animals mingled and lived together in and around Hebrew households. Dogs and chickens lived side by side with sheep, goats and cattle. What is more likely when a master returns home: a dog would run to greet him or a cow? (Remember when presenting a sacrifice to God, ONLY CLEAN animals could be sacrificed. (For more details about clean versus unclean animals, please read Numbers chapter 11.)

Some answer the problem of clean versus unclean animals by saying Jephthah was turning the matter over to God. It was God's will and prerogative to determine what it is which would come through the door first to greet Jephthah; thus it would become a divine sacrifice. Essentially, it would be God choosing the sacrificial animal.

However, since the word asher is used, almost certainly no animal (clean or unclean) was being contemplated by Jephthah. The ancient Rabbis say it was probably a household slave or servant who Jephthah was envisioning. Indeed, in ancient times, it was the standard protocol for the chief house servant to race to the master when he approached, to be the first to greet him, wash the dust off his feet and give him food and drink. This was the chief house servant's job. If he failed to do these tasks, it could mean severe punishment because it was considered a great insult to not offer the master such respect.

The burnt offering
Another keyword in in the translation concerning the words "burnt offering". Jephthah said whoever comes out of the door of his house he would offer to God as a burnt offering. The word used here translated as burnt offering is olah. There are several very specific categories of sacrifices to the LORD discussed in the book of Leviticus.


While it is generally correct to define olah as a burnt offering, in fact it does not necessarily mean the burning up of a sacrifice. It more correctly translated means "near offering". The olah is the offering of a gift to the LORD in order to make yourself acceptable to Him. It is a kind of sacrifice which allows you or another to be declared sufficiently holy to come near to God. In general, this kind of sacrifice is of ritually clean animals, and the olah is presented to God by means of it being burned up on the altar. The point being that the nature of Jephthah's offering to God was it was to be a kind of offering gift to God for the purpose of making a person (or nation) acceptable to God. Whether it was actually burned up on an altar after it was offered was not technically a requirement of an olah. 

Current teachings
Despite any teaching you may have heard from your pastor on this subject to the effect that it is simply not possible (given all the circumstances) that Jephthah made a human sacrifice of his own daughter, there is not a single commentary on this subject ever written prior to the Middle Ages which propounds any other outcome than indeed Jephthah made a human blood sacrifice of his child. The Middle Ages were an approximately 1000-year period which began around 500 A.D. and ended around 1500 A.D. It was not until AFTER 500 A.D. that any Bible commentator, Christian or Jew, theorized that Jephthah did NOT actually sacrifice his daughter.


A different framework
Imagine the history and the most significant events of World War II being recorded. I think we would all feel that what was recorded during the actual war, and than what was recorded within a very short time period after the events would represent the most accurate portrayal of what happened, why it happened, what people thought about it, what the consequences were and so on. Might within a decade or two some new pieces of information be added to our understanding? Perhaps. But only to a degree and only to the margins.


Now imagine this year, the year 2020, over 70 years after World War II, someone wrote a book and completely redefined the cause of the war, challenged the first hand accounts of certain significant details, replaced the thoughts of the participants with his own and modified the chain of events. We call this person "re-writing history". Most people with good common sense would have a healthy skepticism that a person who was not even alive at the time of World War II would be able to refute the accounts of thousands of individuals from all walks of life who LIVED the World War II nightmare and wrote it down as it happened.

Now further imagine if 300 years passed, and another person wrote a book which said that some of the original World War II accounts were bogus, and his new understanding of what actually happened is the correct one. How would you approach such a book? If you are like me, I am not sure I would even read it; it challenges the credulity that a person who lived three centuries after World War II who is completely disconnected by time and culture would somehow have a better idea of what happened and why it happened than those who lived during it.

But now what would you do if almost 2000 years after World War II someone came along and said they now have the real truth, and it is entirely different than what everyone ever before has stated about the war and all that happened? Well, that is the case here with the matter of Jephthah and his daughter. From the time of the actual event, and for the next 2000 years, everyone from the author of the book of Judges to the eyewitnesses to those who handed down the story from generation to generation to the commentators who wrote about it from ancient time (Jewish and gentile), all agree that the account was literal and indeed Jephthah killed his daughter. It was only after two millennia passed that some Rabbis and some Christians decided something different happened than what is plainly stated in the text, what had been universally recognized as the truth. For me, it is difficult to take such new theories very seriously.

However, I think it is only appropriate to carry this study a little bit farther and show you what it is about the biblical passages which cause some commentators to believe Jephthah did NOT sacrifice his daughter.


The two main arguments against Jephthah sacrificing his child
The two main argument against Jephthah actually sacrificing his daughter are these: first, it is implicated in the wording of the scriptural passage, and second is is the doctrinal view that God would not allow such a thing to happen and then permit Jephthah to be considered a hero in later books of the Bible. 

Depending on your specific English translation, Judges 11:37-40 says when Jephthah's unnamed daughter understood she was the subject of the sacrificial offering in her father's vow, Her piousness was so great that she voluntarily agreed to accept the consequence. But first, she asked if she could have two months to go away and mourn because she would die without getting married. Jephthah agreed. Then we are told after two months, she returned and her father did to her what he had vowed, and thus she remained a virgin. Further, it says that Israel established a yearly remembrance of this poor girl during which time the women fo Israel would "lament" the daughter of Jephthah.

The keyword for this issue is virginity. Beginning sometime after 500 A.D., some commentators decided this was code for meaning her sacrifice was not being killed. Rather, it was agreeing to remain unmarried and thus a virgin for her entire life as a fulfillment to her father's vow to God. Later yet, it was added she became a worker at the Tabernacle, and that any female Tabernacle worker had to be a virgin. The logic was that this was a great sacrifice because it was considered a terrible thing for a woman in that culture and era to not produce children, as this was her main duty in life.

The text clearly states this girl was Jephthah's ONLY child (he had no sons). Henceforth, it did not matter if she was killed or remained alive as a virgin, Jephthah effectively had no heirs. Thus, his family line would end upon his death. Many claim this was the cause of Jephthah's great distress as expressed in verse 35 when he cried out, "Alas my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have given my word to the LORD and I cannot take it back."

The main reasons used by those who defend Jephthah's daughter was NOT killed to fulfill her father's vow:
1. Jephthah knew the Law of Moses and knew it prohibited human sacrifice. So he would not have done it or contemplated it.


2. Jephthah's name appears in Hebrews 11:32 as one of a 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's guidance could commit such a terrible offense such 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. We should read into Jephthah's vow that if what came through Jephthah's door was an animal, it would become a burnt offering. But, if it was a human, that person would be some kind of vow offering to God by means of their permanent service to God.

6. When verse 40 says that every year the women of Israel would go to "lament" Jephthah's daughter for four days, in fact the word lament is a bad translation. It should be changed to "praise" here.

I cannot deny some or all the above arguments are possible. Except for the last point, every other argument is completely subjective. They are people's assumptions. They are their own postulations based on their own morality. The only subjective valid point is the sixth one, where people claim the word "lament" is an erroneous translation. They are correct.

The Hebrew word translated "lament" is the word tannah. Tannah in no way means to lament. Rather, it means to recount or to tell the story again. In later eras, before the Bible was written down, there were a group of people called tannas whose job it was to memorize the traditions in addition to what had been written down so that they could retell it accurately to others. They were to be a human library.

By translators incorrectly using the word "lament" here, the obvious intent was to make the story of Jephthah's daughter a very sad tale of a girl's death. Instead, say those who believe it was merely the girl's perpetual virginity which was at issue, the word should be "praise" (praising her for her faith to the LORD such that she gave up the right of motherhood). But this too is erroneous. Again, it tried to characterize the nature of the story to one of admiration instead of grief (lament). But the word tannah is quite neutral. It does not characterize the nature of the story; it only means to retell the story. Strictly from the Hebrew word tannah, it by no means gives evidence that they girl was killed or left alive.

In the end, it is up to you. I will tell you while I fall on the side of the girl being a human sacrifice, I am not completely closed to the very remote possibility that she simply lived out her life as a virgin.

I have no doubt Jephthah never imagined his own daughter would in any way be involved. He may have been a leader of a gang, but he conducted himself in a reasonable way with the elders of Gilead who wanted his help, he sought no 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 God was with him. This all indicated that although he may have been rough, he was not an ignorant thug.

Yes, Jephthah made a rash vow. But have not 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 intention to keep or one which we thought better of later on? So, we cannot use this as means to caste Jephthah as a rash person.

Those who argue the book Hebrews would not make Jephthah out as a hero if he did such a dastardly and ungodly thing as murdering his own daughter need to consider the great place King David holds in the Bible. This is a man said to be "after God's own hear". Thus is a man who was promised the throne of the Kingdom of God forever, and it would be accomplished through Messiah. Yet, he committed adultery, murder, fornication, had multiple wives, put the Ark of the Covenant in his personal tent in hopes of gaining personal benefit and more.

The LORD will show mercy to whom He will show mercy. The LORD will chose to use whom He chooses to use. How we feel about it, or how we judge the criteria of His choice is irrelevant to the Father. We need to exercise great care in using our own personal doctrines based on our modern cultural morays when trying to determine when or if a Biblical character merits either the scorn or admiration assigned to him by Scripture.

Jephthah was a very flawed man. He operated like all the other Hebrews in that time who were compromised by evil. He had mixed pagan practices with the Torah, came to all sorts of conclusions about what was proper worship and proper sacrifice which were completely off the mark, and yet God uses him as he is for Kingdom purposes. Everything Jephthah did was not good. Everything Jephthah did was not in obedience to the Holy Spirit. But, some things were. Such is the life of a Believer. We will fail far more than we will follow God's will. Yet, that does not mean God does not love us or that He will abandon us. The test is not our perfection. The test is our abiding trust in Jesus our Savior.

It is God's will that we are obedient to Him. It is God's will we follow the pure ways and not do as Jephthah and so many others did to pervert God's Word with man's word. We have a guide and helper to accomplish God's will. The guide is the Holy Scripture and the helper is the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray the LORD will give us the strength and desire to rid ourselves of man-made doctrines which have no basis in truth and ought to have no place in our lives as followers of the God of Israel. Let us pray the wonderful things the LORD has planned for our lives are carried out as Jesus would carry them out and not as Jephthah did them.

Judges Chapter 11 Part Three (Verses 29-35)

A Brief Review
Jephthah lived in a place called Gilead. (Gilead is on the east side of the Jordan River.) He had been driven out from his family home because he was an illegitimate son of his father Gilead. Gilead's legitimate sons did not want their inheritance jeopardized by having to give an equal portion of it to Jephthah. Moreover, Jephthah's mother was a prostitute. This made Jephthah a social outcast. Gilead's sons did not want such a degrading association within their immediate family. 

Jephthah had gone off and created a gang of desert pirates who raided caravans and villages. Also, they hired themselves out as mercenaries to rich men in order to make a living. As unsavory as this might be, such a profession was not entirely looked down upon in those days. Jephthah would have been viewed as a misbehaving brother more than a despicable and immoral thug. As we have seen with the earlier story in the book of Judges of the self-appointed king, Abimelech and the man who would dispose him (Gaal), the creation of these gangs of bandits was usual. They were not at all universally rejected. In fact, there was a certain kind of admiration, akin to that given to Robin Hood, was the attitude within the Middle Eastern culture.

The leading men of Gilead regarded Jephthah as a brave and cunning military leader. Thus, when the king of Ammon declared war on the territory of Gilead, these leading men realized they had no qualified field general to lead their militia. So, they sought out Jephthah. A contingent of elders from Gilead (some from Jephthah's own family) came to Jephthah and offered him the job. Obviously, there would have to be something substantial in it for Jephthah if he was going to risk his life to fight for the very people who had despised him and chased him off. The offer was the guarantee that he would become the leader over all Gilead.

The agreement was sealed with a covenant and an oath spoken at the Israeli army headquarters in Mizpah.

The king of Ammon said that he wanted the land which belonged to Ammonites returned to him. If Israel would do it peacefully, there would be no conflict. The problem is that Ammon never in history held the land they wanted Israel to give them--Gilead. When we look at a map, we see that Ammon lays to the east of the territory that Israel now held on the Jordan River's east bank. When Israel was on the Exodus journey from Egypt to Canaan, it was a powerful tribal nation called the Amorites who ruled over the land which would eventually be called Gilead. It was the Amorites who attacked Israel and were defeated. Israel recognized Ammon's territorial rights and left it alone. Ammon was located farther to the east and was not involved in the conflict between the Amorites and Israel. Apparently there were some Ammonites living in the area which is now called Gilead. The king of Ammon was now using that as an excuse to declare Israel had no right to the land they held since their Exodus from Egypt three hundred years earlier.

Bottom line: Ammon was making a bogus claim for the land of Gilead. Ammon had never in history occupied or ruled over the area of Gilead.

When Jephthah heard that this was their demand, he firmly rebuffed the king of Ammon, told him that his historical facts were in error and that he had no intention of giving his land to Ammon.

B. Victory and a vow

1. (Judges 11:29) Jephthah gathers troops and advances courageously on Ammon
Now the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon.


Now the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah: The first words of verse 29 informs us that Jephthah had been chosen to lead Israel's militia. After his diplomatic confrontation with the king of Ammon, the LORD moved and anointed Jephthah as a Judge. Thus, we see the phrase, "The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah."

In Hebrew, it says, "The Ruach of YHWH hayyah Jephthah." Back in our study of Judges chapter three, we discussed this concept of the Spirit of God covering, anointing or coming upon a man. It was generally expressed using one of two Hebrew words: labesh or hayyah. These two words represent two substantially different ways in which the Spirit of the LORD acted upon a human. 

Labesh means to cloth a person in the Holy Spirit (like putting on a garment). The person took on a certain amount of divine power that enabled him to do miraculous deeds or to gain superhuman strengths or insight. 

Here in Judges chapter 11, we have the word hayyah. When used, it means that the LORD'S Spirit overcomes a man in such a way that the man becomes especially obedient to the LORD, or that the LORD'S will operate in the man in such a way which almost replaces the man's own will. So, Jephthah was operating very much in the LORD'S will; yet, as we will see, he will not being doing it entirely.

Here this move of the Holy Spirit upon Jephthah represents the moment in which Jephthah's status changes. He went from being a normal human leader to a divinely appointed Judge for God. 

He passed through Gilead and Manasseh: The first thing Jephthah did was to travel through the land of Gilead and the territory of Manasseh (the half of Manasseh which was on the east side of the Jordan River). He added to the size of the Israelite militia to prepare for the coming battle with the forces of Ammon. Once he did that, he acted in a way which has perplexed and bothered Jews and Christians for many centuries. In anticipation of going to war, Jephthah made a vow to the God of Israel; it was a very rash vow which would cause him great pain.


2. (Judges 11:30-31) Jephthah makes a rash vow
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If you will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.  

Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: This is the vow which forms one of the more infamous stories in the entire Bible. Therefore, it is usually the focus of the study of Judges chapter 11.

Jephthah believes he can seek God's favor if he vowed to the LORD a sacrifice from the first thing which walks through the doors of his house to greet him when he returns home from battle after defeating the Ammonites. One can assume Jephthah believed he needed divine intervention because this was going to be a Holy War.


3. (Judges 11:32-33) God grants Israel victory over the Ammonites
So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD gave them into his. He struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

The LORD gave them into his hand: God won a great and important victory for Israel through Jephthah. He overcame bitterness and family rejection to meet a great need. Despite his difficult past, God still wonderfully used him. 

So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel: This was another victory for Israel won under the leadership of a Spirit-filled Judge.


4. (Judges 11:34-35) A difficult vow to fulfill
When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Alas, may daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot take it back."

Behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him: When Jephthah arrives home, his daughter comes out the door to greet him. Jephthah is devastated because he feels he can not go back on his vow to God since God had indeed given Israel victory. He feels as though he was stuck carrying out his promise to the LORD. Jephthah saw a direct connection between his vow and the complete victory of Israel over Ammon. (Whether this was a real connection or not, in his ancient oriental mind he assumed the connection was real.)

Judges Chapter 11 Part Two (Verses 14-28)

5. (Judges 11:14-28) Jephthah's response to the King of the Ammonites
But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon, and they said to him, "Thus says Jephthah, 'Israel did not take away the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon. For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh, then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, "Please let us pass through your land," but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh. Then they went through the wilderness, and around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, "Please let us pass through your land to our place." But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz and fought with Israel. The LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. So they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. Since now the LORD, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorites from before His people Israel, are you then to possess it? Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God has driven out before us, we will possess it. Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Arnon and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the LORD, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.'" But the king of the sons of Ammon disregarded the message which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah sent messengers again: Jephthah sent his messengers back to the king of the Ammonites with what we find written in verses 15-27. Here is the gist of it: Ammonites, you have no standing for your claim, and I am going to remind you of how everything occurred in Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan. Historically, this is what happened: Israel did not capture the territory of Moab or Ammon. What happened, says Jephthah, is that during the Exodus, Israel had arrived at Kadesh and camped there. In order to go any farther, Moses followed standard protocol of that era and sent messengers ahead of him to the king of Edom asking if they might be able to travel through his territory so that they could get to their destination, Canaan. But the king of Edom refused. After marching around Edom, Moses sent a similar message to the king of Moab, but he also refused a right of way to pass through. So in addition to marching around Edom, Israel journeyed far to the east and north in order to march about Moab to avoid any trouble with them. The Arnon River was Moab's recognized northern border, and Israel stayed north of that border to respect the king of Moab's wishes.

And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites: Israel sends messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, whose royal city was Heshbon. Sihon becomes very hostile and goes to war against Israel. Israel does nothing against Sihon. They had already proved that they would honor the territorial integrity of nations and territories which lay in the path on their journey to Canaan. The result of the attack from the Amorites was that God favored Israel. Sihon was defeated. Israel took the territory which belonged to the Amorites. The territory is now called Gilead. (Please note, Israel won against the Amorites, not the Ammonites.)

A brief history review
Israel did not take the Moabite's land from them. This is important because Moab had a much stronger claim to their land than the Ammonites. The Amorites, a very aggressive and warlike people from Mesopotamia, had come down and conquered Moab and took their land. When Israel fought the Amorites led by Sihon, they then won whatever the Amorites owned. The former territory of Moab was among those possessions. Furthermore, in keeping with Numbers 21:24, Israel made NO claim on any of Ammon's territory. Moses had been instructed by God to respect the territorial boundaries of Edom, Moab and Ammon. Why? Because Edom was the descendants of Jacob's brother Esau; Moab and Ammon were the descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew.


To summarize, Jephthah's argument against the king of the Ammonite's claim to the land of Gilead, he says this: first, due to God's instructions, Israel had no interest in conquering or even bothering the people of Ammon. They only respectfully asked to pass through that area in order to get to Canaan. The king of the Amorites, Sihon, who ruled over the people of Ammon and Moab went to war with Israel (out of mistrust and paranoia), and because Israel won that war, whatever land the Amorites owned now by rights of conquest belonged to Israel. In fact, the land that Ammon claimed for itself had NEVER belonged to the Ammonites to begin with; it belonged to the Amorites. The Ammonites just lived there. Now it belongs to Israel since they took it from the Amorites.

Since now the LORD, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorites from before His people Israel, are you then to possess it: The second argument Jephthah makes is a theological one which begins in verse 23. Jephthah says that since the God of Israel enabled Israel to have victory over the Amorites, should Israel hand over the land to the king of Ammon? Obviously, if God gave the land to Israel, Ammon is certainly not going to be able to expel Israel now, and Israel is not going to give it up.

Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess: In verse 24, we get a good example of the ancient oriental mind at work. We see how the people of that era viewed the role of the gods. The logic is this: God is the God of Israel. God enabled his people to win the land of the Amorites. Therefore, the land belonging to Israel's God belongs to Israel. Whatever land Chemosh has enabled his people (the Ammonites) to win is all they should have. Why would the God of Israel want to voluntarily give up land under His control to another god?

While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time: Jephthah presents a third argument in verse 26. He says Israel has dwelt in Heshbon and all its surrounding towns and villages near the Arnon River for three centuries. Why, after 300 years, do you suddenly decide the land ought to be yours? Where have you been for the last three centuries?

It is obvious the king of Ammon had no legitimate claim over the land he wanted to fight Israel for. He simply wanted it and came up with some convoluted reasoning as to why Israel ought to give it up, move out and turn it over to the Ammonites. Historically, Ammon had no legal claim to it. Theologically, Ammon had no religious claim to it. Even from a conquest standpoint, Ammon had no claim to the land because they never had conquered it, ruled it or possessed it.

We can see a replay of this scenario concerning Israel and foreign claims to their land today. History is circular, and we are reliving the time of the Judges right now. Jephthah does not make the point that no one should be upset over the land of Gilead now controlled by Israel. He does not say that no one ought to challenge Israel's right to Gilead. He says that of all people, Ammon does not have right to the land because they never owned it at any time in history. On the other hand, if the Amorites who defeated Joshua have a reason to want to reopen the subject and fight Israel to regain the land they once held, they may do so. After all, it was the Amorites who lost the land to Israel. But Ammon, they never held claim to that land at any time.

Now if Ammon was honest and said, "We are conquerors. We think we are more powerful than you. We intend to take this land from you," that is another matter. In time honored tradition, that is how boundaries of all the nations on this earth have been formed and changed and will continue to shift. It is through wars and peace treaties in which nations come and go. But instead, the king of Ammon said they had a legitimate claim to Gilead, it was their land at one time and Israel has no right to it. That is simply a false statement.

Israel still under attack today by false pretenses
Today we have a people called the Palestinians who make this same kind of false claim on Israel's land. There has never in all history been an Arab nation or a people group called the Palestinians. It is a media and Arab League invention. To say that Israel is occupying their land is the same king of bogus claim the king of Ammon is making to Jephthah. The so-called Palestinians whose faces we see on our television screens never existed prior to 1967. They are just a mixed group of refugees from several Arab nations who came to Israel to find work after Israel became a state in 1948 and stayed.

Then, when the Arab League attacked Israel with their mighty combined armies, these Arab workers fled to Jordan in masses, and they expected to return home to their choice of any former Jewish house they wanted. Israel beat back their attackers and was not about to allow these Arab workers who were loyal to the Arab League back into Israel. The Arab nations from which these workers came refused to allow these Arab peasants to return to their home nations. So now they were refugees. The strategy was to use these displaced Arabs as pawns to achieve the Arab League's political demands that Israel be turned over to the Arabs and eradicate the Jews.

Suddenly, these so-called Palestinians are an ancient people group who have been expelled from their land which is now occupied by the Jews, and the Jews are the bad guys. The media is complicit in this great lie. Most western nations of the world are so interested in maintaining a good relationship with the Arabs so that the Middle Eastern oil continues to flow, they are willing to sacrifice Israel to the Palestinians as a peace offering.


Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a Jephthah for Israel to turn to today. Israel does not seem to have a leader who will tell the Palestinians to go to the land where their god, Allah, holds sway. Israel is the land of God, the God of Israel. The Palestinians have no legitimate claim over Israel's land, they never were a nation, they never were a distinct or identifiable people group, they never possessed the land of Israel, the never conquered the land of Israel and thus they need to take their claims and problems elsewhere.

The Palestinians are taking precisely the same tact as the king of Ammon. Israel has tried over and over again to find a peaceful solution, but the only solution as far as the Palestinian leadership is concerned is complete capitulation (the same demand the king of Ammon made to Jephthah).

Jephthah realizes there is no hope to continue the negotiations. If Ammon wants Gilead, they will have to take it by force.