“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. “
Hebrews 11:32-34(NIV)
I recently read this scripture and thought it might be fun to take a look at the people mentioned. The fourth person mentioned is Jephthah. I will paraphrase some of the scriptures because it is several chapters. I’ll leave a link at the bottom so you can read it.
The Mighty Warrior
I looked up the pronunciation of Jephthah. It is pronounced “Jeptah” or “Yiptah” in Hebrew.
The scripture begins by telling us that Jephthah is a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead. His mother….well, let’s just say she was in the sales industry. Ok, she was a prostitute.
Gilead is a common Biblical name and it means “happiness”. It is also one of the tribes of Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilead#People
When Jephthah was grown with children, his own brothers drove him away. They told him that he wasn’t born by their mom, so he wasn’t going to get any inheritance. He moved away and settled in another area.
Israel then began fighting with the Ammonites so the elders of Israel went back to Jephthah and asked him to come back and fight with them. He questioned them and reminded them that they asked him to leave.
The elders said Yeah,………well forget about all of that. We need you to fight. We will make you the leader. Jephthah questioned them again and said if I do this, will I really be in charge. The elders said, Oh yes, we promise.
Making A Vow
Jephthah took some vows and made a promise to the Lord and was now in charge. He sent a message to the Ammonite king. Why are you fighting with us? The king responded, you took my land and I want it back.
Jephthah responded, no we didn’t. He goes into this long story about how they escaped Egypt and went here and there and basically, God gave them this land. We didn’t take it. The king of the Ammonites ignored his message.
Jephthah then made a vow to God. Back then when someone made a vow, it was the real deal. No fingers crossed behind their backs.
“If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
Judges 11:30 (NIV) emphasis mine
Read it again. “Whatever comes out of the door of my house”. Do you see what’s coming? He made a vow to God. There’s no backing down from this. He made the vow and he said it out loud more than likely in front of witnesses. Generally, when this type of vow was made it was accompanied by an offering. What he is saying and doing is a big deal. Offerings were part of life for the Israelites. They had laws and guidance on offerings. What type of offering and when.
“Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands.”
Judges 11:32 (NIV) emphasis mine
God kept his part of the deal, so now it’s Jephthah’s turn.
“When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, ‘Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.’”
Judges 11:34 (NIV) emphasis mine
Jephthah saw his only daughter, his only child comes out of his house. God kept his part of the vow. Jephthah must now keep his. She asked for two months to mourn because she wouldn’t marry. He gave her two months and then he kept his vow.
“From this comes the Israelite tradition that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.”
Judges 11:39-40 (NIV)
Now let’s wait a minute here. He might not have sacrificed her. The article in the link below speculates that the daughter didn’t die. She just didn’t marry and have children. Which was in a sense, death.
Jephthah shouldn’t have gone around making vows. God ALWAYS keeps his promises. He doesn’t forget. A vow to God shouldn’t be taken lightly.
The Ephraimites
A group called the Ephraimites went to Jephthah and asked him why he fought the Ammonites without inviting them along. The Ephraimites, according to the website below were the frontlines of the Israelites security and defense. That would make sense as to why they were upset. They also didn’t get any of the spoils.
https://www.israel-a-history-of.com/ephraimites.html
Jephthah told them that when he went to fight against the Ammonites, he asked for their help and they wouldn’t help him. God helped me win. Why are you wanting to fight with me? The Ephraimites called the men of Gilead insulting names which caused a war to break out between the Ephraimites, Jephthah and the men of Gilead.
The Gileadites captured the major waterways. If an Ephraimite tried to cross over into Gilead, the men would ask him to pronounce a certain word and if he mispronounced it, then he was killed.
This chapter ends with the following:
“Jephthah led Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a town in Gilead.”
Judges 12:7 (NIV)
What have we learned about Jephthah? I think he got too big for his britches. He started up wars when he could have diffused the situation. Praying to God for wisdom and guidance should have been on his agenda. He led by impulse. I think we can see ourselves in some of the things Jephthah did.
If you would like to read the scriptures, here is a link. It starts in Judges 11-12. The link is for the New International Version, but you can click on the right on the webpage and change to a different version.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%2011&version=NIV
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