Jephthah Delivers Israel
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father. Heb 11:32Jdg 6:122Ki 5:1 And Gilead’s wife bore him sons who grew up, drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.” Deu 23:2Gen 12:10Pro 2:16Gal 4:30Pro 5:20Pro 5:3Pro 6:24-26
So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him. Jdg 9:41Sa 22:21Sa 27:22Sa 10:62Sa 10:8Job 30:1-101Sa 30:22-24Act 17:5
Some time later, when the Ammonites fought against Israel Jdg 10:9 and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 1Co 1:27-291Sa 11:12Act 7:35-39Psa 118:22-231Sa 10:271Sa 11:6-7Jdg 10:17-18Jdg 10:9 “Come,” they said, “be our commander, so that we can fight against the Ammonites.”
Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and expel me from my father’s house? Why then have you come to me now, when you are in distress?” Gen 45:4-5Pro 17:17Rev 3:9Act 7:9-14Isa 60:14Gen 26:27Gen 37:27
They answered Jephthah, “This is why we now turn to you, that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become leader over all of us who live in Gilead.” Jdg 10:18Exo 10:17Exo 9:281Ki 13:6Exo 8:28Exo 8:8Luk 17:3-4
But Jephthah asked them, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me, will I really be your leader?” Num 32:20-29
And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.” Jer 42:5Gen 31:50Gen 16:5Jer 29:231Sa 12:51Sa 24:122Co 11:31Deu 1:16
So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah. 1Sa 10:17Jdg 20:1Jas 1:5Jdg 10:171Sa 11:15Jas 1:171Ki 3:7-91Sa 23:9-12
Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land?” Mat 18:15-16Deu 2:26Pro 25:8-92Ki 14:8-12Deu 20:10-11Num 20:14Num 21:21
The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.” Gen 32:22Num 21:24-26Deu 2:37Deu 3:16Pro 19:5Pro 19:9
Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites 1Pe 3:11Heb 12:14Psa 120:7Rom 12:18 to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites. Deu 2:19Deu 2:92Ch 20:10Act 24:12-13Num 21:13-15Num 21:27-30 But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea 1and came to Kadesh. Deu 1:40Num 14:25Num 13:26Num 20:1Deu 1:46Gen 14:7Jos 5:6 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. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh. Deu 2:4-9Num 20:1Num 20:14-21Deu 2:29Jos 24:9
Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border. Deu 2:1-8Num 21:4-13Num 22:36Num 33:37-44Num 20:22
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land into our own place.’ Deu 2:26-36Deu 3:1-17Jos 13:8-12Num 21:21-35 But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. Psa 135:10-12Deu 2:32-34Jos 13:15-32Neh 9:22Num 21:23-25Psa 136:17-21
Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country, seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. Deu 2:36
Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it? Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us. Mic 4:5Num 21:29Psa 78:551Ki 11:7Jos 3:10Deu 18:12Deu 9:4-5Jer 48:46 Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them? Mic 6:5Jos 24:9-10Deu 23:3-4Num 22:2-21
For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time? Deu 2:36Deu 2:24Deu 3:2Deu 3:6Jdg 10:2-3Jdg 10:8Jdg 3:11Jdg 3:30 I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by waging war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” 1Sa 24:121Sa 24:15Gen 16:5Gen 18:25Gen 31:53Rom 14:10-12Ecc 11:9Psa 75:7
But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him. 2Ki 14:11Pro 16:18
Jephthah’s Tragic Vow
Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites. Num 11:25Jdg 13:25Jdg 3:101Ch 12:181Sa 10:101Sa 16:13-15Jdg 10:17Jdg 6:34
Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand, Gen 28:201Sa 1:11Ecc 5:1-2Ecc 5:4-5Num 30:2-16 then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” Psa 66:13-141Sa 1:111Sa 1:281Sa 14:241Sa 14:441Sa 2:18Deu 23:18Isa 66:3
So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand. Jdg 1:4Jdg 2:18Jdg 3:10 With a great blow he devastated twenty cities from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites. Ezk 27:17Deu 2:36
And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her. Exo 15:20Jer 31:4Jdg 10:17Jdg 11:11Psa 150:4Psa 68:251Sa 18:6-7Jdg 5:1-31
As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.” Gen 42:36-38Mat 14:7-91Sa 14:44-452Sa 13:30-312Sa 18:33Ecc 5:2-6Gen 37:29-30Gen 37:34-35
“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.” Act 21:132Sa 18:19Php 2:30Rom 16:42Sa 18:312Sa 19:30Jdg 16:28-30Act 20:24 She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander for two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.” Luk 1:251Sa 1:6
“Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months.
So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains. After two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she had never had relations with a man. Isa 66:3Jdg 11:311Sa 2:18Lev 27:28-291Sa 1:111Sa 1:241Sa 1:28Deu 12:31
So it has become a custom in Israel that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. 1Ki 9:25Jdg 5:11