Jephthah
Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead;
his mother was a prostitute. Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and
when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not
going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you
are the son of another woman."
So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob,
where a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him.
Some time later, when the Ammonites made war on Israel, the elders
of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. "Come," they
said, "be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites."
Jephthah said to them, "Didn't you hate me and drive me from my
father's house? Why do you come to me now, when you're in trouble?"
The elders of Gilead said to him, "Nevertheless, we are turning to
you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our
head over all who live in Gilead."
Jephthah answered, "Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites
and the LORD gives them to me—will I really be your head?" The
elders of Gilead replied, "The LORD is our witness; we will
certainly do as you say."
So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him
head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before
the Lord in Mizpah.
Letter #1
Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the
question: "What do you have against us that you have attacked our
country?"
The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers, "When
Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon
to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back
peaceably."
Letter #2
Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, saying:
This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or
the land of the Ammonites. But when they came up out of Egypt,
Israel went through the desert to the Red Sea and on to Kadesh. Then
Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Give us
permission to go through your country,' but the king of Edom would
not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So
Israel stayed at Kadesh. Next they traveled through the desert,
skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of
the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They
did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.
Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled
in Heshbon, and said to him, 'Let us pass through your country to
our own place.' Sihon, however, did not trust Israel to pass through
his territory. He mustered all his men and encamped at Jahaz and
fought with Israel. Then the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and
all his men into Israel's hands, and they defeated them. Israel took
over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country,
capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert
to the Jordan.
"Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out
before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? Will
you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the
Lord our God has given us, we will possess.
Are you better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever
quarrel with Israel or fight with them? For three hundred years
Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all
the towns along the Arnon. Why didn't you retake them during that
time?
I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war
against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day
between the Israelites and the Ammonites."
No response
The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message
Jephthah sent him.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead
and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he
advanced against the Ammonites.
And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: "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."
Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave
them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the
vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued
Ammon.
When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out
to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines!
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! My
daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have
made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."
"My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the Lord. Do
to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of
your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she
said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my
friends, because I will never marry."
"You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and
the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never
marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did
to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.
From this comes the Israelite custom that each year the young women
of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of
Jephthah the Gileadite. |