Chapter Eleven

1–11. Jephthah, a Gileadite, leader and general of the Israelites. 12–28. Negotiations of Jephthah with the king of the Ammonites concerning the possession of Gilead. 29–33. Jephthah’s vow and the defeat of the Ammonites. 34–40. Jephthah’s fulfilling of his vow.

Judges 11:1. Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. He was the son of a prostitute; Gilead was his father. Judges 11:2. And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. When the sons of the wife had grown up, they expelled Jephthah and said to him, “You have no inheritance in our father’s household, because you are the son of another woman. Judges 11:3. So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Worthless men gathered around him and followed him. Before the war with the Ammonites began, Jephthah lived in the village of Tob in the Transjordan region (2 Sam 10:6; 1 Macc 5:13).

Judges 11:4. Some time later, the Ammonites made war on Israel. Judges 11:5. When the Ammonites made war on Israel, the elders of Gilead came to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. Judges 11:6. They said to Jephthah, “Come, be our commander, and let us fight the Ammonites. Judges 11:7. Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why do you come to me now when you are in distress? Judges 11:8. The elders of Gilead replied to Jephthah, “Nevertheless, we now turn to you so that you may go with us and fight the Ammonites, and you shall be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. Judges 11:9. Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, will I really be your head? Judges 11:10. The elders of Gilead answered Jephthah, “The Lord will be our witness; we will certainly do as you say. Judges 11:11. So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. Having accepted the offer of the elders of Gilead to be leader and commander of the people, Jephthah, like the elders, gave a vow before the Lord in Mizpah.

Judges 11:12. Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to say, “What quarrel is there between us that you have come to fight against me in my land? Judges 11:13. The king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, “When Israel came up from Egypt, they took my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Now restore it to me in peace. Judges 11:14. Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites again, Judges 11:15. saying, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, Judges 11:16. “but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. Judges 11:17. “Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘May I pass through your land?’ But the king of Edom would not listen. And to the king of Moab, but he also refused. So Israel stayed in Kadesh. Judges 11:18. “They went through the wilderness, passed by the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon; but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. Judges 11:19. “Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Let us pass through your land to reach our place.’ Judges 11:20. “But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel. Judges 11:21. “The Lord, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, Judges 11:22. “So Israel took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. Judges 11:23. “The Lord, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorite from before His people Israel. So do you expect to possess their land? Judges 11:24. “Don’t you take what your god Chemosh has given you? And don’t we take what the Lord our God has given us? Judges 11:25. “Now are you better than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight against them? Judges 11:26. “For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, in Aroer and its settlements, and in all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during all this time? Judges 11:27. “I have not wronged you, but you are doing me a wrong by starting a war with me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge between the Israelites and the Ammonites! Judges 11:28. But the king of the Ammonites did not pay attention to the message that Jephthah had sent him. Before military action began, Jephthah negotiated with the Ammonite king concerning the rights of the Israelites to control the Transjordan region, part of which was occupied by the Ammonites. During these negotiations, the history of the conquest of the Transjordan region in the time of Moses was outlined in general terms (compare Num 20:14; Deut 2:19). Chemosh, whom Jephthah calls the national god of the Ammonites (v. 24), was at the same time the national god of the Moabites, as is clear from 1 Kgs 11:7; 2 Kgs 23:13 and the inscription of the Moabite king Mesha (from the 9th century), but was worshiped equally by the Ammonites, who were related to the Moabites.

Judges 11:29. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went through Gilead and Manasseh, then he went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced to the Ammonites. Judges 11:30. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You give the Ammonites into my hands, Judges 11:31. “then whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites will belong to the Lord, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering. Judges 11:32. So Jephthah went to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. Judges 11:33. And he inflicted a very great defeat on them, from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, twenty cities, and all the way to Abel-Keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites. After the Ammonite king refused to meet Jephthah’s requirements, Jephthah, inspired by the Spirit of God, set out from Mizpah (Ramoth) to fight the Ammonites, having made beforehand a fearful vow to God. During this war, the Ammonites were defeated, and cities that they had occupied (numbering 20) were taken from them—from Aroer (compare Deut 3:12) to Minnith (compare Ezek 27:17) (now Mania, east of Heshbon) and Abel-Keramim (a town 7 miles from Philadelphia, and in the time of Eusebius (Onomast 225, 6) rich in vineyards; now ruins of Abila).

Judges 11:34. When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him with tamborines and dancing. She was his only daughter; except for her, he had neither son nor daughter. Judges 11:35. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh, my daughter! You have brought me low and are among those who have brought me low, for I have made a vow to the Lord and cannot take it back. Judges 11:36. “My father,” she replied, “you have made a vow to the Lord. Do to me as you have vowed, for the Lord has brought your enemies the Ammonites into your hands. Judges 11:37. And she said to her father, “Grant me one request. Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my companions, because I will never marry. Judges 11:38. “Go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her companions went into the hills and wept because she would remain a virgin. Judges 11:39. After the two months were completed, she returned to her father, and he fulfilled his vow that he had made regarding her. And she knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel Judges 11:40. that the daughters of Israel went each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days of the year. When Jephthah returned after defeating the Ammonites, he fulfilled his vow made to God. There are different opinions on how the vow was fulfilled. Many ancient interpreters maintained that Jephthah actually offered his daughter as a burnt offering who came out to meet him first after his victory over the Ammonites (compare St. John Chrysostom, “On the Book of Judges,” Works of St. John Chrysostom, vol. 6, p. 637; Homilies on Antioch Narratives (XIV) vol. 2, p. 160–161). Others, especially later interpreters (Hengstenberg, Reinke, Kassel, Köhler and others), maintained that Jephthah’s daughter remained a virgin and was dedicated to the tabernacle for certain service appropriate to her gender. St. Apostle Paul saw in Jephthah an example of those who conquered through their faith (Heb 11:32).