Judges 11

1 And Jephthae the Galaadite a mighty man; and he the son of a harlot, who bore Jephthae to Galaad.

2 And the wife of Galaad bore him sons; and the sons of his wife grew up, and they cast out Jephthae, and said to him, Thou shalt not inherit in the house of our father, for thou art the son of a concubine.

3 And Jephthae fled from the face of his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob; and vain men gathered to Jephthae, and went out with him.

4 And it came to pass when the children of Ammon prepared to fight with Israel,

5 that the elders of Galaad went to fetch Jephthae from the land of Tob.

6 And they said to Jephthae, Come, and be our head, and we will fight with the sons of Ammon.

7 And Jephthae said to the elders of Galaad, Did ye not hate me, and cast me out of my father's house, and banish me from you? and wherefore are ye come to me now when ye want me?

8 And the elders of Galaad said to Jephthae, Therefore have we now turned to thee, that thou shouldest go with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Galaad.

9 And Jephthae said to the elders of Galaad, If ye turn me back to fight with the children of Ammon, and the Lord should deliver them before me, then will I be your head.

10 And the elders of Galaad said to Jephthae, The Lord be witness between us, if we shall not do according to thy word.

11 And Jephthae went with the elders of Galaad, and the people made him head and ruler over them: and Jephthae spoke all his words before the Lord in Massepha.

12 And Jephthae sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What have I to do with thee, that thou hast come against me to fight in my land?

13 And the king of the children of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthae, Because Israel took my land when he went up out of Egypt, from Arnon to Jaboc, and to Jordan: now then return them peaceably and I will depart.

14 And Jephthae again sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon,

15 and said to him, Thus says Jephthae, Israel took not the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon;

16 for in their going up out of Egypt Israel went in the wilderness as far as the sea of Siph, and came to Cades.

17 And Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, I will pass, if it please thee, by thy land: and the king of Edom complied not: and also sent to the king of Moab, and he did not consent; and Israel sojourned in Cades.

18 And journeyed in the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab: and they came by the east of the land of Moab, an encamped in the country beyond Arnon, and came not within the borders of Moab, for Arnon the border of Moab.

19 And Israel sent messengers to Seon king of the Amorite, king of Esbon, and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray thee, by thy land to our place.

20 And Seon did not trust Israel to pass by his coast; and Seon gathered all his people, and they encamped at Jasa; and he set the battle in array against Israel.

21 And the Lord God of Israel delivered Seon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote him; and Israel inherited all the land of the Amorite who dwelt in that land,

22 from Arnon and to Jaboc, and from the wilderness to Jordan.

23 And now the Lord God of Israel has removed the Amorite from before his people Israel, and shalt thou inherit his ?

24 Wilt thou not inherit those possessions which Chamos thy god shall cause thee to inherit; and shall not we inherit the all those whom the Lord our God has removed from before you?

25 And now art thou any better than Balac son of Sepphor, king of Moab? did he indeed fight with Israel, or indeed make war with him,

26 when dwelt in Esebon and in its coasts, and in the land of Aroer and in its coasts, and in all the cities by Jordan, three hundred years? and wherefore didst thou not recover them in that time?

27 And now I have not sinned against thee, but thou wrongest me in preparing war against me: may the Lord the Judge judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.

28 But the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not to the words of Jephthae, which he sent to him.

29 And the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthae, and he passed over Galaad, and Manasse, and passed by the watch-tower of Galaad to the other side of the children of Ammon.

30 And Jephthae vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,

31 then it shall come to pass that whosoever shall first come out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, he shall be the Lord's: I will offer him up for a whole-burnt-offering.

32 And Jephthae advanced to meet the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hand.

33 And he smote them from Aroer till comes to Arnon, in number twenty cities, and as far as Ebelcharmim, with a very great destruction: and the children of Ammon were straitened before the children of Israel.

34 And Jephthae came to Massepha to his house; and behold, his daughter came forth to meet him with timbrels and dances; and she was his only child, he had not another son or daughter.

35 And it came to pass when he saw her, that he rent his garments, and said, Ah, ah, my daughter, thou hast indeed troubled me, and thou wast the cause of my trouble; and I have opened my mouth against thee to the Lord, and I shall not be able to return from it.

36 And she said to him, Father, hast thou opened thy mouth to the Lord? Do to me accordingly as went out of thy mouth, in that the Lord has wrought vengeance for thee on thine enemies of the children of Ammon.

37 And she said to her father, Let my father now do this thing: let me alone for two months, and I will go up and down on the mountains, and I will bewail my virginity, I and my companions.

38 And he said, Go: and he sent her away for two months; and she went, and her companions, and she bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

39 And it came to pass at the end of the two months that she returned to her father; and he performed upon her his vow which he vowed; and she knew no man:

40 and it was an ordinance in Israel, the daughters of Israel went from year to year to bewail the daughter of Jephthae the Galaadite for four days in a year.

Judges 11 Commentary

Chapter 11

Jephtah and the Gileadites. (1-11) He attempts to make peace. (12-28) Jephthah's vow. He vanquishes the Ammonites. (29-40)

Verses 1-11 Men ought not to be blamed for their parentage, so long as they by their personal merits roll away any reproach. God had forgiven Israel, therefore Jephthah will forgive. He speaks not with confidence of his success, knowing how justly God might suffer the Ammonites to prevail for the further punishment of Israel. Nor does he speak with any confidence at all in himself. If he succeed, it is the Lord delivers them into his hand; he thereby reminds his countrymen to look up to God as the Giver of victory. The same question as here, in fact, is put to those who desire salvation by Christ. If he save you, will ye be willing that he shall rule you? On no other terms will he save you. If he make you happy, shall he make you holy? If he be your helper, shall he be your Head? Jephthah, to obtain a little worldly honour, was willing to expose his life: shall we be discouraged in our Christian warfare by the difficulties we may meet with, when Christ has promised a crown of life to him that overcometh?

Verses 12-28 One instance of the honour and respect we owe to God, as our God, is, rightly to employ what he gives us to possess. Receive it from him, use it for him, and part with it when he calls for it. The whole of this message shows that Jephthah was well acquainted with the books of Moses. His argument was clear, and his demand reasonable. Those who possess the most courageous faith, will be the most disposed for peace, and the readiest to make advances to obtain; but rapacity and ambition often cloak their designs under a plea of equity, and render peaceful endeavours of no avail.

Verses 29-40 Several important lessons are to be learned from Jephthah's vow. 1. There may be remainders of distrust and doubting, even in the hearts of true and great believers. 2. Our vows to God should not be as a purchase of the favour we desire, but to express gratitude to him. 3. We need to be very well-advised in making vows, lest we entangle ourselves. 4. What we have solemnly vowed to God, we must perform, if it be possible and lawful, though it be difficult and grievous to us. 5. It well becomes children, obediently and cheerfully to submit to their parents in the Lord. It is hard to say what Jephthah did in performance of his vow; but it is thought that he did not offer his daughter as a burnt-offering. Such a sacrifice would have been an abomination to the Lord; it is supposed she was obliged to remain unmarried, and apart from her family. Concerning this and some other such passages in the sacred history, about which learned men are divided and in doubt, we need not perplex ourselves; what is necessary to our salvation, thanks be to God, is plain enough. If the reader recollects the promise of Christ concerning the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and places himself under this heavenly Teacher, the Holy Ghost will guide to all truth in every passage, so far as it is needful to be understood.

Footnotes

• [a]. exalted in strength.
• [b]. and thou shalt.
• [c]. heard not.
• [d]. him.
• [e]. is undoubtedly the true reading.
• [f]. redeem.
• [g]. the verb e?µ? is merely redundant after the pronoun ??? in these instances.
• [h]. year.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 11

This chapter gives an account of another judge of Israel, Jephthah, of his descent and character, Jud 11:1-3 of the call the elders of Gilead gave him to be their captain general, and lead out their forces against the Ammonites, and the agreement he made with them, Jud 11:4-11 of the message he sent to the children of Ammon, which brought on a dispute between him and them about the land Israel possessed on that side Jordan the Ammonites claimed; Israel's right to which Jephthah defended, and made it clearly to appear, hoping thereby to put an end to the quarrel without shedding of blood, Jud 11:12-27 but the children of Ammon not attending to what he said, he prepared to give them battle, and previous to it he made a vow, and then set forward and fought them, and got the victory over them, Jud 11:28-33 and the chapter concludes with the difficulties Jephthah was embarrassed with upon his return home, on account of his vow, and the performance of it, Jud 11:34-40.