Judges 11 Footnotes

11:1-6 Scripture condemns prostitution as displeasing to God (Lv 21:9); the law decreed that offspring of an illegitimate relationship were to be barred from entering the assembly of the Lord to the tenth generation (Dt 23:23). Nevertheless Jephthah, born illegitimately of a prostitute, was asked by the elders of Gilead to be their leader. Three considerations apply here. First, the irregular circumstances of one’s birth, or having been driven from one’s home, did not render a person unable to serve the Lord (Jdg 11:11) or to be guided by God in accomplishing great things (v. 29). Second, the messianic line (i.e., the line of Jesus) includes at least three people who had been born under questionable conditions. Perez was born of an illegitimate relationship (Gn 38; Mt 1:3); Boaz’s mother had previously been a prostitute (Mt 1:5; Heb 11:31); and Solomon was born to parents who had committed adultery—his father having even arranged for the murder of his wife’s first husband (2Sm 11:1–12:25; Mt 1:6). Third, during the time of the judges, “everyone did whatever seemed right to him” (Jdg 17:6; 21:25); the Gileadites’ choice of Jephthah was not necessarily God’s idea. Still, God did not reject Jephthah but worked with him to accomplish his purpose (11:29-32).

11:29-31 How could Jephthah make such a rash vow if the Spirit of the Lord had come upon him? Even though the Holy Spirit may guide an individual, that person retains the freedom to follow or reject the Spirit’s leading. Jephthah apparently chose to act on his own in this case and, in his exuberance, uttered an unwise vow (Pr 20:25; Ec 5:2-4). The Spirit’s guidance may have related solely to Jephthah’s activities as a judge (e.g., leading God’s people into battle; Jdg 11:29-33) and not to his private life (vv. 30-31). Other Israelites (e.g., Samson, Saul, and David) experienced the anointing of the Holy Spirit to be leaders of God’s people (13:25; 14:6,19; 15:14; 1Sm 10:10; 11:6; 16:13) but failed in various aspects of their personal lives (Jdg 14:1-3; 16:1; 1Sm 13:9-13; 2Sm 11:2-4).

11:34-39 According to vv. 30-31, Jephthah paid his vow to the Lord. He offered him the first thing that came out of his house to greet him after the battle—his beloved daughter. Did Jephthah literally sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering to the Lord, or did he dedicate her to temple service? Until the Middle Ages, interpreters generally held to the first possibility. Subsequently both views have had their advocates. A difficulty with the former view is that God abhors human sacrifice (Jr 32:35); as for the latter view, there is no direct biblical evidence of a group committed to lifelong virginity serving the Lord at the temple in Shiloh. The plain reading of the text supports the conclusion that Jephthah did, in fact, offer his daughter as a burnt offering to the Lord as great an abomination as that would have been. This did not mean that the Lord accepted or approved of that offering (Is 1:10-15; Am 5:22).