Jephthah's Daughter
Judges Chapter 11:1-40
It is important to
remember, in the events that follow, that in the time of the judges, "In
those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in
his own eyes" (Judges 21:25) This book
is filled with the consequences of people who did not look to the LORD in all
their decisions. Thankfully, now we have
these words to live by: Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways
acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
paths."
In Judges Chapter 11,
we have the tragic story of Jephthah and his beloved daughter, whose name we are
not told.
Judges 11 opens with
the first mention of Jephthah. V1
"Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son
of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah". So we know that Jephthah was
born with a strike against him, he was not the son of his father's wife, and indeed in V2-3 we learn that in the
passage of time, "Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up,
and they thrust out Jephthah and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our
father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman. Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and
dwelt in the land of Tob..." But
then V4-6 "And it came to pass in the process of time, that the children
of Ammon made war against Israel and it was so that.....the elders of Gilead
went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob. And they said unto Jephthah,
Come, and be our captain that we may fight with the children of Ammon." And
remembering that these are the same ones who drove him out and now come to ask
his help with the enemy, Jephthah asks for glory for himself, even knowing that
a victory would come from the LORD. V9 "If ye bring me home again to fight
against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be
your head?" So Jephthah is given a
place of honor and respect, V10-11 "And the elders of Gilead said unto
Jephthah, the LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy
words. Then Jephthah went with the
elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and
Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh"
And so V15-23
Jephthah sends word to the king of the Ammonites, relating the events leading
up to the possession of the land by Israel: Israel coming out of the land of Egypt, walking through the wilderness and the crossing of the Red Sea, all the peoples the LORD had delivered into Israel's hand, and saying V23 "So now the LORD
God of Israel hath dispossess the Amorites from before his people Israel, and
shouldest thou possess it?
But in Verse 24
Jephthah makes a rather strange remark "Wilt not thou possess that which
Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess?
So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will
we possess." Jephthah seems to be
saying that they believe that their god is powerful enough to give them what they now
possess. It seems as if he is contrasting him with the LORD, a very foolish thing to do. He would have done well to remember the words
of Deuteronomy 6:16 “Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God…..”
