Victory of Jephthah and his terrible vow
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| 1 ¶ Now Jephthah the
Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot:
and Gilead begat Jephthah.
2 And 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. 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him. |
1 -
Harlot Or prostitute. Gilead apparently took Jephthah home to be
treated as a son.
1 - Gilead Except for this verse, the word is used in this chapter as the name of a place. 3 - Vain men The description is for people without property or work. |
| 4 ¶ And it came to pass
in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob: 6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. 7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress? |
4 - In the process of time The author has given Jephthah's background and now picks up the history of the war. At jg1018 the leaders of the Israelite tribes east of Jordan had gathered to assemble an army but realized that they needed a leader. |
| 8 And the elders of
Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou
mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our
head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, 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? 10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. 11 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. |
9 - Shall I be your head? This clarification shows wisdom. It's easy for agreements to be misunderstood later. |
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¶ And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon,
saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to
fight in my land?
13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. 14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon: 15 And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon: |
13 - The Ammonite king wasn't telling the whole story as Jephthah explains beginning in the next verse. |
| .16
But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto
the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
17 Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh. 18 Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab. |
17
- King of Edom nu2014ff.
17 - Red Sea .. Kadesh See map. 18 - Moses did not record Moab's refusal de0209 but it may be inferred from de0229. |
| 19 And Israel sent messengers
unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto
him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
.20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan. 23 So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it? |
19
- Israel sent messengers They requested to pass through.
19 - Sihon He had a large territory. See map. 23 - Dispossessed the Amorites nu2124, de0237. It was not Amonite land. The two nations had similar names. |
| 24 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.
.25 And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, |
24 - Chemoth they god The god of the Ammonites was Milcom 1ki1105,33. It's possible that the king of Ammon controlled both nations. The Moabite Stone authored by king Mesha 2ki0304,5 gives Chemosh credit for victories and considers defeats to his anger. |
| 26 While Israel dwelt
in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities
that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore
did ye not recover them within that time?
27 Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon. 28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him. |
26
- Three hundred years The total would have been more. Jephthah may
have been giving a simple number for the sake of diplomacy.
28 - Hearkened not The king of Ammon was interested only in battle and apparently did not respond. |
| .29
¶ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over
Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh
of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.
.30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, 31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. 32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands. 33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. |
29
- Spirit of the Lord The Lord through the influence of the Spirit
controls nations da0221.
30 - Vow unto the Lord Various commentators have tried to explain this situation as not as bad as it sounds, but the text doesn't give them much room. Making vows to win the favor of gods was popular in the time this happened. Hannah made a vow 1sa0111. It is remotely possible that the vow was to consign the young woman for a life of celibacy, but this does not fit with the whole situation. |
| 34 And Jephthah came
to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him
with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he
had neither son nor daughter.
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. 36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. |
34
- His daughter came out To carry out the vow must have been heart
breaking. It was time for him to break the vow recognizing that it was
contrary to the will of the Lord he was trying to please le1821,
de1231.
But he had grown up in a heathen land and may not have understood these
principles.
36 - Do to me The daughter was apparently committed to the will of the Lord even if it meant death. We may find that the record of heaven exonerates both of them ac1730. She was like Isaac ge22. |
| 37 And she said unto
her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that
I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and
my fellows.
38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. 39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, 40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. |
39
- Father ... did with her God cares for youth as well as for His
other children 1ti0412.
Although He worked through Jephthah, we may be sure that the action displeased
Him. Being right with God is more important than keeping a vow. A person
who finds himself in a difficult situation should spend much time in prayer.
No human vow should be honored above the great principles of love as seen in Jesus Christ! |
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