Jephthah the Rejected (Judges 10:1–12:13)

The story of Jephthah is bracketed by brief references to judges who served God in different places, with each of them serving for a long time (9:1; 11:8-13). We are told nothing of significance about them, which is a reminder that sometimes we should be content to be alone. But the author obviously wants us to think about the judge called Jephthah, as does the author of the book of Hebrews (11:32). On a surface reading, we may wonder why. Yet the author of Hebrews says that Jephthah was a man of faith and is one of the great cloud of witnesses who show us that it is possible to live for God in difficult circumstances. And we can look first at those circumstances.

Their repentance (10:6-18)

This description of the departure of Israel from God was larger than previous ones because it involved the whole country. It looks as if the Israelites, in whatever part of country they lived, looked across the border and decided to adopt the practice of their neighbours. So it was a time of general departure from God.

Their departure from God resulted in a period of captivity for the Israelites that lasted for eighteen years. They abandoned God and he sold them into captivity. In a sense, he gave them to their new masters, the false gods, except they discovered that everything was not positive about what the devotees of those gods did. The new masters, the Ammonites, were powerful – they controlled the Israelites who lived east of the Jordan and then decided to extend their campaign against the tribes who lived west of the Jordan, Judah and Benjamin.

The prospect of this extension of dominion took the Israelites to their senses and they called on God to deliver them. Perhaps they had a gathering where there was a corporate expression of their repentance. Maybe through a prophet they heard the Lord challenge them about their attitude to him. Initially their regret was connected to their circumstances, but the Lord challenged them about their attitude of heart towards him. They realised that they had departed from him as their Lord, and they expressed their submission to him.

What can we learn from this ancient account of a problematic period of Israel’s history? First, there can be times when the departure of a people from God is widespread and affects every part of the country, with a variety of alternatives to God being introduced into the life of the people. This is what is happening today in our own country.

Second, God allows things in his providence in order to bring people to their senses. As far as Israel was concerned it was oppression. With us, it may be something else. Yet we should be alert for signs of what it is, so that we can pray about it.

Third, people eventually realise that something is wrong and turn to God for help. While that is progress, it is not an adequate expression repentance. Repentance happens when people recognise the severity of their situation, that it is caused by their sins, and that the Lord can deal with them any way that wants.

Fourth, we should note how God is described in verse 16: ‘he became impatient over the misery of Israel.’ This description tells us that God was eager to deliver his people from their sad circumstances. And it is important for us to realise that God still responds in this way when sinners repent. God is not often depicted as being in a hurry. But one set of circumstances in which he is determined to do things quickly is when people have repented.

The chosen rescuer

We discover that the individual selected by God to deliver his people is a very unlikely person. He was rejected by his family because his mother was a prostitute and he had to flee from home. No doubt, as his brothers watched him go out of sight they imagined they would never see him again. But as Isaiah reminds us, God’s ways are not our ways. And one day the brothers had to watch him coming back as God’s deliverer.

The obvious application from this point is that wilderness years may not be wasted years. There are many examples in the Bible of individuals who had to take seeming steps backwards in order to move forward. One example is David, who also was despised by his family and who spent years on the run from Saul. An example from the New Testament is Paul, who spent years at home between his initial time in Damascus and his later time in Antioch after Barnabas had gone to get him.

We can see from the account that Jephthah used his years of exile to develop his skills as a leader. It is obvious from the account that others were aware of his progress and when the moment came they asked him to lead them. If Jephthah had spent the years sulking over what had happened to him, then he would not have become the leader he was. Sulking over something in the past is not a qualification for leadership in the present, or for serving God in the present in any capacity.

It is interesting that in the account of the meeting with the elders of Gilead, Jephthah is the one who first refers to the Lord (v. 9). He speaks of God in a manner that reveals he understood that God was not obligated to give him a victory. In other words, he understood that God was sovereign, who would decide the outcome. And that is an attitude that is required of anyone who will serve God, whether in a big activity or a small one.

A third important detail about Jephthah is that he knew the scriptures that were available to him. All that he would have had is the five books of Moses and we can see from the message sent to the king of the Ammonites that Jephthah knew them well (vv. 12-27). Moreover, he did not merely know the details, but he also knew how to use them to argue his case. This ability was the result of what he must have been doing during his years away from home.

A fourth feature of Jephthah’s outlook was his sense of security in God, which we can see from his confidence that the Lord would judge between the Israelites and the Ammonites (v. 27). Jephthah knew that he was not sinless, but he was also aware that his motives had been straight and true. Therefore, he knew that the Lord would defend his servant. As a leader, Jephthah understood the necessity of right motives, and he knew that God would defend him.

A fifth aspect of Jephthah’s attitude was his willingness to make a sacrifice for the Lord. We see this in his vow to offer to God the first creature that comes out of his house should he return home in peace. This intended offering would be an expression of his gratitude and in a sense he was leaving the circumstances in the hands of God to arrange what would come out of the house. We can deduce from what he says that he was willing to give to God what was asked of him.

The outcome was that the Lord gave to Jephthah a great victory. Through the leadership of Jephthah, Israel found liberty, and surely that is the goal of those who serve God in such a way. They want God’s people to enter into the freedom that Christ has purchased for them.

A heroine in the story (vv. 29-40)

This passage has been controversial with some interpreters suggesting that Jephthah engaged in human sacrifice by offering up his daughter in order to fulfil his vow. And they then argue backwards that his vow was a mistake. The problem with that suggestion is that the passage does not seem to say that the vow was a mistake. There is no way that God would approve of a sinful vow, nor would he approve of a human sacrifice, but there is every reason to assume that he would approve of a true vow. It is very important to remind ourselves that Hebrews 11 says very clearly that Jephthah was a man of true faith.

There is a better way of interpreting the passage, which is that the daughter of Jephthah never married, but became devoted in the Lord in a special way, such as those women who served God at the Tabernacle, a way that was so demanding that people remembered it with an annual festival. We can ask, what was so sad about this price of dedication? The sad detail is that she would never be married and have children. This was the price she had to pay in order for her father’s commitment to God to be fulfilled. Yet she was willing to do it as an expression of her service to the Lord, and she prepared for it with her friends.

The nameless daughter of Jephthah joins the other women of faith who have appeared in this book. Whether it is Deborah the judge or Jael the Kenite or the daughter of Jephthah, each of them did what God expected them to do when the moment of crisis came – they served God.

At the same time, we can say that this expression of dedication deprived Jephthah of an inheritance. Obviously, in normal circumstances there would be individuals who would want to marry the only daughter of the judge who had delivered Israel. So Jephthah was asked by God to accept that he would not leave a line of descendants. In that case, we can see that God’s response to Jephthah’s vow was to send him a severe test to see if he would keep it. And he did because he was a man of faith.

Civil war

One of the most difficult things in the life of a leader whom God has chosen occurs when some of God’s people dispute that he has been chosen. The writer of Judges makes clear that God had chosen Jephthah and used him to deliver his people. It was a dangerous situation now facing Israel because one of the tribes wanted to kill the judge whom God had raised up to serve him. The fact is, the tribe of Ephraim was now fighting against God and wanted to kill not only Jephthah but also the entire people of Gilead.

The outcome of the battle was that 42,000 men of Ephraim died, mainly at the crossing of the Jordan. As far as the details of the passage are concerned, it does not say that Jephthah was involved in the slaughter at the fords. What is important for us to note is the sins that caused this conflict. As far as the men of Ephraim were concerned, it was pride, and as far as the men of Gilead were concerned it was taking offence at an insult at their origins. How different it would have been if the people of Ephraim had sent a message of gratitude to Jephthah and if the men of Gilead had responded with a spirit of forgiveness. Because both of them acted sinfully, a disaster came. And when we sin, we don’t know what the final consequences will be.

There are some remarkable parallels between Jephthah and Jesus. Both were despised and rejected by men, both were aware of what the Bible said about the people of God, and both dedicated their best to God. Jephthah was a good man, who did not let his expulsion from Israel diminish his faith in the God of Israel, and eventually his God honoured him with a place among the heroes of the faith, even although his time as a judge was relatively short.