No King in Israel (24)

As in other cases, some judges ruled over specific portions of Israel rather than the entire nation. The action in these next two chapters takes place almost entirely outside Israel proper. Jephthah’s dispute with the Ammonites was over territory acquired in battle three centuries earlier under Moses prior to Israel entering the Promised Land. Often referred to as Gilead, this region now belonged to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the eastern half of Manasseh.

As we saw in the previous chapter, the Ammonites had previously crossed the Jordan to harass Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim, but Jephthah met and fought their army east of the Jordan.

Ammon was not a Canaanite nation. The Ammonites were descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot by his youngest daughter, so they shared distant blood ties with Israel. They occupied territory southeast of Gilead and north of their sister nation Moab.

II. Twelve Judges in Chronological Order (continued)

8. Jephthah (continued)

Judges 11:1-11 — Drafted

“Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, ‘You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.’ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. And they said to Jephthah, ‘Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.’ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, ‘Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?’ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ‘That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.’ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, ‘If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.’ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ‘The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.’ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.”

Gilead

Jephthah was a Gileadite. Gilead was the great-grandson of Joseph through Manasseh. He lived prior to Israel’s exodus from Egypt. As mentioned in our introduction, the territory that eventually bore his name was in the Transjordan, the land settled by the two-and-a-half tribes Moses permitted to make their homes outside of Canaan after they won it from the Amorites (see Numbers 21). Today, it is part of northwestern Jordan. [Double-click map for a higher-res image.]

The writers of scripture make numerous references to the land of Gilead from Genesis 31 on, but it should be apparent many of these are anachronisms: Gilead, who would eventually lend his name to the territory, had yet to be born. As is often the case in Old Testament history, they are using a name the area would not acquire until much later in order to communicate effectively with their contemporaries.

Thus, when we read that “Gilead was the father of Jephthah”, we are not talking about the original Gilead after whom the territory was named, but someone with the same name who lived several centuries later. So then, Jephthah, the son of a man named Gilead, also lived in and delivered territory that was called Gilead in memory of someone else entirely. Confusing? Maybe. There’s also a third Gilead in 1 Chronicles 5, but he was from the tribe of Gad.

The Son of a Prostitute

Jephthah was illegitimate. As was common in those days (and still happens today), the legitimate sons of Gilead wanted nothing to do with him, for reasons primarily financial. They didn’t want to share their inheritance. Despite being a “mighty warrior”, Jephthah found it preferable to leave home and move eastward to Tob rather than fight with his half-brothers. In this, he was more honorable than Abimelech, who murdered his half-brothers and was eventually judged by God.

We will see shortly that despite the tragic ending of this story, the writer of Judges presents Jephthah as a God-fearing man. The imperfect circumstances of his birth apparently did not define his character. There’s a good lesson in that. It’s yet another case of God raising up to leadership someone who is at some kind of social or personal disadvantage. The apostle Paul indicates the Lord does this sort of thing to discourage boasting.

Worthless Fellows

The Hebrew word for “worthless” in my ESV is often translated “empty” or “vain”. Some versions have “adventurers”. The idea is that the men who gathered around Jephthah were not content to be part of the mainstream of society and earn their living through hard work, but were probably out to make a quick buck by whatever means available to them. Much the same thing happened to David when driven away by King Saul. He attracted men who had fallen out with society, some of whom owed money they could not repay. When things went badly, these men talked of stoning David. Attempting to lead men of questionable character can be a precarious undertaking.

Wife’s Sons / Elders of Gilead

The elders of Gilead (probably meaning the territory of Gilead) apparently included some of Jephthah’s half-brothers, as he asks them, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house?” As in the case of Gideon, Jephthah was the least consequential son of an important man. Despite their history of mistreating Jephthah, these elders recognized his battlefield prowess would be hugely beneficial to their side in time of war.

That Is Why

Jephthah asks, “Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” It’s a perfectly reasonable question, and he gets back an honest answer: “That is why we have turned to you now.” Distress tends to make strange bedfellows out of old enemies. At least they recognized their urgent need for help and ate crow rather than maintaining their pride to their own hurt. They also promised, with God as their witness, to follow through in good faith on their offer to make him their leader. To their credit, it appears they did.

Before the Lord

“Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.” There’s no indication in the text that the Lord was directly involved in drafting Jephthah into service as his eighth judge, but it’s evident from the very beginning that Jephthah was aware of his need for divine help and sought the blessing of God on his venture. Mizpah is nowhere near the tabernacle, so “before the Lord” does not refer to geography. It probably suggests Jephthah did not act independently, but in constant awareness that he could not win his upcoming battle without something greater than mere force of arms.