Judges 11 [Judges 11:1] NOW JEPHTHAH THE GILEADITE WAS A MIGHTY MAN OF VALOUR, AND HE WAS THE SON OF AN HARLOT: AND GILEAD BEGAT JEPHTHAH. <<JEPHTHAH>> Hebrew "Yiftach" with the final "ch" being pronounced something like "h". The name appears to mean "He who will open". GILEADITE: He belonged to the section of Gilead in Manassseh and in addition his father was also named Gilead. <<HARLOT: <<  In Hebrew "Zonah".  The word "zonah" is derived from the root "zoneh" meaning turn away from or "sin". The English word "sin" is derived from this root. At one stage the Northern peoples lost the use of the sound "z" and replaced it with "z". That is how the Sebulingoi derived their name from "Zebulon-goi" or "Zebulon-people". They were located in the region of Denmark and Frissia and from there moved southward into the Netherlands. "Zonah" is the usual Hebrew word for "harlot" or prostitute BUT it can also have other connotations and possibilities and simply mean a woman who departs from the straight path. One explanation (Targum Yehonatan, Rabbeinu Bachai) that is a little difficult but may have something in it is that the mother of JEPHTHAH was the prospective inheritress of her ancestors' Tribal portion but she married someone from another tribe and so lost her right. [Judges 11:2] 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. It may be that the mother of Yiftach was a loose woman who had given birth to him prior to the birth of heirs from the legitimate wife similar to the case of Ishmael and Hagar. Alternately the mother of Yiftach may have been a second wife who was sent away because of her sons but Yiftach was kept on though in an inferior position. It would seem that there was something legal about his dispossession whether justified or not. [Judges 11:3] 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..   <<TOB>> also pronounced "Tov" and in Hebrew the word can mean "Good". The land of TOB was north of Gilead somewhere in the north of Syria. This was land that had been promised to Israel and in which Israelites settled though they had to struggle for it. Ultimately the Israelites were pushed out or subordinated and the area became part of the Aramaean Kingdoms of the region. Yiftach appears to have acted in a similar way to how David did before he became king and when he was hiding from Saul. Yiftach apparently led a band of bandits who would prey on the non-Israelite heathen enemies of Israel who dwelt in the region. He gained both experience and a reputation as a warrior leader. Someone once suggested that Robin Hood was really a Jew (Reuben Hod) who led an armed band of "Merry Men" in opposition to wicked King John who oppressed the Jews alongside the rest of his English subjects. <<VAIN MEN>>: In Hebrew "rakim", i.e. empty ones. This is the probable source of the English word, "rake" meaning "profligate" and often used in that very same sense in Hebrew. [Judges 11:4] AND IT CAME TO PASS IN PROCESS OF TIME, THAT THE CHILDREN OF AMMON MADE WAR AGAINST ISRAEL.   [Judges 11:5] 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:: [Judges 11:6] AND THEY SAID UNTO JEPHTHAH, COME, AND BE OUR CAPTAIN, THAT WE MAY FIGHT WITH THE CHILDREN OF AMMON.. [Judges 11:7] 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? [Judges 11:8] 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. .   [Judges 11:9] 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? [Judges 11:10] AND THE ELDERS OF GILEAD SAID UNTO JEPHTHAH, THE LORD BE WITNESS BETWEEN US, IF WE DO NOT SO ACCORDING TO THY WORDS.. [Judges 11:11] 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. [Judges 11:12] 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? [Judges 11:13] 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. Israel had conquered these lands from Sihon King of the Amorites but previously the Amorites had conquered them from Moab and Ammon, mostly from Moab. The Ammonites were now trying to claim that Israel had taken them directly from Ammon and that they had all belonged to Ammon. [Judges 11:14] AND JEPHTHAH SENT MESSENGERS AGAIN UNTO THE KING OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON: [Judges 11:15] AND SAID UNTO HIM, THUS SAITH JEPHTHAH, ISRAEL TOOK NOT AWAY THE LAND OF MOAB, NOR THE LAND OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON: [Judges 11:16] BUT WHEN ISRAEL CAME UP FROM EGYPT, AND WALKED THROUGH THE WILDERNESS UNTO THE RED SEA, AND CAME TO KADESH; [Judges 11:17] 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. [Judges 11:18] 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. [Judges 11:19] 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. [Judges 11:20] 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.. [Judges 11:21] 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. [Judges 11:22] AND THEY POSSESSED ALL THE COASTS OF THE AMORITES, FROM ARNON EVEN UNTO JABBOK, AND FROM THE WILDERNESS EVEN UNTO JORDAN.. [Judges 11:23] SO NOW THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL HATH DISPOSSESSED THE AMORITES FROM BEFORE HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL, AND SHOULDEST THOU POSSESS IT? [Judges 11:24] 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. <<CHEMOSH THY GOD GIVETH THEE TO POSSESS>>:  The Hebrew construction implies:  "CHEMOSH THY GOD GIVETH THEE [in your mind] TO POSSESS", i.e. according to your notions, not mine [Meshek Chochmah]. In the same way one may argue with a Muslim, "Should not you act in such and such a way according to the Koran?" because he claims to believe in the Koran even though we do not believe in it. [Judges 11:25] 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, [Judges 11:26] 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? [Judges 11:27] WHEREFORE I HAVE NOT SINNED AGAINST THEE, BUT THOU DOEST ME WRONG TO WAR AGAINST ME: THE LORD BE JUDGE THIS DAY BETWEEN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AND THE CHILDREN OF AMMON. [Judges 11:28] HOWBEIT THE KING OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON HEARKENED NOT UNTO THE WORDS OF JEPHTHAH WHICH HE SENT HIM. [Judges 11:29] 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. [Judges 11:30] AND JEPHTHAH VOWED A VOW UNTO THE LORD, AND SAID, IF THOU SHALT WITHOUT FAIL DELIVER THE CHILDREN OF AMMON INTO MINE HANDS, [Judges 11:31] 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..   [Judges 11:32] SO JEPHTHAH PASSED OVER UNTO THE CHILDREN OF AMMON TO FIGHT AGAINST THEM; AND THE LORD DELIVERED THEM INTO HIS HANDS. [Judges 11:33] 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. [Judges 11:34] 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. [Judges 11:35] 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. [Judges 11:36] 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. .   [Judges 11:37] 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.. [Judges 11:38] 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.. [Judges 11:39] 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. Some understand this passage to mean that he sacrificed his daughter. Others that she was set aside like a hermit, a perpetual virgin. The whole passage is difficult. It would seem that an actual sacrifice was implied but not necessarily so, and if so, what is the big deal about her virginity? If her life was to be taken would she not bewail the impending loss of it more than anything else? Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews, Book 5, chapter 8 10. <<And when he had given them this answer, he sent the ambassadors away. And when he had prayed for victory, and had vowed to perform sacred offices, and if he came home in safety, to offer in sacrifice what living creature soever should first meet him, <http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-5.htm#EndNote_ANT_5.17b>(17) he joined battle with the enemy, and gained a great victory, and in his pursuit slew the enemies all along as far as the city of Minnith. He then passed over to the land of the Ammonites, and overthrew many of their cities, and took their prey, and freed his own people from that slavery which they had undergone for eighteen years. But as he came back, he fell into a calamity no way correspondent to the great actions he had done; for it was his daughter that came to meet him; she was also an only child and a virgin: upon this Jephtha heavily lamented the greatness of his affliction, and blamed his daughter for being so forward in meeting him, for he had vowed to sacrifice her to God. However, this action that was to befall her was not ungrateful to her, since she should die upon occasion of her father's victory, and the liberty of her fellow citizens: she only desired her father to give her leave, for two months, to bewail her youth with her fellow citizens; and then she agreed, that at the aforementioned time he might do with her according to his vow. Accordingly, when that time was over, he sacrificed his daughter as a burnt-offering, offering such an oblation as was neither conformable to the law nor acceptable to God, not weighing with himself what opinion the hearers would have of such a practice.>> (cf. Jeremiah 7:31: AND THEY HAVE BUILT THE HIGH PLACES OF TOPHET, WHICH IS IN THE VALLEY OF THE SON OF HINNOM, TO BURN THEIR SONS AND THEIR DAUGHTERS IN THE FIRE; WHICH I COMMANDED THEM NOT, NEITHER CAME IT INTO MY HEART.) Most Commentators seem to think that Yiftach did sacrifice his daughter. I however am inclined towards the contrary opinion proposed by the Radak and others. The Radak says: <<WHO DID WITH HER ACCORDING TO HIS VOW WHICH HE HAD VOWED: He made her a house and placed her within it and she was there reclused from human company and the outside world. It was a custom that once a year the daughters of Israel would go and visit her.>> This explanation fits the verses as well as any other. Malbim: <<The vow was fulfilled in that she never knew a man and remained closed away, as a woman who cannot marry,  until she died.>> [Judges 11:40] THAT THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL WENT YEARLY TO LAMENT THE DAUGHTER OF JEPHTHAH THE GILEADITE FOUR DAYS IN A YEAR. This was part of their education that girls should want to marry and appreciate their marriages once they have done so. Judges Index HOme