Jephthah: Whom God sets free, or the breaker through, a "mighty man of valour"
who delivered Israel from the oppression of the Ammonites
(Judges 11:1-33) and judged Israel six years
(Judges 12:7) He has been
described as "a wild, daring, Gilead mountaineer, a sort of warrior
Elijah." After forty-five years of comparative quiet Israel again
apostatized, and in "process of time the children of Ammon made war
against Israel"
(Judges 11:5) In their distress the elders of Gilead
went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob, to which he had fled
when driven out wrongfully by his brothers from his father's
inheritance
(Judges 11:2) and the people made him their head and
captain. The "elders of Gilead" in their extremity summoned him to
their aid, and he at once undertook the conduct of the war against
Ammon. Twice he sent an embassy to the king of Ammon, but in vain. War
was inevitable. The people obeyed his summons, and "the spirit of the
Lord came upon him." Before engaging in war he vowed that if
successful he would offer as a "burnt-offering" whatever would come
out of the door of his house first to meet him on his return. The
defeat of the Ammonites was complete. "He smote them from Aroer, even
till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of
the vineyards [Heb. 'Abel Keramim], with a very great slaughter"
(Judges 11:33) The men of Ephraim regarded themselves as insulted in
not having been called by Jephthah to go with him to war against
Ammon. This led to a war between the men of Gilead and Ephraim
(Judges 12:4) in which many of the Ephraimites perished. "Then died
Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead"
(Judges 12:7)
