Jepthah’s Put in Charge to Battle Against the People of Ammon |
Judges 11:1-40 The Book of Judges [in Smaller Chunks] |
Now, Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a mighty man of valor & was the son of a harlot. And Gilead [fathered] Jephthah. Gilead’s wife [bore] him sons. |
[When Gilead’s] wife’s sons grew up, they [drove] out Jephthah & said to him, You shall not inherit [from] our father’s house, [since] you are the son of a strange woman. |
Then, Jephthah fled from his [brothers] & [lived] in the land of Tob & he [joined] with some [worthless] men [who] went out with him. It [happened after some time,] that the children [people] of Ammon made war against Israel. |
[Then, Gileads’] elders went to [get] Jephthah out of the land of Tob & they said to Jephthah, Come & be our captain, [so] we may fight with the children [people] of Ammon. And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Didn’t you hate me & [drive] me out of my father’s house? |
Why [have] you come to me now, when you are in [trouble?] The elders said to Jephthah, We now turn to you, [so] you go with us to fight against the [people] of Ammon & be our [leader] over all the inhabitants of Gilead. |
Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you bring me home again to fight against the [people] of Ammon & the Lord delivers them before me, shall I be your [leader?] The elders said to Jephthah, [Let] the Lord be a witness between us, if we don’t do according to your words. |
Then, Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead & [they] made him the [leader & commander] over them & Jephthah [talked] before the Lord in Mizpeh. And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the [people] of Ammon, saying, What do you have to do with me, that you [have] come against me to fight in my land? |
The king of the [people] of Ammon answered, [Jephthah’s] messengers, Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even to Jabbok & to Jordan. Therefore, now restore those lands [peacefully.] |
Jephthah sent messengers [back] to the king of Ammon & said, Jephthah says [this,] Israel [didn’t] take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the [people] of Ammon. |
But when Israel came up from Egypt & walked through the wilderness into the Red Sea & came to Kadesh, then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, I pray [that] you let me pass through your land. |
But the king of Edom wouldn’t [listen to it.] [Also,] they sent to the king of Moab, in [similar] manner, but he wouldn’t [agree] [to let them pass through the land] & Israel [stayed] in Kadesh. |
Then, they went through the wilderness [around the outside borders of the lands] of Edom & Moab & came by the east side of Moab & pitched [tents] on the other side of Arnon, but [didn’t go inside] the border of Moab, [because] Arnon was the border of Moab. |
Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the [Amorite’s] king, the king of Heshbon & [asked,] We pray [that] you, let us pass through your land [on the way to the Israelite’s land.] |
But Sihon [didn’t] trust Israel to pass through [its] coast, but Sihon gathered all his people together & pitched [tents] in Jahaz & fought against [the Israelites.] The Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon & all his people into the [hands] of Israel & they [defeated] them. |
So, Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. They possessed all the [coastal territory] of the Amorites from Jabbok & the wilderness, [all the way] to [the] Jordan [River.] |
So now, the Lord God of Israel has [driven out] the Amorites before His people, Israel. [What right do you have to take it over?] [Why] not possess [what] Chemosh, your god gives you to possess? |
We shall possess [land of whomever] the Lord our God [drives] out before us. Are you better than Balak, [Zippor’s] son, king of Moab? Did he ever [quarrel] or fight against Israel? |
While Israel [still] dwelt in Heshbon & Arorer & [their] towns & all the cities along the [coastal borders] of Arnon [for] 300 years, why didn’t you recover them within that time? |
[For this reason,] I haven’t sinned against you, but you have done wrong by [fighting] against me. [Let] the Lord, the Judge, [decide & judge] this day between the [people] of Israel & the [people] of Ammon. |
[But] the king of Ammon [didn’t pay attention] to the word of Jephthah, [that] he sent [to] him. Then, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah & he passed [through the land of] Gilead & Manasseh & [from] Mizpeh of Gilead he [crossed over] to the [people] of Ammon. |
Jephthah [made] a vow [promise] to the Lord & said, If You shall deliver the [people] of Ammon into [my hands] without fail, then [whatever] comes [out] of the doors of my house to [greet] me, when I return in peace from the [people] of Ammon, I shall surely offer it up for a burnt offering, [which] surely shall be the Lord’s. |
So, Jephthah [crossed] over to the [people] of Ammon to fight against them & the Lord delivered them into his hands & he [defeated] them [from] Aroer, even [until] you come to Minnith, 20 cities, even to the [plains near] the vineyards [a.k.a. Abel-Keramim,] with a very [large] slaughter. |
[Like this,] the [people] of Ammon were [defeated] before the [people] of Israel. [When] Jephthah came to his house in Mizpeh, [he saw] his daughter, his only child, came out to [greet] him with [tambourines] & dances. |
It [happened,] when he saw her, he [tore] his clothes & said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low & [I am troubled, because of you,] for I opened my mouth [in a vow] to the Lord & I can’t go [against it.] [Genesis 37:34 And Jacob [tore] his clothes & put sackcloth on his [waist] & mourned for his son many days.] |
And she said to him, My father, if you opened your mouth to the Lord [to make a vow,] do to me according to what [you promised; because] the Lord has taken vengeance against your enemies, the [people] of Ammon, for you. |
She [asked] her father, Let this thing be done for me & let me be alone [for] two months, [so] I may go up & down upon the mountains with my [friends to lament] my virginity. He said, Go. And he sent her away for two months with her [friends to lament] her virginity upon the mountains. |
[After] two months, she returned & [hadn’t been intimate with a man.] He did with her, [as] he had vowed. And it [became] the custom that the daughters of Israel [& they would commemorate] the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, 4 days each year. |