Topic: Persons Of The Bible - Jephthah

The name "Jephthah" means "Yahweh sets free" in Hebrew. The name also means "whom God sets free, or the breaker through."

Jephthah was a "mighty man of valour" who delivered Israel from the oppression of the Ammonites (Judg. 11:1-33), and judged Israel six years (12:7). Jephthah's history spans B.C. 1143-1137. He was a Gileadite, the son of Gilead and a concubine. Driven by the legitimate sons from his father's inheritance, Jephthah went to Tob and became the head of a company of freebooters in a debatable land probably belonging to Ammon. (2 Samuel 10:6) (This land was east of Jordan and southeast of Gilead, and bordered on the desert of Arabia. --ED.) Jephthah 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 " (11:5). Jephthah's fame as a bold and successful captain was carried back to his native Gilead; and when the time was ripe for throwing off the yoke of Ammon, Jephthah consented to become the captain of the Gileadite bands, on the condition, solemnly ratified before the Lord in Mizpeh, that in the event of his success against Ammon he should still remain as their acknowledged head. 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 Jephthah 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" (Judg. 11:33). However, as the conqueror returned to Mizpeh there came out to meet him his daughter, his only child, with timbrels and dancing. The father is heart-stricken; but the maiden asks only for a respite of two months in which to prepare for death. When that time was ended she returned to her father, who "did with her according to his vow."

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 (12:4). Jephthah first defeated them, then intercepted the fugitives at the fords of Jordan , and there put forty-two thousand men to the sword. "Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead " (7). It is generally conjectured that his jurisdiction was limited to the trans-Jordanic region. That the daughter of Jephthah was really offered up to God in sacrifice is a conclusion which it seems impossible to avoid. (But there is no word of approval, as if such a sacrifice was acceptable to God. Josephus well says that "the sacrifice was neither sanctioned by the Mosaic ritual nor acceptable to God." The vow and the fulfillment were the mistaken conceptions of a rude chieftain, not acts pleasing to God.--ED.)

Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries

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