Chapter 11

Jephthah is the bastard son of Gilead and a prostitute.  His legitimate brothers had run him off so he wouldn't get any of the inheritance.  Jephthah is a mighty warrior, and bad men fall in with him in his isolation.  Jephthah and his "raiders "go out" and raid against the oppressors, successfully.  This brings no small amount of fame to Jephthah as a leader and a warrior.  Guess he is sort of like Robin Hood.  Because of this fame - which he would not have had unless his brothers had shunned him - the men of Gilead come and ask Jephthah to lead them in battle against the Ammonites.  It doesn't go smoothly, but Jephthah agrees to be their leader.  So this raider in charge of a band of "worthless fellows" becomes leader over all Gilead. 

Jephthah first tries diplomacy and asks what the Ammonites have against him.  They say that Israel stole their land and they want it back.  Jephthah gives them a history lesson, saying that Israel actually took their land from Sihon, King of the Amorites, and that it was not the land of the Ammonites in the first place.  Ammon has no claim to the land Israel is occupying.  They got that land by conquest from others, and it is not the business of the King of Ammon.  And he also points out that Israel has been living in this land now for 300 years, and this is the first time Ammon has tried to get their land back.  If they waited this long, it now belongs to Israel.  Ammon does not agree.

Jephthah gathers an army, and vows that if God helps him defeat the Ammonites, he will offer as burnt offering the first thing that comes out the door of his house when he gets back home.  A stupid vow.  He defeats Ammon.  He would have defeated them even if he'd made no vow at all.  His vow was an indicator of his own doubt that God would just help him.  He thought God would need a gift like the false gods always needed.  This was because he'd been run off from any chance of being taught by his father or his brothers about how God operated.  He was hanging with "worthless fellows", likely not of Israel, who all worshiped false gods and their pagan practices in this made human sacrifice something likely to gain great favor from their gods.  I think Jephthah meant to give God a human sacrifice when he made the vow.  He just didn't expect that person to be his only daughter.  Because of his "distance" from the teachings of God, he made a horrible vow - a vow God never required, and I don't believe God would ever accept such a vow.  God was there to help Gilead, NOT to help Jephthah.  Jephthah was just the man God used.  Jephthah's faith was bad and his theology was bad - yet God used him to throw the oppression off of Gilead when that area truly repented.  (Again, can you say Donald Trump!?)

When he gets home, it is his daughter that first comes out of the tent.  She was his only child.  She takes two months to morn, then offers herself to her father so that he can honor his vow.  This was his own fault, and he had to live with it the rest of his life.