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Judges 11
ANOTHER man of low degree, Jephthah, is now brought forward. Rejected by his own people, he had fled to a district of, Syria northeast of Gilead, where “vain men” were gathered to him and went out with him. Oppressed, as we have seen in the last chapter, by the Ammonites, the elders of Gilead went to Jephthah to persuade him to be their captain to lead the people against their oppressors. With their promise that he should be their head if he led the people to victory, Jephthah went with the elders.
The king of the children of Ammon refusing to listen to the message of Jephthah, war begins. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah (verse 29), but from this alone we cannot judge that the latter was a believer, for both Balaam and Saul are spoken of in the same way (Numbers 24:22And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him. (Numbers 24:2); 1 Samuel 10:1010And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. (1 Samuel 10:10)).
The Spirit’s coming on Jephthah was however to energize him for the fight with the Ammonites; he was raised up for the purpose, and we know from Hebrews 11 That he knew God by faith, though his life was far below the standard of earlier judges and deliverers of Israel.
He made a rash vow (verse 30,31), and suffered the consequences of it, his daughter—his only child—never marrying. It does not seem at all possible that Jephthah killed his daughter; the condemnation to childlessness was a great calamity to an Israelite, sufficient to bring out the father’s expression of grief in verse 35.
ML 12/13/1925