Episode 91: Jephthah's daughter

(Judges 11)

Jephthah was the son of a harlot

11 ¹ Jephthah was a mighty man of valor. His father was Gilead, and his mother was a harlot.

² When Gilead's other sons grew up, they said to Jephthah,

You won't inherit anything when our father dies, because you are the son of a strange woman.

³ So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob.

^4-5 Sometime later, the Ammonites made war against Israel, and the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob.

⁶ They said to Jephthah,

Come be our captain and help us fight the Ammonites.

⁷ Jephthah said to them,

You hated me and threw me out of my father's house.

Now you come and ask me to help you fight in your war?

⁸ They replied, "Yes but if you help us fight against the Ammonites, we will make you our leader."

⁹ Jephthah said, "OK, I'll be your captain."

¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead.

The Ammonite massacre

²⁹ The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah and he vowed a vow to the Lord, saying,

^30-31 If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, I will sacrifice to you as a burnt offering whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return from battle.

³² Jephthah went to fight the Ammonites, and God delivered them into his hands.

³³ And Jephthah smote twenty Ammonite cities with a very great slaughter.

Jephthah sacrifices his daughter to God (as a burnt offering)

³⁴ When Jephthah came home, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and dances. She was his only child.

³⁵ When Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes, and said,

I made a promise to God. I must keep it.

³⁶ Jephthah's daughter said unto him,

If you have made a promise to God, you must keep it.

God helped you slaughter the Ammonites, now you have to do what you promised you'd do.

³⁷ But let me do one thing first. Let me be alone for two months to go up and down on the mountains and bewail my virginity with my friends.

³⁸ Jephthah said to her, "Go."

And he sent her away for two months to bewail her virginity on the mountains.

³⁹ At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did what he promised God he would do.