Judges 10-11: Jephthah (Part I)

Judges 10: Tola and Jair / Oppression by the Ammonites / Jephthah
Judges 11(a): Jephthah

Abimelech's tenure was something of a mess for Israel. Now a new leader comes to straighten things out.

Tola and Jair: Judges 10.1-5
A brief interlude between Abimelech and Jephthah describes the two intervening judges: Tola son of Puah son of Dodo, of Isaachar judges Israel 23 years. He is succeeded by Jair the Gileadite, who judges Israel 22 years.

Oppression by the Ammonites: Judges 10.6-18
After this interlude, the unfaithfulness cycle picks back up again. Again the Israelites fall into apostasy, worshipping a veritable pantheon of different gods. This kindles the anger of the Lord, who actually "sells" them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites. The Israelites suffer 18 years under them.

As per the unfaithfulness cycle, the Israelites cry out to the Lord and acknowledge their sin. The Lord responds that that he will not deliver them from their oppressors; he has delivered them many times, yet each time they seem to forget him. The Israelites put away their foreign gods and worship the Lord, and finally the Lord's sympathy for Israel wins out.

Jephthah: Judges 11.1-28
Enter Jephthah, a mighty warrior whose mother is a prostitute and whose father is Gilead himself. His half brothers - the sons of Gilead's wife - are not his biggest fans. They drive him out of Gilead to Tob and he becomes an outlaw, raiding with a band of others.

Clearly Jephthah has some military prowess from his raiding experience, because when the Ammonites attack Israel, the elders of Gilead approach him to offer him a job as commander. Jephthah sees this as something of a conspiracy. He responds, "Are you not the very ones who rejected me and drove me out of my father's house? So why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?" (Judg. 11.7). In fact, it was not they who drove him out, but his brothers. Jephthah smells a conspiracy, and perhaps is not far off, because the elders do not deny their connection. Indeed, they offer him a better position of leader over all of them. Jephthah agrees that if he conquers the Ammonites, he will serve as leader.

Jephthah begins his campaign rather diplomatically by sending a message to the king of the Ammonites asking why he is at war with Israel. The king responds that Israel took his land (Moabite territory) upon their exodus from Egypt. Jephthah succinctly recounts the wandering in the desert, and asserts that in fact Israel did not take the land of the Moabites. Rather, they conquered the Amorites, a divine act of the Lord. And, in fact, they lived in the territory 300 years, during which time the Ammonites did not attempt to conquer the land. Jephthah asks rhetorically if the king possesses land that his god Chemosh has given. But the king does not listen, and continues his conquest against Israel.