Jephthah

Holy Righteous Jephthah (in Greek Iephthae) was one of the judges of Israel, about the twelfth century before Christ. The name comes, it seems, from the compound name Iphtah-⁠El, used as a place name, God opens or God frees from captivity (Joshua 19:14 and 27). Jephthah was leader of the Hebrew people for six years (Judges 11:1-12). The illegitimate son of Gilead by a harlot, he was driven out by his half-⁠brothers from his father's house and deprived of an inheritance. Settled in the land of Tob, he became leader of men like himself, fugitives and landless, like the band of David that fought against Saul (1 Samuel 22:2).

Because the Israelites began to serve pagan gods, the Lord punished them. Fallen under the rule of foreigners, the people of Israel cried to the Lord, who took pity, for His soul could not bear the suffering of Israel (Judges 10:16), and sent them Jephthah as deliverer. The elders of Israel, gathered in the sanctuary at Mizpah, called Jephthah to withstand the invasion of the Ammonites, who were encamped in Gilead. He was set before the Lord as leader and head of all the inhabitants of Gilead (Judges 11:6, 8, 11). The invasion of the Ammonites arose from a territorial dispute. The Ammonites claimed that the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and the Jordan had belonged to them from the beginning and demanded that the elders of Israel give it back. As representative of the people, Jephthah tried to convince the Ammonites of Israel's right to the disputed territory and of the pointlessness of further conflict (Judges 11:12-28). For this purpose he sent two embassies to the court of the Ammonite king. In reply the king told the envoys that the god Chemosh had given that land to the Ammonites (Judges 11:24). On this basis some scholars concluded that the negotiations were in fact with the Moabites. It was also supposed that the narrative mixes different accounts, one of which reflects an older conflict of the Israelites with the Moabites. Jephthah's closing words: May the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon (Judges 11:27), marked the end of the negotiations and the beginning of armed conflict. Jephthah's victory led to war with the men of the tribe of Ephraim, who, claiming precedence among the tribes, were displeased that they had not taken part in the battle against the Ammonites. Jephthah tried to settle the quarrel peacefully, but the Ephraimites declared war and crossed the Jordan at Zaphon. After the battle Jephthah ordered guards set along the Jordan to meet those retreating. This led to the destruction of the Ephraimites, who were recognised because they pronounced the word shibboleth wrongly (Judges 12:1-6). The description of Jephthah's victory ends with the phrase: Gilead lay in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh (Judges 12:4), which attests that in that period Israelite society was not united.

Before the battle with the Ammonites, Jephthah vowed to the Lord to offer as a burnt offering whatever should come out of the doors of his house to meet him (Judges 11:31). Human sacrifices, forbidden by the Law of Moses (Leviticus 18:21; 20:2-5; Deuteronomy 18:9-10), were present only in the pagan cult of the peoples around Israel. For this reason many commentators think that Jephthah, in making the vow, had in mind domestic animals, which in those days lived under one roof with man. Yet the first to come out to congratulate Jephthah on the victory was his unmarried daughter, who accepted her lot with submission, asking only for two months' respite to mourn her fate. This story lay at the foundation of an annual custom of the Israelite women of mourning for four days (Judges 11:29-40). Many modern scholars see in this narrative one which, for edifying purposes, reveals the origin of the rite of mourning among Hebrew women. The motif of the sacrifice of a child is found also in the legends of the heroes of antiquity, for instance in the case of the Cretan king Idomeneus, who, returning from the Trojan war and caught in a great storm, vowed to sacrifice to a god the first person he would meet on the shore.

Already Josephus Flavius, remarking the virtue of Jephthah's daughter, who did not consider it too great a misfortune to pay with her life for her father's victory and for the recovery of her fellow citizens' freedom, considered this sacrifice both unlawful and displeasing to the Lord God. According to Blessed Augustine, this passage, hard to interpret, contains no clear judgment or condemnation on the part of the Lord. Jephthah's thoughtless vow, which led to the killing of his own daughter, was permitted by the Lord to show that human sacrifices are impermissible and that vows must be made to God out of love and not out of passion. The narrative is a prefiguration of the killing of Saint John the Baptist by King Herod, also because of an oath made in haste. Jephthah's foolish oath was a diabolical temptation. Jephthah's daughter foretells the feat of Christian virgins. In the Talmud it is said that of all those condemned for rash oaths, Jephthah alone regretted his folly.

Despite his not wholly clear image, Jephthah is for the Holy Apostle Paul an example of sincere faith, who mentions him among the prophets of the Old Testament who through faith conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness, obtained promises (Hebrews 11:33).

He is commemorated on the Sundays of the Holy Fathers and of the Holy Forefathers before the Nativity of the Lord (in the Russian calendar on 3 January and 27 December, movable days).