Judges 10:6–12:15

March 7th, 2023| Topic: aBeLOG, Judges | 0

Manipulation of God and the adoption of the world’s practices can lead to tragic loss of blessing.

The passage begins with the longest of all the condemnatory introductions to the judge stories (10:6–18). Yahweh’s rebuke begins with a statement of his delivery of the Israelites from seven nations/people groups (10:11–12). This corresponds in number to the sets of gods Israel was serving (10:6)—seven. Even as the seven defeated enemies point to the completeness of Yahweh’s deliverances, the seven worshiped groups of deities indicate the totality of the Israelites apostasy. They serve every god occupying every pantheon in every nation around them, except the true God, Yahweh.

Yahweh’s accusation is followed by foreigners’ affliction of Israel (10:7–9), and finally by the Israelites’ acknowledgement of their culpability (10:10). But in 10:10 the Israelites confess only their Baalistic tendencies, not their servitude to the rest of the gods. This is no repentance. And from Yahweh comes a unique response: he refuses to help (10:11–14)!

In any case, the Israelites go on the offensive against their enemies, picking Jephthah to lead them in battle—the only major judge-deliverer to have been chosen entirely by men, and not by God. Not a good sign. Similarities with the prior account of Abimelech abound: one is the son of a concubine and an outsider, while the other is the son of a harlot, an outsider and an outcast (8:31; 11:1–2); both slaughter their fellow-Israelites (9:26–57; 12:1–6); and both come to a tragic end, leaving no future after them (9:50–57; 11:34–35).

The actual battle is confined to a mere two verses (11:32–33), and so we’ll cut to the chase. In return for battlefield success orchestrated by Yahweh, Jephthah promises to offer up as a burnt sacrifice whatever came to meet him upon his successful return home (11:30–31). This is nothing but a tragic disruption of the work of the Spirit with a horrific vow completely unbecoming of a Yahwist, an attempt to prod God into action for selfish purposes. Given the Israelites’ syncretism (10:6), it is quite conceivable that Jephthah imagined that Yahweh functioned like those other gods, easily manipulated, influenced, and directed.

Jephthah’s were careless words, imprudent, and thoughtless; his mind seemed to have been solely on winning the battle and gaining recognition for his victory. He had to win this battle to maintain his newly found status in Gilead, and he was willing to go to any length to do so.

He wins. And he returns home … to see his daughter greeting him (11:34). The father’s reaction (11:35) is understandably one of agony, but his words (or lack thereof) undercut his expressions of grief. He offers to his only child—the sacrificial victim—no iota of compassion and no shred of comfort. In his mind, she has driven him to his knees as one who troubles him (11:35), when in fact, it was his own egocentricity and manipulative tendencies that had brought about this tragedy.

The purpose of Jephthah’s daughter requesting two months away (Jdg 11:37–38) is unclear. Whatever her intent, her companions went with her and wept with her, in solidarity with her tragedy. Unfortunately, it was not her father who mourned with her, but her companions. One must also consider that during the two whole months of his daughter’s lamentation on the mountains with her companions (11:38–39), Jephthah, as far as we know, made no attempt to do something about his rash vow. To the end (her end), he remains recalcitrant, non-compliant, and self-centered. And so his only child is condemned to die. And she does.

And with that the line of Jephthah goes blank. Jephthah’s reign is also the shortest of the judges: six years. Loss of blessing!

[For more details, see my Judges commentary.]