1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
2 And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.
4 And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:
6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.
7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?
8 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the Lord deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The Lord be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh.
12 And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?
13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.
14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon:
15 And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
17 Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
18 Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.
19 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
21 And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
23 So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
25 And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,
26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?
27 Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the Lord the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
It is often contended that Jephthath killed his daughter. This interpretation is wholly incorrect for the following reasons:
She is introduced as his only child, which would be meaningless if her virginity itself was not the prime quality under contention later in the story;
So, the vow consists of two parts:
The vav conjunctive linking the two statements is read here as ‘and’, so that ‘belonging to the Lord’ can be taken as the same thing as the burnt offering mentioned immediately after. But the ‘vav’ could also be read as ‘or’, so that whatever or whoever came out would be dedicated to God, and, only should it prove appropriate, would be sacrificed. The fact is that in and of itself there is no reason to take either meaning; you would need to examine the context of the bible, it's setting, and the rest of the chapter, to understand which reading this vav (and) should hold. However, in general we are predisposed to the second reading because of the general prohibition against human sacrifice (and the vartious insinuations that this reading is incorrect, anyways, as detailed below).
Human sacrifice was always understood from the days of Abraham onward to be an offense and an abomination. It had been denounced and forbidden in Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Dt 12:31; 18:10. There is no evidence of Israelites offering human sacrifice until the days of Ahaz (who was an immoral and idolatrous king; see Isaiah 7, et. al.)
His daughter went for two months to the mountains to bewail her virginity, not the coming loss of life. Though some argue that this should be read as “youth” instead of “virginity,” Keil & Delitzsch in “Commentary on the Old Testament” show that the terms are not interchangable (see hebrew). Also, she goes to the mountains to mourn. K&D say that were she mourning her youth, that could be done in town, but bewailing her virginity required that she leave town (for modesty purposes, etc.)
Rashi writes 'Since it is not written “over her maidens,” the inference is, over her actual maidenhood,' meaning that the passage is clear in stating over her virginity and not over her death. Even if you say that culturally they were concerned she would be killed and they use her virginity for a euphamism since she was his only child, it still would not make sense that her same-age friends were concerned for her virginity were she to die.
The duration of this ritual is expressed as ‘miyyamim yamimah’ (11:40), which, when associated with a ‘statute’, will mean ‘in perpetuity’ (cf Exodus 13:10). Additionally, it is also used of Hannah’s annual visit to Shiloh, which would limit it to a regular occurrence during the lifetime of a particular individual (cd 1 Samuel 1:3 and 2:19).
It is stated in verse 39 after Jephthah had performed his “burnt offering” that “she knew not a man.” Such wording would be inane and heartless if she had died but is appropriate if she was devoted to service at the tabernacle (in perpetuity). There are other examples of such women in Scripture; Ex 28:8; 1 Sam 2:22; and Luke 2:36,37. The pathos here lies not in the daughter's devotion to divine service but in the extinction of Jephthah's line as she is his only child. Both he and she bewailed her virginity.
So, as this states “this was a statute in Israel” (11:39), and presumably the nature of this statute is to be found in the following sentence, that every year the daughters of Israel would go לְתַנּוֹת לְבַת יִפְתָּח הַגִּלְעָדִי (Sephardi (simple): Le·tan·not le·vat yif·tach hag·gil·'a·di) “four days a year” (11:40).
This word ‘lamed’ before ‘the daughter of Jephthah’ then means “to,” i.e., that they are speaking to her and commiserating with her, implying that she is still alive. If this is true, then “fulfilling his vow” and “sacrificing his daughter” are not coterminous – this explains why two separate clauses were stated.
There is no condemnation of Jephthah's act even though Gideon's heathen acts are condemned.
Jephthah judges Israel for 6 years afterwards. It is hard to see how the people would have stood for him leading them after this.
Therefore, when Rashi writes “She became the subject of a law” means, should we take this to mean “Legislation was enacted prohibiting any repetition of this, for, had he approached Pinchos, or had Pinchos approached him, he would have released him from his vow.” (By informing him that a human being cannot be designated as an offering.) But they refused to humble themselves, (Pinchas, because it was Jephthah (Yiftoch) who required his services; Jephthah (Yiftoch), because he was the supreme commander. (Yalkut, 68)) and were, thus, both responsible for her ruin. They were punished. The Divine Presence departed from Pinchos, as it is said in Divrei Hayamim (Divrei Hayamim 1, 9:20) “Adonoy was with him previously.” We learn that he was not with him later. And Jephthah (Yiftoch) was afflicted with ulcerations and the loss of his limbs, as it is said (below) “He was buried in the cities of Gilod.” (Individual limbs, like the entire body, require burial. The plural usage, “cities”, teaches that his burial took place in a number of cities—wherever his limbs fell. (Yalkut, ibid.)) Therefore, God would have punished (them) for human sacrifice, as it was forbidden.
However Rashi then writes “She became the subject of a law in Yisroel” relates to the following passage!
She was considered a heroine and the women of Israel celebrated her. It is unlikely they would have done so had she volunteered for a pagan ceremony. However, most translations take lthannoth as “lament” or variations thereof. Archer says it can be taken along the lines of celebration. The Brown, Driver, Briggs Lexicon points out that this word is used positively in Judges 5:11, “let them [recount] the victories of YHWH.” Jud 5:11 and 11:40 are the only two occurrences of the word in the Hebrew Bible.
<html><b> The Bnei Ammon waged war.</b> As mentioned above.1<i class=“footnote”></i></html>
<html><b> All his stipulations.</b> The conditions between them. <b>Before Adonoy, at Mitzpah.</b> Where everyone was assembled, as the Divine Presence rests upon multitudes.</html>
<html><b> Until the Reed Sea.</b> South of the land of Edom, while the land of Edom is south of the land of Canaan.</html>
<html><b> Please allow me to traverse your country.</b> From south to north, in order to enter the land of Canaan. <b>To the king of Moav as well.</b> Whose country bordered the extremity of the land of Edom, east of Edom, and south of Eretz Yisroel. <b>And he refused.</b> Moshe alludes to this in the Torah, “As perpetrated against me by the Bnei Eisov residing at Sair, and the Moavites residing at Ar.”2<i class=“footnote”>Devarim, 2:29.</i> Just as Edom refused them permission to pass, so did Moav refuse them permission to pass.</html>
<html><b> They then continued through the wilderness</b> from west to east, along the southern borders of Edom and Moav. <b>Circumvented the land of Edom.</b> All of its southern border. <b>And the land of Moav.</b> All of its southern border. When they reached the southeastern corner, they angled northward along the periphery of the eastern border. <b>Arrived at the east of the land of Moav, and camped opposite Arnon.</b> At the end of the eastern border of the land of Moav. This was the starting point of the lands of Sichon and Og. They conquered the trans-Yardeinian territory east of the land of Canaan, crossed the Yardein, and invaded the land of Canaan by the eastern route.</html>
<html><b> They took possession, etc., from Arnon to the Yabok.</b> Which you claim as yours, they annexed from Sichon. <b>From the wilderness to the Yardein.</b> There was a wilderness area adjoining the Yardein.</html>
<html><b> Adjoining [lit. by the hands of] Arnon.</b> Near Arnon. These cities had belonged to Moav, but they recognized that they could not lay claim to them, since they were confiscated from Sichon, who had annexed them from the king of Moav. <b>Three centuries</b> from the conquest of the land in the days of Yehoshua, until Yiftoch. This teaches us concerning the years of the Judges mentioned until now—whether the years of subjugation by the nations are included in the reckoning of the days of the Judge, or not.3<i class=“footnote”>The three hundred year total is only accurate if certain of the years of subjugation are included in the years of the judge, and certain years are not, as Rashi explains below.</i> We learn in Seder Olam:4<i class=“footnote”>Ch. 12.</i> Yehoshua directed Yisroel for twenty eight years—I am not aware of any Scriptural derivation for this. Asniel for forty years,5<i class=“footnote”></i> the years of subjugation by Cushan Rishasaim are included.6<i class=“footnote”>Eight years. (3:8).</i> Afterward, Ehud for eighty years,7<i class=“footnote”></i> with the eighteen years of subjugation by Eglon8<i class=“footnote”></i> included. This totals one hundred forty eight years. Devorah for forty years,9<i class=“footnote”></i> with the years of subjugation by Yavin10<i class=“footnote”>Twenty years. (4:3.)</i> included, totaling one hundred eighty eight years. Afterward, seven years of subjugation by Midyon,11<i class=“footnote”></i> forty years of Gidon,12<i class=“footnote”></i> and13<i class=“footnote”></i> three of Avimelech, totaling two hundred thirty eight years. Afterward, twenty three years of Tola14<i class=“footnote”></i> and twenty two of Yair,15<i class=“footnote”></i> with one year overlapping both, and eighteen years of the Bnei Ammon16<i class=“footnote”></i> until Yiftoch's appearance. This totals three hundred.</html>
<html><b> He crossed to the Bnei Ammon.</b> “To” the Bnei Ammon.</html>
<html><b> The Vineyard plains.</b> The plain of the vineyards.17<i class=“footnote”>This is Targum Yonasan’s translation.</i></html>
<html><b>You are among those who ruined me.</b> This is the feminine usage.18<i class=“footnote”><span><b>הִכְרַעְתִּנִי</b></span>, with the “<i>cherik</i>” vocalization under the <span><b>ת</b></span>, is generally translated as referring to the first person neuter, “I brought to the knees.” Here, however, the translation is the feminine “you brought to the knees.”</i> Similarly, “You captured my heart, my sister bride.”19<i class=“footnote”>Shir Hashirim, 4:9. Here, too, <span><b>לִבַּבֽתִּנִי</b></span>, with the “<i>cherik</i>” vocalization under the the <span><b>ת</b></span>, is translated as the feminine “you captured my heart.”</i> <b> You have surely brought me to my knees</b> All my blood is in turmoil, You have taken away my feet.</html>
<html><b> To grieve on the hills.</b> This word refers to bewailing. 20<i class=“footnote”>Not, as translated elsewhere, “To descend,” but “To grieve.”</i> Similarly, “On its roofs and thoroughfares, total wailing, weeping grief.”21<i class=“footnote”>Yeshaya, 15:3.</i> Weeping so intense that it causes a physical breakdown.22<i class=“footnote”><span><b>רד</b></span> may also be translated as “crushing.” See Yeshaya, 45:1.</i> Midrash Agada: R' Tanchuma expounded, On the hills; before the Sanhedrin—perhaps they may find a loophole in your vow.23<i class=“footnote”>Yalkut, 67.</i></html>
<html><b> Wept over her maidenhood.</b> Since it is not written “over her maidens,” the inference is, over her actual maidenhood.</html>
<html><b> She became the subject of a law.</b> Legislation was enacted prohibiting any repetition of this, for, had he approached Pinchos, or had Pinchos approached him, he would have released him from his vow.24<i class=“footnote”>By informing him that a human being cannot be designated as an offering.</i> But they refused to humble themselves,25<i class=“footnote”>Pinchas, because it was Yiftoch who required his services; Yiftoch, because he was the supreme commander. (Yalkut, 68)</i> and were, thus, both responsible for her ruin. They were punished. The Divine Presence departed from Pinchos, as it is said in Divrei Hayamim,26<i class=“footnote”>Divrei Hayamim 1, 9:20.</i> “Adonoy was with him previously.” We learn that he was not with him later. And Yiftoch was afflicted with ulcerations and the loss of his limbs, as it is said,27<i class=“footnote”>Below, 12:7.</i> “He was buried in the cities of Gilod.”28<i class=“footnote”>Individual limbs, like the entire body, require burial. The plural usage, “cities”, teaches that his burial took place in a number of cities—wherever his limbs fell. (Yalkut, ibid.)</i> Another interpretation: “She became the subject of a law in Yisroel” relates to the following passage.29<i class=“footnote”>She was the subject of a law requiring the daughters of Yisroel to visit her yearly.</i></html>
<html><b> Journeyed annually.</b> This was established as a law.30<i class=“footnote”>This follows Rashi’s second interpretation of v. 39. See fn.29.</i> <b>To grieve.</b> To weep.</html>