Jg. 12: The Life and Death Game of Password

Judges 12:6 "He said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan."

Well, the Ephraimites are all mad because they didn't have a chance to bust some Ammonite head. They muster some troops and go to Jephthah's crib and threaten to burn it down over his head. Jephthah's like "Whatever, I sent messengers to ask you to fight with me, and you didn't answer, so take a flying funk at a rolling donut." He had to take the Gileadites and fight the Ephraimites, which is too bad, because it's civil war in Israel. The house is divided against itself. And not only, this infighting was completely pointless, as the Ammonites had been conquered. It was all over. Weirdos.

So anyway, the Gileadites (called renegades by the Ephraimites, in spite of the Ephraimites picking the fight) take over the passages across Jordan into the land of Ephraim. Somewhere along the way, someone discovered a genius way of identifying someone as a survivor of Ephraim. There was some sort of innate speech impediment or pronunciation deviation where the Ephraimites would pronounce the Gileadite password "Shibboleth" as "Sibboleth." Like how southerners pronounce "Wawl-Moart." 42,000 Ephraimites were exterminated with this method.

Jephthath, a polarizing figure, a political genius, a military hero, and a rash vower died after 6 years at the helm of Israel.

After Jephthah came Ibzan, who had 30 sons and 30 daughters. Prolific breeder. And an amazing genetic happenstance as in 60 offspring, exactly half are one gender. I'm no scientist... Anyway, dude gave away all his daughters outside his clans, while his sons brought in wives from outside his clan. This whole thing sounds suspiciously made up, like a child's fairy tale, but who am I? Ibzan led Israel for 7 years without incident.

For ten years, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel, again without any recorded incident or outside claim to fame.

Abdon from Pirathon was next in line, and his claim to fame was having forty sons and thirty grandsons ride on seventy donkeys. Woo hoo.

And it would be easy to discount these men as sort of do-nothing nobodies...but without incident means without war, I'd assume. They led in silence. In peace. They sought no renown other than to lead. And all of these men were put in place by God.

Jg. 11: God Commands Child Sacrifice! Augghh!

Judges 11:31 "Whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."

Jephthah was another illegitimate son, this time of a prostitute. Because of this, he was shunned by his people and would not receive an inheritance. So he leaves, and becomes an adventurer-type. Which comes in handy when the same people who wanted him gone needed him to help them fight against the Ammonites. Of course, Jeph will need a little compensation, so he is promised the position of the head of the Gileadites.

Not too shabby.

Jephthah tries the diplomatic route, asking the Ammonite king what the deal is with him coming in and trifling in Israel's business.

The king responds that Israel stole their land.

Jephthah is like, not really, all Israel wanted was safe passage through their land, and then had to fight. He brings their god, Chemosh into it, saying, "You be satisfied with whatever Chemosh gives you, and we'll be satisfied with whatever God gives us." BURN!

The king doesn't respond (how can he?) and Jepthah goes to war.

Then he makes the vow. In exchange for total victory over the Ammonites, Jephthah promises to offer whatever greets him upon his return from his victory as a burnt offering. It happens to be his daughter. And the way the bible reads, it would appear that he went ahead and sacrificed her as a burnt offering.

But the acceptable burnt offerings are made very clear in Leviticus chapter 1. It has to be from the herd or the flock, ie, young bull, sheep, goat, dove or pigeon. Instructions were given only for these animals. Not a person. Had Jephthah offered his daughter as a sacrifice, would God have reacted any differently to when he incinerated Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10? And let's not forget Deuteronomy 12.

So what happened? His daughter asks for two months to wander the hills and mourn her virginity...not her impending death. So she does, and comes back, and Jephthah is said to do what he promised.

Another way out is to buy his daughter back...to redeem her for 10-20 shekels...depending on her age, according to Leviticus 27, which, if it were an option, and judging by his reaction in verse 35, Jephthah most certainly would have done.

Bottom line is, there has to be some other fate for Jephthah's daughter, and the most likely scenario is that she became a nun...celibate for life.