JEPHTHAH (jefifthah),(Heb.r7F, yif-lawkhr, opener).
The ninth judge of Israel, of the tribe of Manas seh. He was the son of a person named Gilead by a concubine. After the death of his father he was expelled from his home by the envy of his broth ers, who refused him any share of the heritage, and he withdrew to the land of Tob (Judg. xi: 1-3) beyond the frontier of the Hebrew terri tories.
(1) A Free Lance. It is clear that he had be fore this distinguished himself by his daring char acter and skill in arms ; for no sooner was his withdrawment known than a great number of men of desperate fortunes repaired to him, and he be came their chief. His position was now 3..ery sim ilar to that of David when he withdrew from the court of Saul. To maintain the people who had thus linked their fortunes with his, there was no other resource than that sort of brigandage which is accounted honorable in the East, so long as it is exercised against public or private ene mies, and is not marked by needless cruelty or outrage.
Jephthah led this kind of life for some years, during which his dashing exploits and successful enterprises procured him a higher military reputa tion than any other man of his time enjoyed.
After the death of Jair thc Israelites gradually fell into their favorite idolatries, and were pun ished by subjection to the Philistines on the west of the Jordan, and to the Ammonites on the cast of that river. The oppression which they sus tained for eighteen years became at length so heavy that they recovered their senses and re turned to the God of their fathers with humilia tion and tears; and he was appeased, and prom ised them deliverance from their affliction (B. C. 1143.) (2) Leader of Israelites. The tribes beyond the Jordan having resolved to oppose the Ammon ites, Jephthah seems to occur to every one as the most fitting leader. A deputation was accordingly sent to invite him to take the command. After some demur, on account of the treatment he had formerly received, he consented. The rude hero commenced his operations with a degree of dip lomatic consideration and dignity for which we are not prepared. The Ammonites being assem bled in force for one of those ravaging incursions by which they had repeatedly desolated the land, he sent to their camp a formal complaint of the invasion, and a demand of the ground of their proceeding. Their answer was, that the land of the Israelites beyond the Jordan was theirs. It had originally belonged to them, from whom it had been taken by the Amorites, who had been dispossessed by the Israelites : and on this ground they claimed the restitution of these lands. Jephthah's reply laid down the just principle which has been followed out in the practice of civilized nations, and is maintained by all the great writers on the law of nations. The land belonged to the Israelites by right of conquest from the actual possessors; and they could not be expected to rec ognize any antecedent claim of former possessors, for whom they had not acted, who had rendered them no assistance, and who had themselves dis played hostility against the Israelites. But the Ammonites reasserted their former views, and on this issue they took the field.
(3) Victorious Over Ammonites. When Jephthah set forth against the Ammonites he sol emnly vowed to the Lord, `If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, 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' (Judg. xi :3o, 31). He was victorious. The Ammonites sustained a terrible overthrow (Judg. xi:3-33). He did return in peace to his house in Mizpell. As he drew nigh his house, the one that came forth to meet him was his own daughter, his only child, in whom his heart was bound up. She, with her fair com panions, came to greet the triumphant hero `with timbrels and with dances.' But lie no sooner saw her than he rent his robes, and cried, 'Alas, my daughter ! thou hast brought me very low ; . . . for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and can not go back.' Nor did she ask it. She replied, 'My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which has pro ceeded out of thy mouth : forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, the children of Ammon.' But after a pause she added, '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.' Her father of course assented; and when the time expired she returned, and, we are told, 'he did with her according to his vow.' It is then added that it became 'a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year. (See below.) (4) Quarrel with Ephraimites. The victory over the Ammonites was followed by a quarrel with the proud and powerful Ephraimites on the west of the Jordan. This tribe was displeased at having had no share in the glory of the recent victory, and a large body of men belonging to it, who had crossed the river to share in the ac tion, used very high and threatening language when they found their services were not required. Jephthah, finding his remonstrances had no effect, re-assemblcd some of his disbanded troops and gave the Ephraimites battle, when they were de feated with much loss. The victors seized the fords of the Jordan, and when any one came to pass over, they made him pronounce the word Shibboleth (an ear of corn), but if he could not give the aspiration, and pronounced the word as Sibboleth, they knew him for an Ephraimite, and slew him on the spot (Judg. xii :1-6).
(5) Rule and Death. Jephthah judged Israel six years ( Judg. x :6 ; xii :7), during which we have reason to conclude that the exercise of his au thority was almost if not altogether confined to the country east of the Jordan (B. C. io8o 1074)• (6) Character. Jephthah seems to have had blended opposite characteristics in his nature. He appears to have been ordinarily calm and delib erate notwithstanding his rash vow, as the history of his life clearly shows.