Judges 11 is the eleventh chapter of the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom ...

in the Old Testament or the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Samuel,Gilad, Elon
Who Really Wrote the Biblical Books of Kings and the Prophets?
''Haaretz'', June 25, 2015. Summary: The paean to King Josiah and exalted descriptions of the ancient Israelite empires beg the thought that he and his scribes lie behind the Deuteronomistic History. but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans in the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter records the activities of judge

Jephthah Jephthah (pronounced ; he, יִפְתָּח, ''Yīftāḥ''), appears in the Book of Judges as a judge who presided over Israel for a period of six years (). According to Judges, he lived in Gilead. His father's name is also given as Gilead, ...

. belonging to a section comprising Judges 6:1 to 16:31.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. It is divided into 40 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

(originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century) and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century).

Analysis

A linguistic study by Chisholm reveals that the central part in the Book of Judges (Judges 3:7–16:31) can be divided into two panels based on the six refrains that state that the Israelites did evil in Yahweh’s eyes: Panel One : A 3:7 ::And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the (KJV)Judges 3:7 Hebrew Text Analysis
Biblehub :: B 3:12 :::And the children of Israel did evil ''again'' in the sight of the ::B 4:1 :::And the children of Israel did evil ''again'' in the sight of the Panel Two :A 6:1 ::And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the ::B 10:6 :::And the children of Israel did evil ''again'' in the sight of the ::B 13:1 :::And the children of Israel did evil ''again'' in the sight of the Furthermore from the linguistic evidence, the verbs used to describe the Lord’s response to Israel’s sin have chiastic patterns and can be grouped to fit the division above: Panel One :3:8 , “and he sold them,” from the root , :3:12 , “and he strengthened,” from the root , :4:2 , “and he sold them,” from the root , Panel Two :6:1 , “and he gave them,” from the root , :10:7 , “and he sold them,” from the root , :13:1 , “and he gave them,” from the root , This chapter contains the Jephthah's Narrative, which can be divided into 5 episodes, each with a distinct dialogue, as follows:

Jephthah and the elders of Gilead (11:1–11)

The Jephthah Narrative has a pattern of traditional story about the success of the once marginalized hero who rises to power in a 'non-dynastic' society with 'fluid patterns of leadership'. The hero,

, was a son of a prostitute, denied rights of inheritance by his father's legitimate children, then became a 'social bandit' chief and gained the military prowess to lead and save his nation. Faced with an imminent Ammonite threat, the leaders of Gilead tried to woo back Jephthah, whom they had marginalized, by offering him the position of "commander", but when he balked they had to increase the offer to the position of "head" ("chieftain"). The agreement between Jephthah and the elders was sealed in a covenant with YHWH as witness (verse 10). There is a parallel structure of the dialogue between

YHWH The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...

and the Israelites in Judges 10:10–16 and the dialogue between Jephthah and the elders of Gilead in Judges 11:4-11.

Verse 1

:''Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.''

KJV The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

*"Mighty man of valour": or "mighty warrior" ( ESV), a term that was applied in the Hebrew Bible, among others, to Gideon ( Judges 6:12) and

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

(

1 Samuel 16 1 Samuel 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel ...

:18). This is exactly the kind of person that was needed and sought by the elders of Gilead to save them from the threat of the enemy ( Judges 10:18), although his status as a "son of an harlot" (or "prostitute" in ESV) and being expelled by his father's other sons explains why the elders did not come to him right away to seek help.

Jephthah's diplomacy with the Ammonite king (11:12–28)

The concept of 'just war' was the main subject of the exchange between Jephthah and the king of the Ammonites, arguing about land rights using 'juridical language' (cf. formula in 2 Chronicles 35:21; 2 Kings 3:13; 1 Kings 17:18). Jephthah demands to know what justifies the Ammonites' invasion against Israel, and the Ammonite king responds by providing a version of events recorded in Numbers 21:21–31 (cf. Deuteronomy 2:26–35), but painted Israel as the unjust aggressor. In a lengthy response, Jephthah gave a pro-Israelite version of the taking of the disputed territory using three arguments: # Israel took the land in a defensive war, because Sihon, king of Heshbon, did not allow Israel to pass peacefully through his territory during the Exodus (verses 15–22). # YHWH, God of the Israelites, has given this land to his people with an allusion to Balak, king of Moab (verse 25) who seemed to accept that Israel was granted certain lands (see Numbers 22–24, esp. 24:25; also Numbers 21:10-20 (verses 23–25); # Israel had possessed the disputed territory for 300 years, so that the 'statute of limitations' on land claims was now over (verses 26–28). Unsurprisingly the Ammonite king rejected Jephthah's arguments, because in an 'enfeebled state' (Judges 10:8–9) Israel should not have power to negotiate, but Jephthah had been willing to give diplomacy a chance before the war and showed himself as the leader of Israel.

Jephthah's vow (11:29–40)

This section contains the fourth part of the Jephthah Narrative recording Jephthah's victory over the Ammonites, which is overshadowed by his ill-considered vow, and a special dialogue between Jephthah and his daughter in verses 34–38. In other ancient Near-Eastern cultures, the warriors often promise the deity something of value in return for his assistance in war, a particular belief in the efficacy of sacrifice in the ideology of the "ban" (Hebrew: ''herem''), which leads to the consecration of valuable commodities after victory (cf. Numbers 21:2–3; the terminology at Deuteronomy 13:16). However, in this case, Jephthah's vow is considered rash and manipulative: # It is manipulative (Jephthah's character as noted in previous sections) with the intention of getting YHWH to perform. Ironically, it demonstrates Jephthah's folly and faithlessness to YHWH's power to fulfill His word. # It is rash and imprudent because it adds, unprecedentedly in Hebrew Bible, "whatever comes out of the door of my house" to the proper good intention of a common burnt offering (as listed in Torah) to YHWH after victory. The narrative frames the vow (verses 30–31) within the records of battles and victory over the Ammonites in verses 29 and 32 to show that Jephthah's vow is totally unnecessary, as his last words to the Ammonite king should be sufficient, "Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites" (verse 27), that YHWH would deliver the Ammonites to Jephthah's hands just as YHWH delivered Sihon to the Israelites (verse 21). Despite the understandable reluctance of Jephthah and his daughter (verses 37–38), both decided to carry out the vow (verse 39). The obedience of Jephthah's daughter is remembered and noted in a corresponding structure in verses 37–40 as follows:

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

translations: *
Shoftim - Judges - Chapter 11 (Judaica Press)
Hebrew text and English translation ith_Rashi's_commentary.html"_;"title="Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary">Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentaryat_Chabad.org *_ ith_Rashi's_commentary.html"_;"title="Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary">Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentaryat_Chabad.org *_Christianity">Christian_translations: *
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Judges_chapter_11._Bible_Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Judges_11 Book_of_Judges_chapters.html" ;"title="Judges_11.html" ;"title="Christianity.html" ;"title="Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary.html" ;"title="Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org * Christianity">Christian translations: *
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Judges chapter 11. Bible Gateway
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