Bible Commentaries
Judges 11

Verses 1-40

1. JEPHTHAH, 8TH JUDGE (11)
   1. JUDGE JEPHTHAH (1-28)
   2. Son of a harlot - no person should be blamed for the circumstances surrounding his or her birth.
      1. Why permit the things you cannot control to burden your life? Learn to accept them, and the Lord will work out His purposes in His own time.
         1. Ps.139:13-16nlt You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
         2. Opposition will one day give way to opportunity. Warren Wiersbe
   3. His band of merry men - men living off the grid.
      1. There would be groups of men like this who would follow a charismatic personality, living largely under their own authority.
         1. Sometimes they would cooperate with existing authority structures. Other times opposing them. They were gangs. They flourished during times where centralized authority was weakened.
         2. So Abimelech, Jephthah, Ishbosheth, Jeroboam, & even David became commanders of bands of men who had withdrawn from society.
   4. Note: he was able to defeat the enemy on the battlefield, but unable to maintain peace at home.
   5. JEPHTHAH’S VOW & VICTORY (29-33)
   6. On one hand he was a man who had faith & courage & who depended on God’s power for victory. But all is not well...he makes a rash vow.
   7. Compare Jephthah’s vow to Eccl.5:2-6
      1. This teaches us about the sacredness of a promise to God & the necessity of 1st considering what such a promise may involve.
   8. JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER (34-40)
   9. His daughter...his only child...the one who danced with joy at daddy coming home.
   10. Human sacrifice or prevented from marrying, thus not able to carry on his name (39).
       1. Text is unclear. Dedicated her to Temple service, to serve the Lord (unmarried)?
       2. Weight lands on that he did sacrifice her. But it doesn’t mean he was right, didn’t mean the Lord accepted it or approved of that offering.
   11. *Note: Israel do not deserve to be delivered. And Jephthah did not deserve to be used.
       1. Can you relate? Sometimes God’s ways are difficult to understand, but His purposes always prevail.
   12. God provided the victory, but His people marred the consequences.