Who was Jephthah and what was his vow? (Part 1)

[Leonardo Von]

Who was Jephthah and what was his vow? (Part 1)

What can we learn about Jephthah?

1 – Jephthah was son of Gilead and was born in the city of Gilead (Jdg 11:1).

2 – There are versions that says that he was:
o    (AFV, MKJV) mighty man of war;
o    (ASV, Cepher, Darby, JPS, JUB, KJV, LSV, TLV, WEB, Webster, YLT) mighty man of valor;
o    (BBE) great man of war;
o    (Brenton) mighty man;
o    (DRB) most valiant man;
o    (ESV, LEB, LITV) mighty warrior;
o    (GNB) brave soldier;
o    (NET) brave warrior;
o    (ISV) valiant soldier;

3 – He was son of a prostitute (Jdg 11:1).

4 – His father Gilead had other sons with his wife. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “… You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.”. Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob (Judge 11:2,3).

5 – Based on this, we can infer that Jephthah was a boy rebel and frustrated:
o    Rejected by his step-brothers in virtue of having a different mother;
o    Belittled by many Israelites in virtue of his mother being a harlot (hence it is said “mighty warrior, BUT he was the son of a prostitute”);
o    Wronged. As a firstborn, he had the right of being chief of his brothers and receive the double of the inheritance (Deut 21:17). Nonetheless he had to flee from his city in virtue of ferocious persecution of his step-brothers. 

6 – Some people gathered to Jephthah:

o    (AFV) worthless men were gathered to Jephthah
o    (ASV) there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah
o    (BBE) a number of good-for-nothing men, joining Jephthah
o    (Cepher) there were gathered vain men to Yiphtach
o    (Darby) vain men were gathered to Jephthah
o    (DRB) were gathered to him needy men and robbers
o    (ESV) worthless fellows collected around Jephthah
o    (GNB) he attracted a group of worthless men
o    (GW) Worthless men gathered around Jephthah
o    (ISV) worthless men gathered themselves around him
o    (KJV) there were gathered vain men to Jephthah
o    (LEB) outlaws gathered around Jephthah
o    (NET) Lawless men joined Jephthah’s gang and traveled with him
o    (TLV) worthless fellows joined with Jephthah
o    (WEB) Outlaws joined up with Jephthah

Most of the versions says that people that followed Jephthah was worthless (vain) men. That is to say, people like many vagrants, beggars, addicted and criminals who look like a parasite (because they don’t desire to do anything profitable for their neighbor, but live by their expenses).

Nonetheless, Jephthah was able to transform these people in a valiant army who served to free Israel from the Ammonites.

Have a nice day. Tomorrow we will keep on.