Judges 10-12

CHAPTER 10:
            Judge #6: Tola (Issachar)
            Verses 1-2: We are told very little about Tola, only his tribe and his home territory. He’s from Shamir, which is somewhere near mount Ephraim. (v.1) We are not even told which heathen nation God used to chasten Israel in this cycle, only that Tola judged Israel for a total of twenty-three years. (v.2)
 
            Judge #7: Jair (Gilead)
            Verses 3-5: We’re not told much about this judge either. Like Gideon, he is of the tribe Manasseh, but from those that settled on the western side of the Jordan. The name “Havoth-jair” (v.4) is translated literally as “tent settlements of Jair”. He is judge for twenty-two years, and hails from Camon.
              The description in verse 4 of his thirty sons riding on donkeys and the thirty cities that belong to them indicates their elevated social status. Both were symbols of royalty in the ANE.
 
            Verse 6: The list of false gods is lengthy. In addition to the familiar names of Baal and Ashtaroth, the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines are mentioned for the first time. All of these gods are similar in description and character, and all are part of the pantheon of fertility gods and goddesses that were common to the ANE at this time. The Moody Bible Commentary adds this note: “Dagon of the Philistines was probably not a fish god, as has sometimes been thought. The name “Dagan” is the common Semitic word for “grain,” suggesting that Dagan/Dagon may have been a West Semitic fertility god. In fact, he is included in the literature of Mesopotamia.”
            The god of the Ammonites was called “Milcom”, a variation of the name “Molech”, the Canaanite deity that required child sacrifice as part of its worship. The god of the Moabites, Chemosh, also demanded child sacrifice, which means that Israel was practicing this regularly in their cycles of apostasy and disobedience. The author underscores this point at the end of this verse: “…and forsook the LORD, and served not Him.”
 
            Verses 7-9: “The anger of the LORD was hot against Israel…”, and this time it’s the Philistines and the Ammonites that attack the nation. The Ammonites conquer the tribes west of the Jordan (v.8) before crossing the river to attack Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. (v.9) The Philistines, presumably, attack from their territory along the eastern coast.
 
            Verses 10-16: Instead of the usual summary of Israel’s cry to the LORD, the author records here the actual scene of dialogue between God and His chosen people. Israel recognizes the reason for the LORD’s chastening, acknowledging their sin of idolatry and disobedience. (v.10) God’s response is to remind them of His mighty works on behalf of Israel up to this point: deliverance from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Zidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites. (v.11) That last name is unfamiliar, but perhaps it refers to the Midianites. Each time, the LORD says, you cried out to me “…and I delivered you out of their hand.” (v.12)
            But each time Israel played the harlot by turning away from God to serve false gods, and now He tells them “…I will deliver you no more. (v.13) Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.” (v.14) The LORD has had enough of Israel’s insincere repentance.
            Nevertheless, the men of Israel continue to plead with God, begging for His deliverance on their behalf. They confess once more, “We have sinned…” (v.15), and they throw themselves upon God’s mercy. “…do Thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto Thee…”. But it’s not just words. They tear down the idols and the groves, and renew their obedience to the law of Moses. (v.16) Their confession of sin followed by their actions causes the LORD to have pity on them in their misery. For this current generation, at least, the repentance is sincere. There is more than just an outward change of behavior. Their hearts have been convicted and changed as well.
 
           Verses 17-18: The Ammonites gather their forces and set up camp in Gilead. Israel responds in kind, setting up camp in Mizpeh. (v.17) The men of Gilead now wait upon the LORD, wondering which man He will choose this time to lead them to victory. (v.18)

CHAPTER 11:
           Judge #8:  Jephthah (Manasseh)
           Verses 1-3: Jephthah is the second judge to hail from Gilead, who was a son of Manasseh (Numbers 26:29, Judges 10:3) As with Jair, Jephthah comes out of the half tribe that settled west of the Jordan. The fact that Jephthah’s father is not named specifically in verse 1 emphasizes Jephthah’s status as an outcast because of his mother’s occupation. For that reason he was disinherited by his half-brothers (v.2), and so he fled to Tob (v.3) where he made a name for himself by becoming “…a mighty man of valour…”. (v.1) Jephthah had gathered unto himself a following of “vain men” (v.2), similar to those hired by Abimelech. But the difference here, of course, is that Jephthah did not have to buy the loyalty of his men. He earned it by demonstrating quality leadership and performing heroic deeds, as evidenced by that author’s use of that phrase in verse 1.
 
            Verses 4-11: The fact that the elders of Gilead are forced to turn to an outsider and an outcast for help speaks volumes about the sad state of affairs in Israel at this time. Jephthah’s status and fame as “…a mighty man of valour…” (v.1) indicates that he must have built himself a small but powerful army of men who were the strongest military force in that area. And when the Ammonites begin attacking the Israelites, the elders of Gilead send messengers to Jephthah asking for his help. (v.5-6) Jephthah is, understandably, resentful and wary of the offer. (v.7) But the elders persist, and so Jephthah strikes a bargain with them: if he is able to defeat the Ammonites then he will be Israel’s ruler. (v.8-9) The elders agree, and the agreement is confirmed in a vow before the LORD. (v.10-11)
 
            Verses 12 – 29: Jephthah’s first act as leader is to send messengers to Ammon requesting their reasons for going to war against Israel. (v.12) The Ammonite king claims that Israel seized land that didn’t belong to them, and the only way to restore peace is to give it back. He cites the territory that lies between the rivers Jabbok and Jordan which had once belonged to the Ammonites. (v.13) (Numbers 21:24) But Jephthah schools the Ammonites in recent history, pointing out that Israel had sent requests to Edom, Moab, and Ammon during their journey after fleeing Egypt and requested peaceful passage through those lands. (v.15-19) (Numbers 20:14, Deuteronomy 2:18-19, 26) All of those kings denied Israel passage, and Sihon, king of the Amorites, even went to war against Israel instead of simply letting them pass by peaceably outside their borders. (v.20) Thus God gave Israel the victory over the Ammonites and Israel possessed their land which includes all the territory between the rivers Arnon, Jabbok, and Jordan. (v.21-22) Therefore, says Jephthah, if God has given that land to Israel, who are you to defy Him by taking it back? (v.23)
            Jephthah goes on to mock the false god of the Ammonites, Chemosh, by asking if he has granted any land to the Ammonites? (v.24) He then reminds the Ammonites of Balak, the Moabite king who had foolishly defied the LORD God of Israel by hiring Balaam to curse them. (Numbers 22:2, 5-6) Not only that, the Ammonites had three hundred years to come re-conquer their land, so why now are they coming against Israel? (v.26) In other words, it didn’t matter to the Ammonites for all that time that Israel had possessed their land, so why suddenly does it matter now? Jephthah closes his rebuttal with a challenge to the Ammonite king: Israel has done only what God had commanded them to do, and it’s the LORD that will now act as righteous judge in this dispute. (v.27)
            The king, of course, doesn’t heed Jephthah’s words (v.28), and so Jephthah gathers his army and sets out to meet the Ammonites in battle. (v.29)
 
          Verses 30-40: Jephthah makes a rash and foolish vow to God, promising that whatever comes out of his house when he returns from battle will be sacrificed unto the LORD if He will give Israel the victory this day. (v.30-31) God, of course, gives Jephthah and his army the victory over the Ammonites. (v.32-33) But He had already promised this to Israel and Jephthah from the beginning when Jephthah accepted the request of the elders of Gilead. (v.11) Furthermore, verse 29 confirms that “…the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah…”, so there was no need for this second vow. God was already on Israel’s side and had given them permission to fight the Ammonites. Furthermore, Jephthah had no way of knowing whether it would be his daughter or his livestock that would come out to greet him when he returned home, so that makes his vow all the more baffling.
          When he sees his daughter come running from the house, joyous at his victory (v.34), Jephthah blames her for his distress! (v.35) In great sorrow, he explains the vow he made to the LORD, and she understands why he must honor it. (v.36) She is his only child (v.34), and that’s what makes this foolish and rash vow all the more devastating. She will never marry or bear children (v.39), and for that reason she requests 2 months to mourn this fact before returning to her father’s house to serve the LORD for the rest of her life. (v.37-39) It’s those three verses that confirm the fact that she was not offered literally as a human sacrifice, as many Biblical scholars have erroneously claimed. Instead, she lived the rest of her life as a single woman devoted to full time service to God. Though the author doesn’t give any detail about what that service was, we can logically presume that it would have been at the tabernacle at Shiloh, if that was even still in use during these cycles of Israel’s great apostasy and idolatry.
         This account of Jephthah and his vow becomes so well known in Israel that the women go out every year at a certain time for four days to remember Jephthah’s daughter and lament her sacrifice. (v.40)
 
           Jephthah’s story is a sobering lesson in that we must be careful what we promise to God. (Ecclesiastes 5:2, 4-5) Vows are never to made lightly as God takes them very seriously. It’s also necessary to point out here that we should not bargain with God. As I mentioned earlier, God had already promised the victory to Jephthah, so there was no need for him to make such a foolish vow, especially if he thought it was earning God’s favor. Gideon made the same mistake with his constant testing of the Lord regarding the fleece. (Judges 6:36-40) Instead, we should simply pray, “LORD, thy will be done. I give myself completely to you for your service.” God will direct us and the events in our lives for our good and His glory as He sees fit. Period.

CHAPTER 12:
           Verses 1-7: Once again, the tribe of Ephraim is complaining about missing out on all the action, just as they did with Gideon. (v.1) (Judges 8:1) Jephthah reminds them that he did actually call for their help, but they ignored him. (v.2) But whereas Gideon was able to appease the elders of Ephraim with tactful diplomacy, the same apparently doesn’t work here. The men of Ephraim insult the Gileadites by calling them fugitives because they settled on the other side of the Jordan with Manasseh. (v.4) Because of this, Jephthah leads his men in war against Ephraim.
            The soldiers of Gilead are able to take control of the passages that bridge the two sides of the Jordan, and they stop any man fleeing from the battle. (v.5) Any man that claims he is not of Ephraim is put to a linguistic test. (v.6) If he is unable to correctly pronounce the word “Shibboleth”, he is killed. Apparently, the Ephraimites had a specific way of pronouncing that word, and they were unable to form the “sh” sound. Instead, it came out as just “s”. (v.6) The total number of Ephraimite soldiers slain that day is 42,000.
            Jephthah rules Israel for only six years and, upon his death, is buried in Gilead. (v.7)

            Judge #9: Ibzan (Zebulun)
           Verses 8-10: The Bethlehem mentioned here is not the famous one in Judah since that one is always referred to in scripture as “Bethlehem in Judah”. This Bethlehem is about seven miles east of Mount Carmel in the north. The fact that Ibzan sends his thirty daughters abroad to be married, as well as seeks thirty women from abroad for his sons (v.9) indicates that he is probably trying to unite the nation after the devastating civil war between the Gileadites and Ephraimites.
 
            Judge #10: Elon (Zebulun)
            Verses 11-12: Elon rules Israel ten years.
 
            Judge #11: Abdon (Ephraim)
           Verses 13-15: The town of Pirathon is in Ephraim, and the description in verse 14 echoes that of Jair and his sons in chapter 10. Abdon rules Israel for eight years.
 
            All three of these judges were not military leaders like Jephthah or Gideon. Instead, based on the scant details given here, we can presume they were administrative governors, overseeing the nation in what seems to have been a relatively peaceful period of twenty-five years.