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Divinity for Advanced Secondary Schools

Lord used him to free the Israelites from the doors of my house to meet me, when
eighteen years of Ammonite oppression. I return victorious from the Ammonites,
He was a Gileadite, son of Gilead, a shall be the Lord’s and I will offer him
mighty warrior yet son of a harlot. As a up for burnt offering” (Judg. 11:30).
young man, he was excluded by his half- Jephthah led his forces and “smote the
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brothers from his father’s inheritance as Ammonites with a very great slaughter:
they said, “You shall not inherit in our and the Ammonites were humbled by
father’s house for you are the son of the Israelites” (Judg. 11:33).
another woman” (Judg. 11:2). Jephthah
fled to the land of Tob, where he became On his triumphant return to his home,
the leader of a band of “needy men” and the first person to come forth to meet
robbers. him was his only daughter, accompanied
by a chorus of women. On beholding
The background of Jephthah’s story her, he was stricken with fear and
was the Israelites lapse in following dismay, remembering his vow, but he
pagan customs and worshipping false declared that he had opened his mouth
gods. Consequently, the Lord put them to the Lord and could not do otherwise
into the hands of the Ammonites. When than fulfil it. The daughter expresses a
the Ammonites invaded the Israelites’ noble and generous resignation to her
territory east of the Jordan, and the fate but asks for a respite of two months
elders of Gilead urgently needed a so that she may “bewail her virginity”
leader to conduct the defence, they were
forced to go to Tob and ask Jephthah to in the mountains with her companions.
be their leader. After expressing surprise At the expiration of the two months, she
that they should make him such an returned to her father, and he did to her
offer, considering the treatment he had as he had vowed.
received from them, he agreed to their
request on the condition that should Samson
he be victorious over the Ammonites, Samson is another prominent judge who
his own compatriots would make him teaches us good governance (Judg. 13
head of them. The elders made a solemn – 16). For forty years, the Israelites felt
promise, and Jephthah returned with the devastating weight of the Philistines’
them to the land of Gilead, where he was oppression; neither were they able to
made chief by popular acclamation. win a decisive victory over their cruel
Before beginning his campaign, Jephthah foe. The Philistines were the “whip”
made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If with which Yahweh was punishing the
thou wilt give the Ammonites into my Israelites for their disloyalty.
hands, then whoever comes forth from

12 Form Five Student’s Book