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JEPHTHAH

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 322 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JEPHTHAH , one of the See also:

judges of See also:Israel, in the See also:Bible, was an illegitimate son of See also:Gilead, and, being expelled from his See also:father's See also:house by his lawful brethren, took See also:refuge in the Syrian See also:land of Tob, where he gathered around him a powerful See also:band of homeless men like himself. The See also:Ammonites pressing hard on his See also:country-men, the elders of Gilead called for his help, which he consented to give on See also:condition that in the event of victory he should be made their See also:head (Judg. xi. 1-xii. 7). His name is best known in See also:history and literature in connexion with his See also:vow, which led to the See also:sacrifice of his daughter on his successful return. The reluctance shown by many writers in accepting the See also:plain sense of the narrative on this point proceeds to a large extent on unwarranted assumptions as to the See also:stage of ethical development which had been reached in Israel in the See also:period of the judges, or at the See also:time when the narrative took shape. The See also:annual lamentation of the See also:women for her See also:death suggests a mythical origin (see See also:ADONIS). Attached to the narrative is an See also:account of a See also:quarrel between Jephthah and the Ephraimites. The latter were defeated, and their See also:retreat was cut off by the Gileadites, who had seized the fords of the See also:Jordan. As the fugitives attempted to See also:cross they were bidden to say " See also:shibboleth " (" See also:flood" or " See also:ear of See also:corn "), and those who said " sibboleth " (the Ephraimites apparently being unused to sh), were at once put to death. In this way 42,000 of the tribe were killed.' The loose connexion between this and the See also:main narrative, as also the lengthy speech to the See also:children of See also:Ammon (xi. 14-27), which really relates to See also:Moab, has led some writers to infer that two distinct heroes and situations have been combined.

See further the commentaries on the See also:

Book of Judges (q.v.), and See also:Cheyne, Ency. Bib., See also:art. Jephthah." (S. A.

End of Article: JEPHTHAH

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