The book of Judges is a minefield for even the most experienced Bible readers. Idolatry, civil war, incest, and rape—and that’s just God’s people. Jephthah’s story in Judges 11–12 is particularly disturbing. You know the gist of it: Jephthah, a judge or “warlord,” led the Israelites during the tumultuous period before the monarchy. Oh, and he murdered his daughter.
Many details mark Jephthah as quite an unconventional judge. For example, like Saul later in Israelite history, the people, not God, chose Jephthah to lead them. Jephthah also has a checkered past. That’s not all that surprising—after all both Rahab the Canaanite prostitute and Ruth the widowed Moabitess play key roles in salvation history.
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Russ Meek is a visiting professor of Old Testament at Tennent. He studied at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MA, biblical languages; PhD, Old Testament) and has taught at various colleges and seminaries since 2011. Russ writes widely for lay and academic audiences about all things Old Testament and its relationship to the Christian life; you can read his work at russmeek.com. He, his wife, and their three sons live in north Idaho, where you’ll find them gardening, cooking, and trying to tame the havoc that three boys wreak.