Judges 11:16 - Printer Friendly

ESV: but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

NIV: But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and on to Kadesh.

NASB: For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh,

CSB: But when they came from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

NLT: When the people of Israel arrived at Kadesh on their journey from Egypt after crossing the Red Sea,

KJV: But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;

NKJV: for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

Jephthah has sent envoys to the king of Ammon with a long message. He is answering the king's charge that Israel stole the land of Gilead from the Ammonites after they first came out of Egypt (Judges 11:12–14). Jephthah's message has declared that this did not happen (Judges 11:15). Now he begins to give several arguments to support this perspective.

First, Jephthah recounts how, near the end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites came up from the direction of Egypt through the wilderness. They moved toward the Red Sea and eventually arrived at Kadesh, also known as Kadesh-barnea. Kadesh was south and west of the Dead Sea. Moses' sister Miriam died while they were at Kadesh and Moses struck the rock to get water instead of speaking to it, as the Lord told him to do (Numbers 20:1–13).

Jephthah will go on to describe how careful Israel was not even to cut across the lands of the Edomites and Moabites since they did not have permission to do so (Judges 11:17).

Judges 11:12–28 is Jephthah's attempt to negotiate with the Ammonites. He exchanges messages with the king of Ammon, asking the reason for this war on their land. Jephthah corrects the king's response that Israel wrongly took the land from them during the time of Moses. He offers several forms of rebuttal. Jephthah notes that Ammon was never in control of Gilead. Instead, the Amorites attacked Israel and God have his people victory. Greater kings have not attempted to take the region away; it had not been disputed for centuries. However, the Ammonite king will not listen.

A man named Jephthah is driven away from his home in Gilead by jealous brothers. He settles in Tob, where he becomes warrior chief of a criminal band. Gilead's elders later recruit Jephthah to lead the fight against their Ammonite oppressors. After a failed negotiation attempt, Jephthah vows to make a burnt offering to the Lord of whatever comes to meet him if God gives him victory over the Ammonites. Israel thoroughly defeats Ammon, and Jephthah's daughter, his only child, greets him. Jephthah carries out his vow after his daughter grieves never marrying or having children.

Judges 11 answers the question raised at the end of the previous chapter: who could lead Gilead's fight against the Ammonites? The elders recruit Jephthah, a warrior driven away by his family in Gilead. Jephthah agrees to return and is appointed leader of Gilead. Jephthah raises an army and makes a foolish vow to the Lord in exchange for victory. Israel defeats Ammon, but Jephthah's vow costs him his only child, his daughter. His victory also creates civil strife in Israel, leading to a minor civil war.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).

Accessed 5/3/2024 7:03:18 AM