Jephthah: The Foolish Oathkeeper

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the Chosen People. Before the breaker of chains came, the Lord would send lesser heroes, fractured and broken images of the Deliverer to come. 00:00:12 Speaker 2: Make no mistake, brothers, we are all the Lord's name. Have I not commanded you? These strong me urrageous? 00:00:25 Speaker 1: For the Lord is with me. Rise you men of Israel, Up, Arise. 00:00:33 Speaker 3: You have crowned this bramble, a king with no shade to give, no refuge to offer. 00:00:40 Speaker 2: He would devour you. He is devoured Gideon's sons. 00:00:46 Speaker 1: They would be imperfect vessels in God's hands, crafted to lead Israel out of its self inflicted destruction. 00:01:01 Speaker 4: When we're ignorant of God's word, we fall victim to our own will Shelloh, my friends, from here in the holy Land of Israel, i'm l Extein with international fellowship of Christians and Jews, and welcome to the Chosen People. What happens when a promise uttered in haste becomes a curse that we can't escape. Israel finds itself once again entangled in its old cycle of forgetting, And this time salvation comes in the forum of an outcast, a man rejected by his own family, drawn back only when there's no other hope in judges tend. The story unfolds, and it's a harsh reminder of what happens when we forget who God truly is. 00:01:50 Speaker 1: Baal Ashtaroff daigen re Chef Aftaught, Kimosh Milcom. These were the false gods of Israel's enemies, the Syrians, Cidonites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Philistines. Statues of wood and stone, lifeless and death. Yet they ensnared the hearts of the children of Israel. They turned from Yahweh, their deliverer, and bowed before idols carved by human hands. The Lord, unwilling to share his glory withdrew his hand of favor. The grace and abundance they had squandered were replaced by the crushing weight of oppression. The Philistines struck first, raiding strongholds and setting fields of flame. Then came the Ammonites. They crossed the Jordan like a storm, descending upon Gilead and pressing hard against Judah and Benjamin. Israel's tribes, once mighty, now quailed before their enemies. The Ammonites waited on the outskirts of Gilead, their ranks vast and disciplined. The ground trembled beneath their march as they prepared for the final blow. They waited like wolves outside a den, savoring the anticipation of a kill. The Israelites had no king, no commander, and worst of all, no favor from their God. Their enemies sensed their fear and relish the chance to crush them utterly. Israel's army gathered at Mizpah, desperate to repel the invaders. Thousands of soldiers camped beneath the hills, but none dared step forward to lead. Among them were Nahash and Raider, brothers to Jephtha, and elders of Gilead. They stood atop the ridge, gazing down at the Ammonite camp, their faces grim. 00:03:45 Speaker 5: They don't outnumber us, however, they're more skilled and organized. We need a trained tactician to lead us, someone who thinks unconventionally. 00:03:56 Speaker 1: Nay Hash and the other elders agreed, but who could lead them? They looked down at the enemy and trembled in fear. The wind began to howl through the hills, sending chills down their spines. They shook their heads in defeat. 00:04:11 Speaker 5: There has to be some one God always said someone. 00:04:15 Speaker 1: They spoke of Othniel, Shamgar, Deborah, and Gideon, heroes of old, whose stories have been told for generations. But where was their savior? Now? Was this the end of God's chosen people? Their hope flickered like a dying ember as they descended the mountain. The elders addressed the men at camp the next day. 00:04:38 Speaker 5: Oh, one, you are able to lead us? 00:04:41 Speaker 1: Please? 00:04:42 Speaker 3: Are there any warriors in your family able to stand against the Ammonites and lead us? 00:04:48 Speaker 1: The silence was deafening. Fear ruled the hearts of Israel's warriors. But Nahash and Raider knew of one man. Their thoughts turned to their exiled brother, the boy they had once driven away. 00:05:03 Speaker 5: We know of someone. He is not with us, but he is of our clan, A mighty warrior dwells in top He is the son of a prostitute cast out long ago. 00:05:13 Speaker 2: And how do you know he can lead us? He's our brother. 00:05:19 Speaker 5: Though we have not seen him in years, word of his skill has traveled far. From time to time we will hear stories of Ammonite villagers being burned to the ground by him and his men. 00:05:29 Speaker 1: It was true stories of Jephtha had spread far, painting him as a merciless warrior, even a demigod in the eyes of some Ammonites. But Nahashi and Raider knew his origins. The brothers took their horses and rode east, tracing the path Jeffa had walked so many years before. Toad lay beyond Israel's borders, a place of desolation and shadow. The hills were sun scorched, the riverbeds dry. It was a land of exiles, outcasts, and bitterness, and the air seemed to vibrate with unseen danger. As they approached the city, dread settled over them. They didn't know what awaited, whether the stories of their brother were exaggerated, or whether the man they had once wronged had truly become a figure of legend. It was not hard to find Jephtha's dwelling in Tobe. His name carried weight like a king's crown. He ruled not by law but by fear, Commanding a band of hardened outcasts. Together, they raided the border lands, leaving wealth and ruin in their wake. Even the Ammonites who mocked Israel spoke Jephtha's name in hushed tones. The brothers approached his home cautiously. The door creaked open to reveal a dimly lit room. Torches lined the walls, casting shadows over pells of lions, wolves and bears. A hunter's trophies raider stepped forward. Who are you? They turned to see a young girl standing in the doorway of a hall, Her expression wary, What are you doing here? 00:07:15 Speaker 5: We're friends of Jephtha. Is he home? 00:07:19 Speaker 2: My father doesn't have any friends. 00:07:21 Speaker 1: Before they could answer, strong hands seize them from behind. They were thrown across the room like sacks of grain, crashing into a room table and splitting it in two. Scrambling to their feet, swords drawn, they found themselves face to face with Jephtha. The man before them was no longer the boy they had cast out years as a mercenary had sculpted him into something fearsome. His braided beard was flecked with gray, his chest encased in thick leather, and his arms corded with muscle. His eyes were sharp as steel, and his presence filled the room like a storm. 00:08:00 Speaker 2: Jetta, it's us, your brothers. I know who you are. 00:08:04 Speaker 1: He came after them, ferociously, kicking Nahasha side and drawing his sword at Rada. He pressed his sword against his throat. The tip barely scratched the center of his neck, and a small drop of blood ran down his chest. 00:08:20 Speaker 2: Do you remember the last time I had a sword at your throat? 00:08:25 Speaker 1: Yes? 00:08:26 Speaker 5: Yes, I do. Every day of my life I've woken up and remember that you spared my wife, even though you had the chance. 00:08:33 Speaker 2: To kill me. Why have you come here? 00:08:37 Speaker 5: We know about your success against the Ammonites. We know you have slain many of them at the northern border. We've come to ask you to be our leader and defend Israel. 00:08:50 Speaker 2: Defend Israel, defend you? Do I need to remind you what you did to me. You cast me aside and out of my father's house. What alliance do I have with you and your kin? 00:09:05 Speaker 1: Please? 00:09:06 Speaker 5: Chapter, We know how we treated you, But here we are now to make amends and make you head over. 00:09:13 Speaker 3: Us, head over you. What makes you think that title entices me? I rule this place with an iron fist. Nobody questions my authority. I have riches, I've written songs about my conquests. 00:09:31 Speaker 2: What would ruling you give me? 00:09:33 Speaker 1: The question hung heavy in the air, though Jefftha already knew the answer the boy within him, scarred and yearning, craved acceptance her place among his kin. 00:09:46 Speaker 5: We're desperate. We have no one else to turn to. No one has risen up to defend us. No hero, no judge, no prophet. Not even God has hurt our prayers. We are just as abandoned as you were. 00:10:01 Speaker 1: Jeff the pause to consider his brother's words. His calloused heart was beginning to soften. 00:10:08 Speaker 2: I have many men at my disposal. I also know the battle strategy of the Ammonites. I've studied them, have learned their tactics, discovered how to exploit them. 00:10:20 Speaker 1: He stopped again and walked over to his daughter. He stroked her hair and kissed her on the forehead. He sent her off and reassured her that she was safe. He then turned back to his brother's He poured himself a cup and took a swig. 00:10:37 Speaker 2: I will lead you only on one condition, yes anything. If the Lord grants me favor and I lead you into victory over the Ammonites, I will remain your leader and chief. You will not cast me aside again. I will remain in my father's land and behead over you. 00:11:00 Speaker 5: Is a witness between us. If you lead us into victory. Then you shall remain our leader. 00:11:06 Speaker 2: Then we'd better get started. 00:11:10 Speaker 1: The night before the battle, jeff thus stood alone in the valley, staring up at the vast starlit sky. The heavens stretched endlessly above, and the swaying grass below whispered in the breeze. These same stars had watched over him for years in exile, but tonight they seemed colder, more distant. He was home, but it felt like enemy ground. The people he would defend tomorrow were not truly his, and the god he was to fight for felt unfamiliar. He was a man without a country, caught between duty and rejection. 00:11:50 Speaker 2: Who am I? 00:11:52 Speaker 1: His voice barely broke the quiet, yet the weight of the question seemed to press down on him. She gripped the help of his soul, as if it might answer, what do you want from me? The winds swept through the valley, carrying the chirping of crickets and the rustle of leaves. Jefther was no priest, no prophet. He knew little of Yahweh's law, yet he felt the need to bargain, to prove himself worthy. He raised his face to the heavens and made his vow if. 00:12:26 Speaker 2: You will give me victory over the Ammonites tomorrow, then I will sacrifice the first thing I see when I return to my home. I will offer it up as a bird, offering to you as a token of my gratitude. 00:12:40 Speaker 1: Jeff Tha spoke to Yahweh as if he was Dagon or Bah. However, the God of Israel had already given his desires for sacrifice. He had laid out his will for leaders to consecrate themselves. Jeftho was woefully ignorant of God's will, which would be his undoing. When dawn broke, jeff the rose. His men gathered behind him, ready for battle. Yet even in their ranks, he felt like a stranger. The Ammonite army stood poised on the opposite side of the field, a sea of shields and spears gleaming in the morning light. Jeff Thea drew a deep breath, his hand tightening on his sword. 00:13:29 Speaker 3: AHH, good banks man, what today we get to join in the victory of our God. 00:13:37 Speaker 1: With a roar, he let the charge. Jeff there was the first to break the enemy lines, his blade a whirlwind of death. He slashed one man across the belly and brought his sword upward to cleave another's joys. His strikes were savage, relentless, leaving a trail of fallen soldiers in his wake. He had planned well, dividing his forces the company to burn the unguarded Ammonite villages near the border. As blooms and smoke glows in the distance. The enemy faltered, pulling men from the field to save their homes, but Jeff's ambush awaited them. The remaining Ammonite forces, weakened and scattered, stood little chance against the renewed vicor of Israel's army. Jeffa pressed the attack, pushing the Amonites back from Gilead to Minith, and from Mineth to Abril Kuramin. Twenty cities fell before him, their defenders cut down their strongholds, reduced to ruin. By the end, the battlefield lay silent, littered with the slain. Jeffthera dropped to his knees, his sword falling beside him. He raised his bloodied hands to the heavens, ah, thank you Rod. In that moment, the bitterness of his youth seemed distance, and the taunts, the rejection, the loneliness all had led to this triumph. He was no longer the bastard cast aside. He was the leader of Israel, victorious and unopposed, the hero of a people who had once turned their backs on him. The streets of Misbah overflowed with music and dance, the air alive with the thrum of victory. Jeff the march to the head of his men, the weight of his triumph borne on the adulation of the crowd. They showered him with praise, their voices raised in song, as petals scattered before his feet. Yet beneath his pride lingered a shadow, the memory of his vow to the Lord. He had spoken rashly in the valley, promising a burnt offering. Whatever greeted him first upon his return, perhaps a stray gunt, a house to boil a bird, it did not matter, a small price to pay for victory. As Jeffa approached the gates of his home, he wore a broad smile, his heart swollen with vindication. But then the door burst open, and time seemed to falter. Sweet melodies drifted into the air as his daughter emerged, tambourines in hand, she spun in graceful arcs, ribbons trailing behind her, like streaks of sunlight. Her beauty was radiant, her joy unbridled, a vision of innocence and life. But to Jephtha, she was a vision of death. She ran to him, arms wide, and threw herself against his chest, her laughter a melody of its own. I'm so proud of your father. Her embrace was warm, but Jeftha's arms hung limply at his sides. His smile had vanished, replaced by a look. 00:17:03 Speaker 2: Of utter dread. 00:17:05 Speaker 1: He stumbled back, collapsing to his knees as his breath quickened and his heart thundered in his chest. 00:17:13 Speaker 2: Oh what have I touched? 00:17:16 Speaker 1: He clutched at his hair, his fists striking the ground in anguish. Tears streamed down his face as he stared at the girl before him. 00:17:26 Speaker 3: My daughter, why? 00:17:28 Speaker 2: Why was it? My daughter? 00:17:31 Speaker 1: Confusion darkened her expression as she stepped toward him, but he recoiled as if her touch might burn him. 00:17:40 Speaker 2: What's wrong? Father? I I have made an oath to the Lord. I promised him I would sacrifice whatever came to greet me first. But because of my oath, you must die? 00:17:57 Speaker 1: Do you have to? He did not. The Lord of Israel demanded no, such offering for human sacrifice was an abomination to him. But Jeftha, a man ruled by pride and ignorance, believed himself bound by his word as if it carried the weight of divine law. 00:18:17 Speaker 2: Yes, my my daughter, Yes I. 00:18:24 Speaker 4: Do, let this thing be done for me. 00:18:28 Speaker 2: Leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep from my virginity. 00:18:34 Speaker 1: I and my companions very well. She turned and departed with her companions, her figure growing smaller as she ascended the distant hills. Jefiththera watched her until she disappeared, his heart crushed beneath the weight of his vow. Legends grew from her fate. Her story passed through the generations. Some said Jefhtha, blinded by his oath, dragged her to the altar and ended her life with his blade. Others claimed she was given as a perpetual servant to the Lord, a living sacrifice of another kind. No one knew for certain, but her name was remembered each year the Daughters of Israel lamented her for four days, her story a mournful echo of Israel's folly, Jefftha's victory over the Ammonites had been poisoned by his rashness. The people he delivered remained distant from their God their sins, creating an ever widening chasm. The judges of Israel grew darker and more twisted with each passing generation. Heroes became villains, and villains left Israel bound in sin. Yet the God of Israel would not leave his people forever. In the fullness of time, he would raise up a redeemer, calling them out of darkness into his marvelous light. But for now, the tale of Jephtha stood as a warning, a harbinger of the shadow that still lay ahead. 00:20:20 Speaker 4: It might seem that the focus of this episode is on Jephtha the individual and the details of his life on his personal journey, But the truth is this is a story about the nation of Israel. It might look as though Israel's fate rested in the hands of one man, but maybe all the details of Jetha's life were included to bring us to a simple conclusion, a simple conclusion that the Jewish sage has also arrived at Jefta was not the greatest leader that Israel ever had, because it's not the leader who determines the chosen people's destiny. It's the people and their relationship with God secure their future. Jeptha was just God's instrument to make that happen. And before Jephtha's story even begins, we read that the reason that Israel was subjugated to the Philistines was that they had turned to idolatry. But then they repented. The Bible tells us the Israelite said to the Lord, we have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now. Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord, and he could bear Israel's misery no longer. From this verse, it's very clear once the people of Israel repented, their salvation was a sure thing. Again, it's not the credentials of the leader the matter. When the people deserve it, salvation will come, even through a leader with glaring flaws. We merit successful leadership when we the people, are right with God. And so that puts a big onus, on us. Great leadership, it starts with the people. It starts with us. There's one other thing that I'd like to say about this story. As the Israelites were being crushed by the Philistines and the Ammonites. They realized that they had sinned greatly against God, and that they had sinned by worshiping idols. And here they began their process of repentance in a way that has become part of Jewish tradition ever since, by confessing their sins to God. Chapter ten, verse ten tells us this quote, Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, we have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the balls. 00:22:44 Speaker 2: End quote. 00:22:45 Speaker 4: What an important lesson. Until we actually verbalize our sins before God, real repentance can't begin. There's one more verse that I want to point out from this story. As the Amamonites demanded that Israel give over the land. They said, quote, when Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land. Now give it back peacefully. 00:23:09 Speaker 2: End quote. 00:23:10 Speaker 4: Of course, Jeftha basically answered. 00:23:13 Speaker 2: No way. 00:23:14 Speaker 4: You attacked us, and with God's help we won. To anyone who stands for Israel and who follows how Israel is tradated, this sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it. Israel being unjustly attacked, Israel coming out victorious, and the enemies who not only lost, but who started the fight, wanting to reverse those events. They want to be portrayed as the victims, not the aggressor. Don't we see that very same storyline unfolding right now. It's why, as I studied these Bible stories with you each day from right here in the land of Israel, I'm so grateful for Israel's friends around the world who know the truth and who speak this truth to the world, the world unapologetically, regardless of what Israel's enemies say. It's Christians who are seeing God's hand and speaking God's word and standing with Israel to both tell Israel's story but also to help through the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shelter the poor. 00:24:26 Speaker 1: You can listen to The Chosen People with Isle Eckstein ad free by downloading and subscribing to the Prey dot Com app today. This Prey dog comproduction is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabaga, and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of The Chosen People with Yile Eckstein, Edited by Alberto Avilla narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvado, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paulinier, Robin van Ettin, kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yil Eckstein, please rate and leave a review.