ABIMELECH IS MADE KING AT SHECHEM: HE IS SLAIN. JEPHTHAH IS MADE CAPTAIN OVER THE ARMY OF ISRAEL. HIS VOW. HE FIGHTS AGAINST THE AMMONITES AND SETS THE PEOPLE FREE.
AS soon as Gideon was dead, the children of Israel forgot how kind the Lord had been to them, in setting them free from the Midianites, and they turned away from worshipping him, to worship the idol Baal. Then Abimelech, Gideon's son, went to the city of Shechem, where the people had set up an image of Baal, and he asked them to make him their king; and they did as he asked them and made him their king; they gave him seventy pieces of silver also, out of their idol's temple; with these he hired wicked men, to go with him and help him in making himself king over all the rest of the people of Israel. And he went to the house where his father Gideon had lived, and killed all of his brothers except the youngest, who fled from him. Abimelech did this, because he was afraid that his brothers might be made rulers over the people instead of himself. And the men of Shechem helped him in slaying his brethren.
But after Abimelech had been king for three years, God sent trouble upon him and the people of Shechem. The Bible tells us that he sent an evil spirit between them. Then instead of being friends any longer, and helping each other, they became enemies and hated one another. And when Abimelech had gone away from the city, the people set men to watch for him, as he should come back, that they might kill him.
But the governor of the city, who was Abimelech's friend, sent word to him secretly, saying, The people of Shechem have rebelled against thee. Now therefore come up in the night, thou and the men who are with thee, and hide out in the field until morning. Then as soon as the sun has risen up, thou shalt bring thy men before the city, and when the people come out against thee, thou shalt do to them whatsoever thou thinkest best. So Abimelech did as the governor said. He brought his men up in the night, and hid them in the fields near the city. In the morning the people saw him and came out against him, and he fought with them, and chased them back to the gate of the city, killing many of them.
The next day they came out again. And Abimelech divided his men into three companies, and hid them in the field. As soon as the men of Shechem had come a good way from the gate of the city, one of the companies made haste to the gate and stood before it, so that the men of Shechem could not flee back into the city. And the two other companies ran upon them, out in the field, and slew them. Then Abimelech and his men went into the city, and fought against it all that day; and he slew the people, and broke down the houses and destroyed the city.
But some of the men of Shechem who escaped, fled to the temple of their idol, and shut themselves in, where Abimelech could not reach them. Then he went up on a mountain, where wood was growing, and taking an axe in his hand, he cut down the branch of a tree, and laid it on his shoulder, saying to his men, Make haste, each of you, and do as I have done. So every man cut down a branch. Then they followed Abimelech to the idol's house, and piled up the branches against the door and set them on fire. And the house was burned, and all the men who had shut themselves in there were burned up with it.
And Abimelech went to another city named Thebez, and fought against it and took it. After it was taken, the men and women of the city fled into a strong tower, and shut to the door, and went up to the top of the tower. Then Abimelech came near the door to burn the tower, as he had burned the idol's house in Shechem. But a woman who was on the top of the tower, threw down a piece of a mill-stone upon his head and broke his skull. When he saw that he must die, he called one of his young men and said to him, Draw thy sword and slay me, that the people may not say I was slain by a woman. For, because Abimelech was a strong and brave soldier, he was ashamed to have it said that a woman had put him to death. Then the young man drew his sword, and thrust it through Abimelech's body and killed him. So God brought punishment on him for slaying his brethren, and on the people of Shechem, also, for helping him to do that great sin.
After Abimelech was dead, Tola, a man of the tribe of Issachar, was judge over the children of Israel. The Bible tells us nothing about him, or about the things that he did, except that he was judge for twenty-three years; and that he died and was buried in the city of Shamir, on mount Ephraim, where his home had been.
Then Jair, a man of Israel, who lived in the land of Gilead, where the two and a half tribes lived, was judge over the people for twenty-two years. He had thirty sons that rode on thirty colts, and each one of them was governor over a city in Gilead. And Jair died; and was buried in the city of Camon.
And the children of Israel did evil again, for they turned away from serving the Lord to serve Baal and Ashtaroth, the idols their fathers had worshipped. Then the Philistines and the Ammonites made war against them, and the Lord did not help the children of Israel. Therefore their enemies got the mastery over them, and made them their servants for eighteen years.
In their trouble they cried to the Lord for help; but he answered that he had often before set them free from their enemies, yet afterward they had left him to serve their idols. Now, therefore, he said, they might go to the idols they had chosen, and ask them for help. But the children of Israel still cried to the Lord, confessing their sins, and telling him to punish them in any way he saw best; only they begged that he would set them free from the enemies who were ruling over them at that time. Then they put away the idols they had worshipped, and served the Lord again; and he pitied them in their sufferings.
And the Ammonites gathered together, and made their camp in the land of Gilead, on the other side of Jordan. The children of Israel had their camp at a place called Mizpeh; and they wanted a captain for their army, and said, Who is the man that will lead us out to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be ruler over all the people of Gilead.
Now there was a man of the children of Israel named Jephthah. He was a great and brave soldier, yet the men of Israel had been unkind to him, so that he fled from the land of Gilead, where his home was, and went to live in the land of Tob. But when the people wanted a man to lead them out to war against their enemies, they remembered Jephthah; and the elders went to him in the land of Tob, and said, Come and be our captain, that we may fight against the Ammonites. Jephthah answered, Did you not hate me and send me away? Why then are you come to me now, when you are in trouble? The elders told him they had come that he should go with them to fight against the Ammonites, and be ruler over all the people of Gilead. Jephthah asked them, whether, if he should go, and the Lord should give him the victory, they would indeed make him ruler over all the people. And the elders promised, before the Lord, that they would.
Then Jephthah went with them, and the people made him their captain. And he sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, asking him why he had come to fight against the children of Israel. The king answered, that it was because they had taken away his land when they came up out of Egypt: Now therefore, the king said, give me back my land. But Jephthah sent messengers again, saying, that the land which they had taken, was given to them by the Lord, and that whatever land the Lord gave them they would keep for their own. The children of Israel had done no wrong to the Ammonites, Jephthah said, but the Ammonites did wrong to the children of Israel in making war against them.
Yet the king of the Ammonites would not listen to his words. And Jephthah came, with the men of Israel, to the place where the Ammonites had their camp. And before the battle, he made a vow, or promise, that if the Lord would give him the victory, he would offer up, as a burnt offering, whatever should come out of his door to meet him, when he went back to his own home again. Jephthah did wrong in making such a vow, for he could not tell what might come out of his door to meet him; yet he made this vow to the Lord. Afterward he went and fought against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him the victory, so that the children of Israel were set free from them.
When the battle was over Jephthah returned to his own home, and as he went toward his house, his daughter came out with music and dancing, to meet him, being full of joy at seeing her father, for she was his only child. But when he saw her he was greatly troubled, and rent his clothes, and told her of the vow he had made. Then she answered, My father, if thou hast made a vow to the Lord, do to me as thou hast said. But Jephthah should not have kept the vow which it was wrong in him to make. God had commanded the Israelites to offer up oxen, and goats, and lambs, as burnt offerings, not their children. The heathen nations offered their children to idols, and were punished for doing it. Jephthah should have repented of his vow, and asked forgiveness for making it. But the Bible tells us that he took his daughter, and did with her as he had promised; and all the young women of Israel mourned for her. Jephthah was judge over the people for six years; and he died and was buried in one of the cities of the land of Gilead.
After Jephthah was dead, Ibzan was chosen judge, and he ruled over the people seven years. After him, Elon was judge for ten years; and after Elon died, Abdon was chosen judge for eight years. Of these three judges the Bible tells us very little, except how long they ruled, and that they died and were buried.