Jephthah was born of a prostitute and a mighty warrior. As he grew up his half-brothers drove him away to the land of Tob. It was here he became something similar to a mercenary captain. Meanwhile, the Israelites had been doing evil in the sight of the Lord and the Ammonites were oppressing them. They call upon Jephthah to lead them into the battle, and they are able to convince him after swearing by the Lord. Jephthah first tries to convince the Ammonite leader to leave, but he is unable to do so. Then Jephthah goes into battle. Just before the battle, he vows that he will sacrifice the first thing that comes out of his house if God gives him victory. God does give him victory and the first thing to greet him is his only daughter. His daughter decides that he should uphold is vow and he does so.
Then the Ephraimites come upon Jephthah angry that he did not call them into battle. Jephthah explains that he did call them and they did not respond in time. So Jephthah seizes the fords of the Jordan and kills every Ephraimite that attempts to cross, about 42,000. Jephthah judges Israel for a total of 6 years.
Jephthah’s story is tragic for several reasons.
1. There is the hate from his own family only for them to beg him to save them.
The family driving him away is not totally uncommon for bastard children in general, but this is especially true in Hebrew culture. Your Jewish rights are conferred upon you by your mother not your father. For someone to attempt to claim inheritance through the father and yet be of a non-household woman is very displeasing. Clearly, his half-brothers did not wish to share their inheritance which displays the greed that was rampant at the time.
2. There is the sacrifice of his daughter extinguishing his family line, a tragedy far greater than the death of any particular family member.
Now, there can be some debate about whether Jephthah actually killed his daughter as a burnt offering. Many rather choose to read it as he consecrated her for tabernacle work. In both cases, the main thing of import is the loss of family line. This leads to all sorts of sticky wickets in Jewish culture, and the loss of family lines was particularly tragic because of the importance of Jewish blood.
3. He ends up having to fight and kill his own people.
We know from Jephthah’s unwillingness to fight the Ammonites that he isn’t always looking for a fight. But, here he is getting judged and driven away by his own people, the Ephraimites. Jephthah is unwilling to take it anymore and he seizes the fords of the Jordan and sends a message. Don’t mess with a Judge.