Vows are dangerous

Judges 10–12 A promise ends in tragedy.

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Judges 10–12

I’m reading Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Judges arise from various tribes with no apparent inherited authority, so I assume that, like Deborah, they are gifted.

But the cycle returns of Israel following other gods and suffering oppression by surrounding nations.

Who rises up to take command but Jephthah, the bastard outcast and outlaw. The elders of Gilead begged him to lead when faced with war after they had thrown him out for being the son of a prostitute.

Unfortunately, Jephthah vowed that if he succeeds, then “then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt offering.”