Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from Judges chapters
11 through 13. Chapter 11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite
was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son
of a harlot, and Gilead begot Jephthah. Gilead's
wife bore sons, and when his wife's sons grew
up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him,
You shall have no inheritance in our father's
house, for you are the son of another woman.
Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt
in the land of Tob. And worthless men banded
together with Jephthah and went out raiding with
him. It came to pass after a time that the people
of Ammon made war against Israel. And so it was
when the people of Ammon made war against Israel
that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah
from the land of Tob. Then they said to Jephthah,
Come and be our commander, that we may fight
against the people of Ammon. So Jephthah said
to the elders of Gilead, Did you not hate me
and expel me from my father's house? Why have
you come to me now when you are in distress?
And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, That
is why we have turned again to you now, that
you may go with us and fight against the people
of Ammon. and be our head over all the inhabitants
of Gilead. So Jephthah said to the elders of
Gilead, If you take me back home to fight against
the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them
to me, shall I be your head? And the elders of
Gilead said to Jephthah, The Lord will be a witness
between us if we do not do according to your
words. Then Jephthah went with the elders of
Gilead, and the people made him head and commander
over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before
the Lord in Mizpah. Now Jephthah sent messengers
to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, What
do you have against me, that you have come to
fight against me in my land? And the king of
the people of Ammon answered the messengers of
Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land when
they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as
far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore
restore those lands peaceably. So Jephthah again
sent messengers to the king of the people of
Ammon, and said to him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel
did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land
of the people of Ammon. For when Israel came
up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness
as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. Then
Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying,
Please let me pass through your land. But the
king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner
they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not
consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh. And they
went along through the wilderness and bypassed
the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to
the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped
on the other side of the Arnon. But they did
not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was
the border of Moab. Then Israel sent messengers
to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Hezbon,
and Israel said to him, Please let us pass through
your land into our place. But Sihon did not trust
Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon
gathered all his people together, encamped in
Jehaz, and fought against Israel. And the Lord
God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people
into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them.
Thus Israel gained possession of all the land
of the Amorites who inhabited that country. They
took possession of all the territory of the Amorites,
from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness
to the Jordan. And now the Lord God of Israel
has dispossessed the Amorites from before his
people Israel. Should you then possess it? Will
you not possess whatever Shimosh your God gives
you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God
takes possession of before us, we will possess.
And now are you any better than Balak the son
of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever fight against
them? While Israel dwelt in Hezbon and its villages,
in Aror and its villages, and in all the cities
along the banks of the Arnon for three hundred
years, why did you not recover them within that
time? Therefore I have not sinned against you,
but you wronged me by fighting against me. May
the Lord, the Judge, render judgment this day
between the children of Israel and the people
of Ammon. However, the king of the people of
Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent
him. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah,
and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and
passed through Mizpah of Gilead. And from Mizpah
of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.
And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said,
If you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon
into my hands, then it will be that whatever
comes out of the doors of my house to meet you,
when I return in peace from the people of Ammon,
surely shall be the Lord's, and I will offer
it up as a burnt offering. So Jephthah advanced
toward the people of Ammon to fight against them,
and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And
he defeated them from Arwar as far as Meneath,
twenty cities, and to Abel -Kiramim, with a very
great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were
subdued before the children of Israel. When Jephthah
came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter
coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing,
and she was his only child. Besides her, he had
neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass,
when he saw her, that he tore his clothes and
said, Alas, my daughter, you have brought me
very low. You are among those who trouble me,
for I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot
go back on it. So she said to him, My father,
if you have given your word to the Lord, do to
me according to what has gone out of your mouth,
because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies,
the people of Ammon. Then she said to her father,
Let this thing be done for me. Let me alone for
two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains
and bewail my virginity, my friends and I. So
he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months.
And she went with her friends and bewailed her
virginity on the mountains. And it was so at
the end of two months that she returned to her
father, and he carried out his vow with her which
he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became
a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel
went four days each year to lament the daughter
of Jephthah the Gileadite. Chapter 12 Then the
men of Ephraim gathered together, crossed over
towards Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, Why did
you cross over to fight against the people of
Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We
will burn your house down on you with fire. And
Jephthah said to them, My people and I were in
a great struggle with the people of Ammon, and
when I called you, you did not deliver me out
of their hands. So when I saw that you would
not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and
crossed over against the people of Ammon, and
the Lord delivered them into my hands. Why then
have you come up to me this day to fight against
me? Now Jephthah gathered together all the men
of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the
men of Gilead defeated Ephraim because they said,
you Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among
the Ephraimites and among the Manassites. The
Gileadites seized the forts of the Jordan before
the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite
who escaped said, let me cross over, the men
of Gilead would say to him, are you an Ephraimite?
If he said no, then they would say to him, then
say Shibboleth. And he would say Sibboleth. for
he could not pronounce it right. Then they would
take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan.
There fell at that time 42 ,000 Ephraimites.
And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah
the Gileadite died and was buried among the cities
of Gilead. After him, Ibn of Bethlehem judged
Israel. He had 30 sons, and he gave away 30 daughters
in marriage, and brought in 30 daughters from
elsewhere for his sons. He judged Israel seven
years. Then Ibn died and was buried at Bethlehem.
After him, Elon the Zebulonite judged Israel.
He judged Israel 10 years, and Elon the Zebulonite
died and was buried at Aijalon in the country
of Zebulun. After him, Abdon the son of Hillel
the Pirathonite judged Israel. He had forty sons
and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy young
donkeys. He judged Israel eight years. Then Abdon
the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was
buried in Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, in
the mountains of the Amalekites. Chapter 13 Again
the children of Israel did evil in the sight
of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into
the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the
family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah,
and his wife was barren and had no children.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman
and said to her, Indeed now you are barren and
have borne no children, but you shall conceive
and bear a son. Now therefore please be careful
not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to
eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive
and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon
his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to
God from the womb. and he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. So
the woman came and told her husband, saying,
A man of God came to me, and his countenance
was like the countenance of the angel of God,
very awesome. But I did not ask him where he
was from, and he did not tell me his name. And
he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive and
bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink,
nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall
be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day
of his death. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord
and said, O Lord, please let the man of God,
whom you sent, come to us again and teach us
what we shall do for the child who will be born.
And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and
the angel of God came to the woman again as she
was sitting in the field. But Manoah her husband
was not with her. Then the woman ran in haste
and told her husband and said to him, Look, the
man who came to me the other day has just now
appeared to me. So Manoah arose and followed
his wife. When he came to the man, he said to
him, Are you the man who spoke to this woman?
And he said, I am. Manoah said, Now let your
words come to pass. What will be the boy's rule
of life and his work? So the angel of the Lord
said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman,
let her be careful. She may not eat anything
that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine
or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All
that I commanded her, let her observe. Then Manoah
said to the angel of the Lord, Please let us
detain you, and we will prepare a young goat
for you. And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah,
Though you detain me, I will not eat your food.
But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer
it to the Lord. For Manoah did not know he was
the angel of the Lord. Then Manoah said to the
angel of the Lord, What is your name, that when
your words come to pass, we may honor you? And
the angel of the Lord said to him, Why do you
ask my name, seeing it is wonderful? So Manoah
took the young goat with the grain offering and
offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And he
did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife
looked on. It happened as the flame went up toward
heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord
ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah
and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces
to the ground. When the angel of the Lord appeared
no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew
that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah
said to his wife, We shall surely die because
we have seen God. But his wife said to him, If
the Lord has desired to kill us, he would not
have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering
from our hands, nor would he have shown us all
these things, nor would he have told us such
things as these at this time. So the woman bore
a son and called his name Samson. And a child
grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit
of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahan -e
-Dan between Zorah and Ishtawot. I hope you enjoyed
today's reading as much as I did and I look forward
to seeing you again tomorrow to continue on our
journey. God bless you and have a great day.