Verse 3 explains how Jephthah became known as a “mighty warrior” (gibbor hayil). He had fled from his brothers, settled in the land of Tob,24 and became the leader of “a gang of scoundrels.” The 1984 NIV’s translation “a group of adventurers” (’anashim reqim, lit., “empty men”) completely missed the mark. Jephthah is not a Walt Disney Robin Hood-type character. He is the leader of a group of vagrants, morally empty men, and is thus pictured in the same terms as Abimelek (cf. the use of ’anashim reqim [lit., empty men] in 9:4 to describe Abimelek’s cutthroat hirelings). Thus the 2011 NIV
...more
