IEPHTEH (Hebr. Jiphthah). — A Gileadite warrior, judge of Israel (1 Sam 12:11), whose exploits are narrated in Judg 10:6–12:7.
The illegitimate son of Gilead, driven out by his legitimate brothers, he took refuge in the region of Tob, near the sources of the Jordan. There, in the harsh life of a raider, alone against all (Gen 16:12), he imposed himself by his courage and prowess (like David in the desert of Judah and Ziph) and became the leader of a large band of men, like him, who had fled or been cast out from their own clans. When his fellow countrymen, oppressed by the Ammonites—who, encamped in Gilead, even penetrated into Judah—turned to Yahweh for deliverance and, having renounced idolatry, took up arms, finding no one among them to assume command, they sent to beg I. to accept the grave task. I. accepted, after having made the elders and his tribe swear in the name of Yahweh that after the victory they would give him authority. It was an attempt, after that of Gideon, to establish a monarchical principality; an attempt that ended with I.
The stakes were high, and I., while seeking to gather troops, entered into negotiations. When these failed, I., trusting in Yahweh, to whom he had vowed to sacrifice the first person to meet him on his return from the battle who came out of his house, attacked the Ammonites by surprise, swift and decisive. He routed them in a series of victorious clashes; he reclaimed twenty Israelite cities, liberating Gilead as far as the Jordan. To the victor came out to meet him, first among the others, his only daughter, for the customary celebration. At this sight, I. uttered a piteous lament. The daughter encouraged her father; she asked only for two months to weep with her companions on the mountains over her “virginity,” that is, the flower of her youth cut short; after the two months, I. sacrificed her.
The Ephraimites, as they had done with Gideon, rose against I. because he had won without them. I., who had invited them in vain at the moment of danger, bloodily quelled their insolence. At the fords of the Jordan, the Ephraimites were recognized by the pronunciation of the word *sibboleth* “ear of grain,” which they instead pronounced *sibboleth* “torrent” (a similar episode in the Sicilian Vespers: the French betrayed themselves by mispronouncing “ceci”).
I. is a fervent Yahwist; for him, Yahweh knows how to protect his people against other peoples and their gods (Judg 21:11, 24–27; cf. Heb 11:32–33). Yet his faith was rudimentary, marred by the stain of human sacrifice, performed by I. in his ignorance of the law of Sinai, and in imitation of the Canaanites (as did also King Mesha of Moab: 2 Kgs 3:27). Thus begins the decline from pure Yahwism, a characteristic of that period of fragmentation, under the deleterious influence of Canaanite culture.