Last week, we met Yiftach as the disenfranchised son of a man named Gilad, of the territory named Gilad – where the people of Ammon presented a longstanding and growing threat.
This week, we will study three instances of what might be described as Yiftach’s diplomatic efforts (with perhaps varying degrees of success): The negotiations that brought him back to help those who had wronged him; dialogue, and ensuing battle, with Ammon; and, skipping a bit (saving The Vow for next time), a tragic conflict with his Ephraimite brethren.
Through it all, we will engage in close reading of the text, along with insights from commentaries, to explore what sort of person, and what sort of leader, Yiftach may have been. These insights will offer background and depth to our study of The Vow that made Yiftach, and his daughter, tragically famous.