The best part, in my opinion, of the Jephthah narrative is that it gives us a reasonable anchor point for our timeline. Our brains look for patterns, even seeing some that aren't actually there. So when we find ourselves halfway through the book of Judges, the inclination is to think we've made it about halfway through the approximately 350 years of the book. But we already know that not to be the case since we understand that the last five chapters of the book should likely occur at the beginning of the book. Jephthah does us the great kindness of mentioning that it has been "300 years" since the Hebrew people took a claim on the land of the Ammonites. He brilliantly summarizes the journey from Egypt to the Red Sea and down to Kadesh. He recounts the troubles they faced from Edom, Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Balak, king of Moab. Jephthah boldly says, "Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the LORD our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess." ...