"What! I, a high priest, the son of a high priest, should humiliate
myself and go to an ignoramus!" Jephthah on the other hand said:
"What! I, the chief of the tribes of Israel, the first prince of the
land, should humiliate myself and go to one of the rank and file!"
So only the rivalry between Jephthah and Phinehas caused the loss
of a young life. Their punishment did not miss them. Jephthah dies
a horrible death. Limb by limb his body was dismembered. As for
the high priest, the holy spirit departed from him, and he had to
give up his priestly dignity. (109)

As it had been Jephthah's task to ward off the Ammonites, so his
successor Abdon was occupied with protecting Israel against the
Moabites. The king of Moab sent messengers to Abdon, and they
spoke thus: "Thou well knowest that Israel took possession of
cities that belonged to me. Return them." Abdon's reply was:
"Know ye not how the Ammonites fared? The measure of Moab's
sins, it seems, out against the enemy, slew forty-five thousand of
their number, and routed the rest. (110)

SAMSON

The last judge but one, Samson, was not the most important of the
judges, but he was the greatest hero of the period and, except
Goliath, the greatest hero of all times. He was the son of Manoah
of the tribe of Dan, and his wife Zelalponit (111) of the tribe of
Judah, (112) and he was born to them at a time when they had
given up all hope of having children. Samson's birth is a striking
illustration of the shortsightedness of human beings. The judge
Ibzan had not invited Manoah and Zelalponit to any of the one
hundred and twenty feasts in honor of the marriage of his sixty