Judges Chapter 11
The people of Israel were looking for their next leader who would defend them in battle against the Ammonites. A logical choice would have been Jephthah except that he had been thrown out of his own town of Gilead some years before because he was born an illegitimate child to the man Gilead. Jephthah was from a town with the same name as his father. It was not Jephathah’s fault that his father had been unfaithful to his wife and produced a son with another woman, but his half-brothers did not want him to get any part of his father’s inheritance. Despite the rough beginnings of Jephthah, God used him in a mighty way.
“The one thing which we emphasize is that God did not count the wrong for which he was not responsible, a disqualification. He raised him up; He gave him His Spirit; He employed him to deliver His people in the hour of their need.” [Morgan]
The Bible describes Jephthah as an outcast from his family living in a different town with a band of worthless men who followed him. This tells us that Jephthah was a natural born leader, and the men who followed him were probably poor and they had learned how to make a living following this man around possibly acting as paid protection for those who needed it. He had gained a reputation that had gotten back to the people of his hometown as someone who was a warrior.
“He and his band probably operated more in the manner of David and his group years later, protecting cities and settlements from marauders.” [Wood]
Let's Reflect
1. According to verse 9 what did Jephthah require the elders of Gilead to promise if he were to become the leader to fight off the Ammonites?
2. With the agreement in place that Jephthah would be set up as a leader in Gilead, he wrote a letter to the enemy. Not exactly what you would expect, but he was a smart man to find out exactly what the point of contention was. Who did he write a letter to?
3. His letter was returned with a claim that Israel had taken away their land when they came up out of Egypt. This wasn’t the truth. Jephthah returned a message with the truth showing he knew the scriptures. What happened when Israel asked to cross through the land of Moab and through the territory of the Amorites? See verses 15-19.
4. God then gave Israel a great victory in conquering the land of the Amorites. Here is where it can get confusing. The land of the Amorites used to belong to the Ammonites. And it was this king of the Ammonites that thought he had a right to take it back from Israel after Israel had occupied the land for now 300 plus years. Jephthah explained that it was the LORD God who had given them victory in winning the land of the Amorites and so he proposed that they ask their god to fight against his God. What was the name of the Ammonites’ god?
5. This land that they were disputing was land that God had already given to Israel on the east side of the Jordan River. According to verse 28 how did the king of the Ammonites respond to Jephthah?
6. In the anxiousness of the upcoming battle, Jephthah made a vow to God that he did not think through. There has been much disagreement amongst Bible scholars as to the validity that Jephthah carried out his vow in the way it sounds. What vow did he make and who became the subject of his vow?
7. I believe, as many do, that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter as he would have known that this was against God’s law. And the fact that his daughter requested two months to mourn her virginity (that she would not be given in marriage) seems to prove that Jephthah sent his daughter to serve as a temple servant where she would remain celibate. She would not have needed time to mourn her virginity if she were going to be put to death. Jephthah made that vow expecting a sheep or a goat to greet him at his gate not his daughter. The women of the town felt bad for Jephthah’s young daughter who was never allowed to marry. What tradition did the women begin doing in her honor?
8. God used Jephthah in a mighty way, despite his rough childhood he became a judge, a great leader for Israel and is named as a hero of the faith in Hebrews 11:32. Is there something in your past that makes you think that God could not use you? Talk to the Lord about that thing that is holding you back; accept His love and His purpose for your life.
