“The Judges: Jephthah”

Scripture: Judges 10:6-12:7 (selected)

Today, we consider the life and ministry of our next Judge, Jephthah. But first, a recap of the folks we’ve seen so far. Remember that in our first week, we discussed the fact that even though the Judges were generally called by God to lead the people back from sinful and idolatrous ways, the Judges weren’t always faithful themselves. The first group of Judges, which included Deborah, were faithful, and were able to bring about periods of authentic faith in God that would last for a good number of years. Of the first 4 Judges, the nation lived a peaceful existence for over 160 years. The second group, which included Gideon, did fair, but as you will remember last week, even Gideon fell victim to idolatry, when he created that golden ephod to commemorate his victory over the Midianites, and then after his death, his son Abimelech would set himself up as a king.
And when each of the Judges died and passed from the scene, we read the words “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” They had no staying power, they couldn’t maintain their trust in the God of Israel, and they consistently fell back into their old idol-worshipping ways.

Today, we move into the third and last period of Judges. While these men would also be charged with turning the nation away from Baal and other false gods, and back into the true God’s grace, they would be much more susceptible to the temptations and lure of evil than their predecessors had been.
Today, we consider the life and service of Jephthah.

Read Judges 11:1-11

Several points that I want you to note.
First, in the previous chapter (10:6-16), we see Israel slipping back into their old ways, but now God is a lot slower in sending them a deliverer. He allows them to suffer under both the Philistines and the Ammonites, and not only are the eastern tribes of Israel constantly under attack, but those on the western side of the Jordon were also invaded. There were many other nations who oppressed them, and the list was growing longer. Israel calls out to God once again, but he replies “But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!” (10:13-14). The Lord is nearly fed up with their flip-flops in faith, and he is going to let them make their own way for a while.
Second, we see that Jephthah’s life started out as a mixed blessing. He was known as a mighty warrior, which was a real compliment to him. But his heritage had a rather questionable component to it, and it would create a rift between him and the rest of his family. Prostitutes were a normal part of society, as long as they stayed where they were supposed to be, and not let their activity infringe on the normal aspects of family life. And so, the rest of the sons of Gilead could see no good whatsoever in their illegitimate brother, and they forced him to leave home.
Third, when Jephthah was asked to return to the tribe and lead them in battle, you will note that it is the tribal elders and not God who makes the call. The Lord was still angry with Israel and is letting the nation deal with the situation in their own way. And so, the elders decide to take matters into their own hands, and they choose Jephthah all by themselves. It’s true that Jephthah would present his position to the Lord, but it doesn’t appear to be God’s idea.
So the question is this – Since God wasn’t part of the decision to choose Jephthah, was he a real Judge? It’s hard to say! But his story is in this book and he did lead, so we won’t quibble over the details. Suffice it to say though, that the Judge’s position is on fairly rocky ground at this point!

After accepting his new position, Jephthah sends a challenging message to the king of the Ammonites, their current oppressor, and it begins: “This is what Jephthah says:” (11:14). It makes you wonder just what God might have to say about this. But the Lord is silent!

Read Judges 11:28-31

At first glance, it appears that Jephthah is finally being lead by the Lord. The Spirit came upon him – not just offered - it was actually there, and God would be present in the life of Israel once again. So why does Jephthah make that vow of sacrifice to God? If the Holy Spirit is upon the Judge, nothing else is necessary except obedience, and this act may even imply that Jephthah isn’t sure that the Spirit is sufficient! And this vow will be nearly impossible for the Judge to keep.
But the Spirit is sufficient (of course, we already knew that!), and the army is victorious over Ammon. Jephthah then returns home and he encounters the consequences of his apparently unnecessary vow.

Read Judges 11:34-35

His arrogance in making an offer to the Almighty, one that has never been asked for and is not needed, develops into a tragic situation. And Jephthah keeps his promise. But things are going to continue to go from bad to worse.

The people of Ephraim, just as they had done with Gideon, want to know why Jephthah didn’t invite them to be part of the battle and subsequent victory! It seems that Ephraim had great hind-sight when it came to seeking glory, but they fell a little short of the gumption needed to be part of the effort before the outcome was known. Heated words are thrown about on both sides of the issue, and before long, Jephthah and the army of Gilead go to war against their fellow countrymen, and 42,000 Ephraimites would die (12:1-7).
Jephthah would lead Israel as a Judge for 6 years and there would be peace, at least a tentative one. But how successful can we say his service really was?

His parentage had been offensive, and his family rejected him. Now normally, this wouldn’t deter God from his intended purposes. We see the Lord using sinners and outcasts and other undesirables to accomplish his will all the way through scripture. Rahab the prostitute and her entire family were saved at Jericho because of her faithful service to Israel (Joshua 2,6:20-23). David and Bathsheba is another such story – David, a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:21-22), essentially rapes the woman and has her husband murdered (2 Samuel 11), and yet both continue to be used to God’s glory. Ruth, the Moabite widow, is redeemed through her love and dedication to her mother in law Naomi (Ruth). And these people, even with all of their personal baggage and shortcomings, are all vital parts of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ genealogy. (Matthew 1:5-6) Even Jesus contributed to the angst when he ate and associated with all kinds of “sinful” people, and the Pharisees choked over this time and time again (Matthew 9:9-13). God’s choices are seldom the same as ours! But in Jephthah’s case, the source of the choice is questionable.

But continuing with Jephthah - he has success in battle, and actually leads the people of Israel for a short period of time, but his personal life was a shambles. He receives the Spirit of God, and yet seems to think that he needs to do more to cement their relationship. He loses his daughter, his only child, because of an ill-conceived vow that he makes to God. His arrogance in dealing with his countrymen from Ephraim results in thousands of deaths.

Is he successful? Is he an abject failure? It isn’t for us to judge, but his life is for us to examine and then apply the results to our own lives.

Our faithful service to God has little or nothing to do with who we are. The things that the world honors - intelligence, family background, wealth, social standing, even age - has no place in determining faithful service. The questions that have to be answered regarding our walk with the Lord are more importantly these: Do we live and work within our own will, or within the Lord’s? Are the victories credited to the Spirit’s leading, or to our own abilities? Are our failures due to God’s failure in us, or because of our failure in him? Is the length of our service in the Name of God, whether long or short, because we are such wonderful people, or because it is simply God’s plan? And what about his timing – do we trust that it is right and perfect, or do we feel that we have to make adjustments to it from time to time?
Do we try to take the events of life into our own hands when it seems that the Lord has forgotten us? The elders of Israel, for some reason, felt that they had to act because God wasn’t doing what they had asked him to do. What kind of faith is that? What kind of trust is that? It didn’t seem to work out all that well for Jephthah, did it? And it will never work out well for us, either.

It has to be all about God! His plan, his will, his victory, his timing, his power and grace! We have to understand that the wisdom of our Almighty God is perfect, and that ours is flawed. We have to surrender our desire to be the leader, so that we can become the best follower that we can possibly be. We can’t experience a victory, and think that it is ours. We can’t experience a failure and think that it’s God’s!
The best that we can do is to faithfully carry out the call that the Lord places on us – completely, without hesitation, without doubt – and to do it in a joyful and obedient way. And it is then that the Spirit can get to work to make it all come together.

But is a life in service to the Lord as easy as this seems to make it? Hardly! But through prayer and meditation – first asking him for guidance, and then listening for his word on the matter – is a great start. Trust and confidence and a sense of Godly assurance will be our strength, and the glory and victory that he gains will also come to us.

Be a victor in Christ today. That, too, is perfect in him.