Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead had begotten Jephthah.
Judges 11 opens by naming a man twice over: a fighter of proven strength, and the son of a prostitute. Both facts stand in one sentence. His whole story turns on that clash: whom God picks up when His people have sunk low, and why.
The man God laid His hand on for this rescue was a surprise. One writer sets the choice beside the earlier ones:
On whom did God lay His hand for the leadership in this work of deliverance? On a most unexpected individual. So far we have noticed how He was pleased to use weak and insignificant and even ridiculous things. Now we see Him selecting one whose very origin suggests not insignificance but shame.
The choice said something about Israel. God fits the vessel to the state of the people He is dealing with.
Here again we find the same mark of what was worthless or unpromising in the instruments God used in a day of decline. Judges 11 tells us that Jephthah the Gileadite "was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute." Abimelech was no doubt the son of a concubine, but here we go lower still. Yet he was "a mighty warrior," a man who lived like a raider — the chief of a reckless company of outcasts and desperate men. Things in Israel were now so low that even this man becomes an instrument of God's deliverance. In all this God was stamping His moral verdict on the people. In their condition He could not use vessels of greater moral worth.
The verse names Gilead as his father. Jephthah's ability was real, but his birth decided how his family treated him:
One man in Israel had gifts for leadership above all the rest: Jephthah the Gileadite. But he was not popular, because he was the son of a prostitute (v. 1). His father's wife had sons of her own. When they grew up, they refused to own Jephthah as their brother, and they drove him out of any inheritance in his father's house (v. 2). Of course Jephthah's birth was not his fault, but his father's. But this made no difference to his brothers.
Writers see the shape of this story pointing past Jephthah. His own people threw him out, then begged him to save them:
Jephthah was the judge who freed Israel from slavery to Ammon. He was born of a sinful union — "the son of a prostitute." Then he became an outcast and had to flee from his brothers... Yet he was a mighty warrior. So he was a lowly instrument, despised and rejected by his own. But in the end those who rejected him had to send for Jephthah to be their saviour from the Ammonites. They had to own him as their leader — the man they had hated and thrown out because of his low birth. He reminds us of our Lord. His own people hated Him, and He is yet to be their deliverer.
The comparison has limits, and this verse sets them:
I have said that Jephthah's life suggests our Lord's. I choose that word with care, and with great hesitation. His brothers had moral reasons for rejecting him. He was the son of a prostitute. That makes us shrink from linking his name with the spotless Son of God.
The record does not hide Jephthah's failures. It also does not end with them:
Jephthah's history shows how far Israel had fallen. They had to turn to the captain of a troop of "worthless men." Jephthah suffered greatly through his rash vow. He also lacked the wisdom and humility to calm the anger of the men of Ephraim. God did not desert His people, but their low state is very clear. Heb. 11:32 speaks of the faith of Jephthah. He maintained the claim of God's people to the inheritance God had given them.
- Shame — God's choice fell on a man whose birth suggested not weakness but disgrace.
- Verdict — the poor quality of the deliverer was God's public comment on Israel. While they stayed in that state, He could not use a better vessel.
- Rejection — the fault was his father's, not his, yet his brothers cut him off from any inheritance.
- Reversal — the man they threw out became the man they begged to save them. Writers see Christ in that, yet they hold the comparison with care.
- Faith — his rash vow cost him dearly, yet Hebrews 11 names him among the faithful. He held to God's people's claim on the inheritance God gave them.
And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and when his wife's sons were grown, they expelled Jephthah, and said to him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of another woman.
Jephthah's story starts with a family closing ranks against him. The sons of his father's wife drive him out and cut him off from the inheritance. The man they throw away is the one God will later use to save them.
The brothers acted over property and standing, not over anything Jephthah had done:
One man in Israel had gifts for leadership above all others: Jephthah the Gileadite. But he was not popular, because he was the son of a prostitute (v. 1). His father's wife had sons. When they grew up, they refused to own Jephthah as their brother. They expelled him from any inheritance in his father's house (v. 2). Of course Jephthah's birth was not his fault, but his father's. But this made no difference to his brothers.
Jephthah could have fought for his place in the family. He let it go:
Jephthah, who — apart from his origin — was the eldest of the family, was rejected by his brothers... "Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and lived in the land of Tob" (v. 3). Jephthah allowed himself to be stripped of everything. He humbled himself instead of lifting up his head among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a foreign country. But God knew how to find him and to bring him to the front again. The moment came when those who had driven their deliverer away had to throw themselves at his feet and beg.
The man God raised up shows how low Israel had sunk:
But here again is found the same brand of what was worthless or unpromising in the instruments that God used in a day of decline. Judges 11 tells us that "Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, and he was the son of a prostitute." Abimelech was no doubt the son of a concubine; but here we descend lower still. Still, he "was a mighty warrior," who lived something like an outlaw's life — the chief of a reckless company of outcasts and desperadoes. So low were things now in Israel, that even this man becomes an instrument of God's deliverance... In the condition they were in, He could not use vessels of greater moral worth.
Another writer draws the opposite lesson from the same fact — not shame on Israel, but surprise at God:
"Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, and he was the son of a prostitute" (Judges 11:1). Truly in these things God's ways are different from ours.
Trouble came, and Israel's own honour and standing gave them nothing:
The son of a foreign woman, he had been disowned by his brothers in Israel, and cast out among the Gentiles. But this is the one whom the Lord chooses to be Israel's saviour in the day of their trouble. But where is Israel's honour now? Where is the glory and worth of their own system? His brothers despised him and cast him out as a worthless thing, and now he is their only hope in their disaster.
One writer sees here a picture of Jesus, hated by His own and still their deliverer:
He was therefore a lowly instrument, despised and rejected by his own. But in the end those who rejected him had to send for Jephthah to be their saviour from the hands of the Ammonites. They had to own him as their leader, the man they had hated and cast out because of his lowly birth. He reminds us of our Lord, who was hated by His own and who is yet to be their deliverer.
One writer draws that parallel only with hesitation:
I have said that Jephthah's life suggests our Lord's. I use the word deliberately, and with great hesitation. There were moral reasons why his brothers rejected Jephthah. He was "the son of another woman." That makes us shrink from linking his name with the spotless Son of God.
The same writer ties deliverance to the meaning of Jephthah's name:
The only deliverer of the people of God from the power of evil and false teaching is one whose own brothers have rejected him... This man's name is the Opener, the one who opens the word of God to us.
- Rejected. His brothers expelled him from any share in his father's house over a birth that was not his fault.
- Relinquished. He pressed no claim; he let himself be stripped of his rights and went away to a foreign country.
- Remembered. God knew where to find him, and brought him forward again when the nation had nothing left.
- Reversed. The ones who drove their deliverer out had to fall at his feet and own him. The man they called worthless was their only hope.
- Resembling. Commentators see here a shadow of the Lord, hated by His own and still to be their deliverer. Some add that Jephthah's origin makes the comparison one to draw with care.
Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob. And vain men were gathered to Jephthah, and they made expeditions with him.
Jephthah's own family shut him out. This verse shows where that rejection left him: in a foreign land, leading a band of worthless men. It raises an uncomfortable question. How does the man God later uses to rescue Israel end up living like an outlaw?
Jephthah ran because his brothers had cut him out of the family inheritance. One writer contrasts his response with Abimelech's, and points to what God did next.
Abimelech sought, from the start, to exalt himself, and seized the place of Gideon's rightful family. Jephthah did the opposite. He allowed himself to be robbed. He humbled himself instead of raising his head among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a strange country. But God knew how to find him and to bring him to the front again.
The men who joined him in exile show what kind of life he took up.
Jephthah went to the land of Tob, apparently east of Gilead. There his abilities attracted a following of unwholesome characters (v. 3). They "went out" together, likely as a band of raiders, and this clearly made a name for Jephthah.
The name of that land makes a sharp contrast with the men who gathered in it.
He lived in the land of Tob, which means goodness, and vain, or worthless, men gathered to him. Yet he was a mighty warrior. He was therefore a humble instrument, despised and rejected by his own.
The kind of man God used says something about the state of the people He used him for.
"Jephthah the Gileadite," we are told in Judges 11, "was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute." Abimelech was no doubt the son of a concubine, but here we go lower still. Even so, he was a mighty warrior. He lived a raider's life, at the head of a reckless company of outcasts and desperate men. Things in Israel were now so low that even this man becomes an instrument of God's deliverance. In all this God was clearly stamping His moral verdict on the people. He could not use instruments of greater moral worth while they were in that condition. He plainly meant to testify to their state by the agents He used for their good.
Yet Israel's low state did not cancel God's care, and Jephthah is not written off.
The history of Jephthah shows how far Israel had fallen in turning to the captain of a troop of "vain men." Jephthah suffered badly through his rash vow. He also lacked the wisdom and humility to calm the anger of Ephraim. God did not abandon His people, but their low state is very clear. Hebrews 11:32 speaks of Jephthah's faith. He held on to the claim of God's people to the inheritance God had given them.
The man thrown out here is the one the Lord chooses to save Israel. That reversal leaves the nation nothing to boast in.
The son of a strange woman, he had been disowned by his brothers in Israel, and cast out among the nations outside Israel. But this is the one whom the Lord chooses to be Israel's saviour in the day of their trouble. But where is Israel's honour now? Where is the glory and worth of their own system? The man his brothers despised and threw out as worthless is now their only hope in their trouble.
Several writers see a picture of Christ here. One of them also says why the comparison needs care.
In a far-off land he gathers around him men who were despised like himself — vain fellows, as they are called. They are like David's company in the cave of Adullam. I have said that Jephthah's life suggests our Lord's. I use the word deliberately, and with great hesitation. There were moral reasons for his brothers' rejection of him. He was "the son of a strange woman." That makes us shrink from linking his name with the spotless Son of God. Keeping this in mind, his rejection still suggests Him who was set apart from His brothers.
- Rejected. His brothers cut him out of his father's house. He gave up his rights instead of fighting for them, and left.
- Relocated. He settled in Tob, a land whose name means goodness. There worthless men gathered around him and went out raiding under his lead.
- Revealing. God's deliverer for this hour was the captain of a reckless band. That choice was His own verdict on how far Israel had sunk.
- Reversed. The very men who cast him out came begging him to lead them, leaving the nation no honour of its own to claim.
- Remembered. Hebrews 11:32 still names Jephthah's faith, in spite of his rash vow and his harshness toward Ephraim. Commentators see Christ pictured in this rejected deliverer, though one warns that Jephthah's origin makes the likeness one to hold with care.
And it came to pass after some time, that the children of Ammon fought with Israel.
Ammon rises against a weakened Israel, and Gilead has no one to lead the fight. The man they turn to is the one his own family drove out — why does God so often rescue through someone His people rejected?
Ammon does not start this war out of nowhere. Israel had been bowing to Ammon's idols, and one commentator sees the invasion as the result:
The children of Ammon used Israel's low condition to rise up against them. They wanted to strip Israel of their lawful territory and privileges and take these for themselves. What had the people gained by bowing down before the idols of Ammon? They had fallen under the judgment of God, and into the hands of the enemies of the Lord. If we step onto the world's ground, it robs us, causes us to lose the reality of our privileges, and takes them away. The world then says to us: my rights are as great as yours, I am as good a Christian as you are, for you are as busy with the things of the world as I am.
There is a family history behind the hostility. Ammon came from Lot, and the same commentator draws a wider pattern from it:
The worst enemies of the people of God are always the descendants of believers according to the flesh. Midian, whom Gideon fought, came from Ishmael, the seed of Abraham according to the flesh. Moab and the children of Ammon came from Lot. Edom was the son of Isaac after the flesh... our most determined enemies are the outcome of our failures or of the flesh in us.
Just before this, the people of Gilead had asked who would begin the fight. One commentator hears in that question a people who knew little of God's guidance:
However blessed this day of revival was, one thing was sadly missing. They did not know the basic truths God had entrusted to His people... They had no sense of the unity of the people. Gilead made himself into a separate party. They barely knew the authority and guidance of the Spirit of God, for they said: "Who is the man?" Only one step was left for them — to choose for themselves. And they took that step... God did raise up Jephthah, but Gilead took part in the choice.
The sequence is plainly told: the war begins, and only then do the elders set out for Tob.
When Ammon then came to make war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to Tob to urge Jephthah to consent to be their commander to fight against Ammon. Jephthah reminded them that they had shown hatred toward him by expelling him from his father's house, and he asks why then were they coming to him when they were in distress.
The war forces a reversal. Those who drove Jephthah out must now beg him, and one commentator sees in this a picture of Christ:
Jephthah let himself be robbed. He humbled himself instead of lifting up his head among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a foreign country. But God knew how to find him and bring him forward again. The moment came when those who had driven their deliverer away had to come and plead at his feet... They had mocked this very saviour, and now they had to acknowledge him in the far country, just as Joseph's brothers once did. In their distress they appealed to him and begged him to become their captain. Jephthah would not take this title until after the victory. And so will it be with Christ. Israel will openly recognise Him as their Head when He triumphs over their enemies.
The same reversal is drawn out from the meaning of the place he had fled to:
He lived in the land of Tob (goodness) and vain, or worthless, men gathered to him. Yet he was a mighty man of valour. He was therefore a humble instrument, despised and rejected by his own. But finally those who rejected him had to send for Jephthah to be their saviour from the hands of the children of Ammon.
God's choice of instrument here is itself a message about the nation's condition:
He lived something like a raider's life — the chief of a reckless company of outcasts and outlaws. Things in Israel were now so low that even this man becomes an instrument of God's deliverance. In all this God was plainly stamping His moral verdict on the people's state. He could not in their present condition use vessels of greater moral worth.
Once called, Jephthah does not rush at Ammon:
Jephthah takes great pains to prove, when he comes forward, that he has clear right on his side. This is an important principle. He does not dare to go to war, and the Spirit of God does not clothe him with energy for the fight, until he is sure in his soul that the cause is righteous. That certainty rests on how God had dealt with the children of Israel and with Ammon.
- Cause. Israel had bowed down to Ammon's idols, and the war followed. Step onto the world's ground and you lose the reality of your own privileges.
- Crisis. Gilead's question "Who is the man?" showed a people arranging their own rescue instead of seeking God's guidance.
- Cast out. The commander they needed was the brother they had driven out. Distress drove them to his feet.
- Christ. One commentator sees here a picture of the One His own rejected. Israel will recognise Him as Head through His victory.
- Certainty. Jephthah would not fight until he was sure the cause was righteous. God's own dealings settled that ground first, and the power followed.
And when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob.
Ammon is attacking Israel. The leaders of Gilead travel to a foreign land to fetch back the very man their families drove out. The only man who can save them is the one they threw out.
Jephthah had not changed since the day they threw him out. Gilead's danger had changed. That is the whole reason for the trip to Tob.
Then Ammon came to make war against Israel. The elders of Gilead went to Tob to urge Jephthah to agree to be their commander in the fight against Ammon (vv. 4-6). Jephthah reminded them that they had shown hatred toward him by driving him out of his father's house. He asks why, then, they were coming to him now that they were in distress (v. 7). They had no real answer. All they could say was that they were now turning back to him, to ask him to be their head in the fight against Ammon (v. 8).
Jephthah had not fought for his inheritance. He walked away from it — and that surrender is exactly what God later used.
Jephthah let himself be robbed. He humbled himself instead of lifting up his head among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a foreign country. But God knew how to find him and to bring him to the front again. Then the moment came. The men who had driven their deliverer away had to throw themselves down at his feet and plead with him... They had mocked this very saviour. Now, like Joseph's brothers before them, they had to own him in that far country. They appealed to him in their distress and begged him to become their captain. Jephthah did not consent to take this title before victory (v. 9). And so it will be with Christ. His triumph over their enemies will openly mark Him out as the Head of Israel.
One writer notes the meaning of the land Jephthah fled to, and the greater person his story points to.
He dwelt in the land of Tob (goodness) and vain, or worthless, men gathered to him. Yet he was a mighty man of valour. He was therefore a humble instrument, despised and rejected by his own. But in the end those who rejected him had to send for Jephthah to be their saviour from the Ammonites. They had to own him as their leader, whom they had hated and cast out because of his lowly birth. He reminds us of our Lord, who was hated by His own and who is yet to be their deliverer.
One writer stops at the meaning of Jephthah's name and what it offers us against error.
This man's name is the "Opener," the one who opens the word of God to us. It is as the truth, the word of God, is opened to us that we are enlightened by it. Our hearts open to its action upon us. Our eye is opened to see the wondrous things out of God's law. So as there is an opening of the Word, the power of error will take its flight.
Not every writer reads this trip as a good moment. Gilead had been looking for a man to lead them, and this journey is the answer they arranged for themselves.
They had no sense of the unity of the people. Gilead made itself a party. The authority and guidance of the Spirit of God were little known, for they said: "What man is he?" They had only one more step to take — to choose for themselves. They took that step in verses 4-11 of the following chapter. Not that Jephthah was not raised up of God, but Gilead took part in the choice. How different this was from the call of Gideon! And how sadly typical of the last days of decline — this meddling of man.
In the next verses Jephthah asks for something in return. One writer traces his later failure back to that demand.
He will be head, and is going to be recognised as that. His previous rejection rankles in his heart. He has not taken it as from God, but as bad treatment. So he reminds them that they had once despised him. Now, if he is going to be of any use to them, they must recognise him and give him a high place. In that claiming of headship we can see some of the springs of what led to sad failure later on.
- Rejected. Jephthah gave up his inheritance and walked away rather than fight for his rights.
- Remembered. God knew where to find the man Gilead had thrown out, and brought him forward again at the right moment.
- Required. War with Ammon is what sent the elders to Tob. Distress, not repentance, drove them back to their deliverer.
- Reversed. The men who threw him out had to beg him for help. Writers link this to Joseph's brothers, and to Christ, who is yet to deliver the people who refused Him.
- Risked. Commentators differ on how clean this moment is. Gilead chose its own leader, and Jephthah's demand to be their head carried old rejection into his later failure.
And they said to Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight against the children of Ammon.
Ammon's army has camped in Gilead, and the elders who once drove Jephthah out now come to the land of Tob to ask him to lead their fight. Their request raises two hard questions: why does God use a man like this, and what does it say about them?
The elders come with a request, not an apology. Jephthah's reply forces the past into the open, and they have nothing to say to it.
Jephthah reminded them that they had shown hatred toward him and had expelled him from his father's house. Why, then, were they coming to him now that they were in distress (v. 7)? They had no real answer. They were simply turning back to him to ask him to be their head in the fight against Ammon (v. 8).
Years before, they had taken everything from him and he had not fought back.
Jephthah let them strip him of everything. He humbled himself instead of lifting up his head among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a foreign country. But God knew how to find him and bring him to the front again. The moment came when those who had driven their deliverer away had to throw themselves as beggars at his feet.
Jephthah's background was not incidental. The kind of man Israel had to send for was itself God's verdict on Israel.
Judges 11 tells us that Jephthah the Gileadite "was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute." Abimelech was no doubt the son of a concubine, but here we go lower still. Still, he "was a mighty warrior," who lived an outlaw's life. He was the chief of a reckless company of outcasts and desperate men. Things were so low in Israel that even this man becomes an instrument of God's deliverance. In all this God was stamping His moral verdict on the people's state. He could not in their then condition employ vessels of greater moral worth.
The elders were already looking for a man. The trip to Tob was the next step in that search.
They had no sense of the unity of the people. Gilead made itself into a party. They barely knew the authority and guidance of the Spirit of God, for they said, "Who is the man?" Only one step was left — to choose for themselves. They took that step in verses 4-11 of the following chapter. Not that God had not raised Jephthah up, but Gilead took part in the choice. This was very different from the call of Gideon.
The elders offer a battlefield command. Jephthah asks for more than that, and Ridout hears a warning in what he asks.
He made a covenant with the people: if he delivered them, he should be their head... Remember how Abimelech craved headship, and how he used every effort to get kingship over Israel. We see traces of that same spirit in this man, though Jephthah is far better than Abimelech... His earlier rejection still rankles in him. He has not taken it as from God, but as bad treatment. In that claiming of headship I think we can see at least some of the roots of the sad failure that came later.
Israel's enemy that day was an army. Ridout points to a deeper enemy, and to the weapon that defeats it.
The only one who can deliver God's people from the power of evil and evil doctrine is a man his own brothers rejected. So it points us to Christ as the only One who can deliver. Look at the man himself: his name is very striking... This man's name is the Opener, the one who opens the word of God to us. When the truth, the word of God, is opened to us, it gives us light.
The trip to Tob was a confession.
He was the son of a strange woman. His brothers in Israel had disowned him and thrown him out among the Gentiles. But this is the one whom the Lord chooses to be Israel's saviour in the day of their trouble. So where is Israel's honour now? Where is the glory and worth of their own system? The man his brothers despised and threw out as worthless is their only hope in their disaster.
- Rejected — His brothers took his inheritance. He gave up his rights without a fight and left for a foreign country.
- Recalled — The very men who drove him out came as beggars, with no answer to his protest except their own distress.
- Revealed — The kind of man Israel had to send for exposed Israel. In their condition God could not use a better vessel.
- Risky — Gilead chose its own leader; God had called Gideon. And Jephthah's claim to headship carried seeds of later failure.
- Reflecting Christ — The one they cast out is the only one who can deliver. His name means the Opener — as the word of God is opened, it gives light.
And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come to me now when ye are in trouble?
The men who threw Jephthah out of his father's house now ask him to lead their army. He does not say yes — he asks why they have come.
Jephthah's charge is accurate. His half-brothers pushed him out over something he had no part in.
One man in Israel had gifts for leadership above all the rest: Jephthah the Gileadite. But he was not popular, because he was the son of a prostitute. His father's wife had sons of her own. When they grew up, they refused to own Jephthah as their brother. They drove him out of any share in his father's house. Of course Jephthah's birth was not his fault, but his father's. But this made no difference to his brothers.
Jephthah did not fight his brothers for his inheritance. He gave it up and left.
Jephthah let himself be robbed. He humbled himself instead of lifting up his head among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a foreign country. But God knew how to find him and to bring him to the front again. The moment came when the men who had driven their deliverer away had to fall at his feet and beg. They had mocked this very saviour. Now they were forced to own him in a foreign land, as Joseph's brothers were before them. They appealed to him in their distress and begged him to become their captain.
The question lands hardest on Israel. Their own system had just failed them.
This is the one whom the Lord chooses to be Israel's saviour in the day of their trouble. But where is Israel's honour now? Where is the glory and worth of their own system? The man his brothers despised and threw out as worthless is their only hope in their disaster.
Jephthah was heading a band of outlaws when the elders came. One writer reads God's use of such a man as a verdict on the nation.
Once again the instruments God used in a day of decline carry the same mark of what was worthless or unpromising. "Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute." Abimelech was no doubt the son of a concubine; but here we go lower still. Still, he "was a mighty warrior." He lived a kind of outlaw's life, as chief of a reckless company of outcasts and desperadoes. Things were so low in Israel that even this man becomes an instrument of God's deliverance. In all this God was plainly stamping His moral judgment of their state on the people. He could not in their condition employ vessels of greater moral worth.
Notice who takes the initiative. Gilead went looking for a leader of its own.
"And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, 'Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.'" They had no sense of the unity of the people. Gilead set itself up as a party of its own. They knew little of the authority and guidance of the Spirit of God, for they said, "Who is the man?" Only one step was left — to choose for themselves. They took it. God did raise Jephthah up, but Gilead had a hand in the choice.
The words his brothers used to disown him have an echo elsewhere in Scripture.
Apart from his birth, Jephthah was the eldest of the family, and yet his brothers rejected him: "You shall not inherit in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman." Does that not remind us of the words, "We do not want this man to reign over us"?
Another writer sees Jephthah's rejection as a picture of our Lord's, but with hesitation.
His brothers cast him out. They would have nothing to do with him. They refused him as a disgrace to themselves, and when they saw him there was no beauty that they should desire him. In that way he reminds us of Him who was rejected by His brothers... I have said that Jephthah's life suggests our Lord's. I use the word deliberately, and with great hesitation. There were moral reasons for his brothers' rejection of Jephthah: he was the son of a strange woman. That makes us shrink from linking his name with the spotless Son of God.
- Rejected. His brothers drove Jephthah from his father's house over his birth. He had no hand in it. The wrong was theirs.
- Released. He did not fight for his rights. He let them go and left — and that surrender is what God later used.
- Remembered. Nothing but distress brought Gilead back to him; their need, not their affection, put them at his feet.
- Revealing. Begging an outlaw chief to save them showed Israel how far it had fallen. Their question "Who is the man?" showed they were still choosing for themselves.
- Reversed. The despised one becomes the only hope. Commentators trace that pattern from Joseph to Christ, but with care.
And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore we have returned to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be head over all of us the inhabitants of Gilead.
The Ammonites are at war with Israel, so the elders of Gilead travel to the land of Tob to bargain with the man their own families had driven out. In the verse before, Jephthah asked why they came to him only now, in their trouble — and this verse is their answer.
The elders first asked Jephthah only to be their commander. When he threw their old cruelty back at them, they had no defence — only a bigger offer.
When Ammon came to make war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to Tob to urge Jephthah to agree to be their commander in the fight against Ammon (vv. 4-6). Jephthah reminded them that they had shown hatred toward him by expelling him from his father's house, and he asked why they were now coming to him in their distress (v. 7). They had no real answer except that now they were turning back to him to ask him to be their head in fighting against Ammon (v. 8).
Jephthah lost his place in his family and did not fight for it. Now the men who pushed him out must come and plead with him. One commentator sees the whole pattern as a picture of Christ.
Jephthah let himself be stripped of everything. He humbled himself instead of lifting up his head among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a foreign country. But God knew how to find him and to bring him to the front again. Then the moment came. The men who had driven their deliverer away had to throw themselves as beggars at his feet. "Did you not hate me," said Jephthah to the elders of Gilead, "and drive me out of my father's house?" (v. 7). They had mocked this saviour. Now, in the far country, they had to acknowledge him, just as Joseph's brothers once did. In their distress they appealed to him and begged him to become their captain. Jephthah did not agree to take this title before the victory (v. 9). And so it will be with Christ. By His triumph over their enemies, Israel will openly acknowledge Him as its Head.
The offer in this verse did not start with Jephthah. Gilead had already fixed the reward before it knew the man. Commentators see a difference between a deliverer God raises up and one a region picks for itself.
The people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, "Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead" (10:18). They had no sense of the unity of the people. Gilead made itself into a party. They knew little of the authority and guidance of the Spirit of God, for they asked, "Who is the man?" Only one more step was left — to choose for themselves. They took that step in verses 4-11 of the following chapter. Not that Jephthah was not raised up by God, but Gilead took part in the choice. How different this was from the call of Gideon! How sadly typical of the last days of decline — this meddling of man.
Notice who Israel had to turn to. The man they needed was living abroad, at the head of a band of worthless men.
Israel has no leader. So they turn to the captain of a troop of "worthless men," and promise to obey him if he will put himself at their head. Jephthah agrees. But although this was a deliverance, we still see in all of it how deeply Israel had fallen.
Jephthah does not just accept. He makes headship the condition, sealed by a covenant with the people. Commentators differ on that demand: one sees in it the first crack in a man God still used.
He made a covenant with the people, that if he delivered them he should be their head... Abimelech craved headship and used every effort to get kingship over Israel. We see traces of that same spirit here, though Jephthah is a man far superior to Abimelech... But he will be head, and he means them to recognise it. His earlier rejection still stings him. He has not taken it as from God, but as bad treatment. So he reminds them that they had once despised him. If he is to be of any use to them now, they must recognise him and give him a high place. I think that claim to headship shows at least some of the roots of his sad failure later on.
- Rejection. His own family pushed Jephthah out, and he gave up his rights without a fight. God found him in that far country and brought him to the front again.
- Need. Only Ammon's invasion brought the elders back. The men who had driven their deliverer away had to beg at his feet.
- Offer. They had no real answer to his question. They could only raise the terms — from commander for one war to head over all Gilead. Jephthah would not take that title before the victory.
- Choice. Gilead had already fixed the reward before it knew the man. Commentators read that choosing for themselves as a mark of decline, not of faith.
- Warning. The headship he demanded also exposed him. The old insult still stung, and one commentator traces his later failure back to that claim.
And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If ye take me back to fight against the children of Ammon, and Jehovah give them up before me, shall I be your head?
The elders who let Jephthah be driven out now beg him to come home, and his reply names a price: headship, once the LORD has given the enemy over. Is that faith speaking, injured pride, or both?
The verse sits inside a reversal: the man his family drove out is the man Gilead now begs for.
His brothers rejected Jephthah, though apart from his origin he was the eldest of the family: "You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman." Does that not remind us of the words, "We do not want this man to reign over us"? Jephthah let himself be stripped of everything. He humbled himself instead of lifting up his head among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a foreign country. But God knew how to find him and bring him to the front again. The moment came when the men who had driven their deliverer away had to throw themselves at his feet as beggars. They had mocked this saviour, and now, like Joseph's brothers, they had to acknowledge him in a far country. Jephthah did not agree to take this title before the victory. And so it will be with Christ, who will be publicly recognised as the Head of Israel by His triumph over their enemies.
Another writer sees the same likeness, but holds it back. His brothers had a moral reason to reject him.
I think certain things in the life of Jephthah strongly suggest our Blessed Lord — though with many reservations and additions. His brothers cast him out. They refused him as a disgrace to themselves, and when they saw him, there was no beauty that they should desire him... In a far-off land he gathers around him those who, like himself, were despised — "worthless fellows," as they are called, like David's company in the cave of Adullam. I use the word "suggests" deliberately, and with great hesitation. There were moral reasons for his brothers' rejection of Jephthah — he was the son of another woman — which make us shrink from linking his name with the spotless Son of God.
The condition he sets also exposes something in him.
He made a covenant with the people that if he delivered them he should be their head... Remember how Abimelech craved headship, and how he used every effort to get kingship over Israel. We see traces of that same spirit in this man, though Jephthah stands infinitely above Abimelech... But he will be head, and he is going to be recognised as such. His earlier rejection still rankles in him. It has not been taken as from God, but as bad treatment. So he reminds them that they once despised him, and now, if he is going to be of any use to them, they must recognise him and give him a high place. I think in that claiming of headship we can see some of the springs of what led to sad failure later on.
Commentators differ. Another writer reads Jephthah's slowness before battle as care, not just ambition.
Perhaps no man shows the danger of rash vows in the joy of a divine deliverance more than Jephthah, and that vow touched him in the closest possible way. Yet he was the very opposite of rash when he entered on his service for the people of Israel. Listen to the solemn appeal Jephthah makes to the elders before he acts. No doubt his desire for his own importance and advancement is only too obvious. But when he enters on the service itself, he makes sure Israel feels the right is on their side beyond dispute. He also makes sure his enemy knows it, and presses it on his conscience.
Gilead had already asked "what man?" Now they settle terms with the man they find.
They had no sense of the unity of the people. Gilead set itself up as a party on its own. The authority and guidance of the Spirit of God were barely known, for they said, "What man is he?" Only one more step remained — to choose for themselves. They took that step in verses 4-11 of the following chapter. Not that Jephthah was not raised up by God, but Gilead took part in the choice.
The man they ended up with says something about them too.
Things were so low now in Israel that even this man becomes an instrument of God's deliverance. In all this God was plainly stamping on the people His moral verdict on their condition. In their state He could not use vessels of greater moral worth.
- Rejected. His brothers ruled him out: no inheritance, son of another woman. He gave up his rights and left without a fight.
- Recalled. Distress forced the men who expelled him to come as beggars to the one they had mocked, as Joseph's brothers had to do.
- Deferred. He would not take the title before the battle. In that he pictures Christ, owned as Head of Israel through His triumph over Israel's enemies.
- Compromised. The same demand shows an old wound unhealed and a hunger for headship like Abimelech's. Those are the seeds of his later failure.
- Chosen. Gilead asked "what man?" and chose for themselves. God still used him, and the kind of man He used was His verdict on the people.
And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Jehovah be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words!
Israel's elders have come to a man they once drove out, and now they seal their request with an oath sworn in God's hearing. Why did a nation in trouble have to bind itself by an oath, and what did that bargain cost the man they swore to obey?
The elders answer his terms by putting God between the two parties. Jephthah asked for headship if he won; their oath binds them to give it.
Jephthah would agree on one condition. If he defeated Ammon, would Israel agree to make him their head? In agreeing to this proposal, the elders called God as a witness to their agreement (vv. 9-10). They brought him to Mizpah. There the elders and the people appointed Jephthah as their head, and he spoke to them as in the presence of the Lord (v. 11).
One writer sets this against the call of Gideon, and traces the fault back to a question the leaders had asked among themselves.
They had no sense of the unity of the people. Gilead made himself into a party of his own. They barely knew the authority and guidance of the Spirit of God, for they said: "What man is he?" Only one more step was left for them — to choose for themselves. They took that step in verses 4-11 of the following chapter. God did raise Jephthah up, but Gilead took part in the choice. How different this was from the call of Gideon, and how painfully typical of the last days of decline — this meddling of man.
Deliverance was coming. One writer still looks hard at the kind of man Israel had to turn to.
Israel had no leader. They turned to the captain of a troop of "worthless men." They promised to obey him if he would put himself at their head. Jephthah consents. But although this was a deliverance, we see in all of it how deeply Israel had fallen.
The men now swearing to obey Jephthah are the ones who had shut him out.
He was therefore a lowly instrument, despised and rejected by his own. But in the end those who rejected him had to send for Jephthah to be their saviour from the hands of the children of Ammon. They had to acknowledge him as their leader, the one they had hated and cast out because of his lowly birth. He reminds us of our Lord, who was hated by His own and who is yet to be their deliverer.
Jephthah's life has ugly parts, and the Bible does not hide them. One writer asks what makes such a record worth studying at all.
There would be much to puzzle us and little to build us up in the history of Jephthah, if we did not look in it for what showed God's character. On one side, the word of God shows us the natural man, completely cut off from God. It also describes all the weaknesses and failures of men of faith such as Jephthah. But God gives us more than that in their history. He presents Christ to us, and this is what makes them so interesting... Jephthah would not take this title before the victory (v. 9). And so it will be with Christ. He will be publicly recognised as the Head of Israel through His triumph over their enemies.
Jephthah asked for headship before he would fight, and the elders swore to it. One writer looks at what was driving that demand.
He made a covenant with the people that if he delivered them he should be their head... Remember how Abimelech craved headship, and how he used every effort to get kingship over Israel. We see traces of that same spirit in this man, though Jephthah stands far above Abimelech... But he will be head, and is going to be recognised as that. His earlier rejection still stings him. He has not taken it as from God, but as bad treatment. So he reminds them that they once despised him, and now, if he is going to be any use to them, they must recognise him and give him a high place. I think in that claim to headship we can see at least some of the springs of what led to sad failure later on.
- Witness. The elders answered Jephthah's condition by calling God as witness. At Mizpah, Jephthah spoke his own words in the presence of the Lord.
- Choice. Gilead's question, "What man is he?", shows a people acting for themselves. God raised Jephthah up, yet Gilead took part in the choice.
- Decline. Deliverance came. Still, a nation that had to obey the captain of a band of worthless men had fallen far.
- Reversal. The brothers who cast Jephthah out had to send for him and acknowledge him as head. He pictures the Lord, hated by His own and yet their deliverer.
- Cost. The headship he bargained for still carried the sting of his old rejection — and the seeds of his later failure.
Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them; and Jephthah uttered all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah.
Israel's elders travel to a man they had once driven out, and bring him home to lead them. At Mizpah they make him their head and leader, and there he speaks all his words "before the LORD." Was this leadership God's gift, or the people's own arrangement?
The men now making him head had once robbed him and driven him out. One writer follows that path — loss, exile, their return as beggars — and sees Christ pictured in it:
Jephthah let himself be robbed. He humbled himself instead of holding his head high among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a foreign country. But God knew how to find him and bring him to the front again. The moment came when those who had driven their deliverer away were forced to throw themselves at his feet as beggars... Jephthah would not take this title before the victory (v. 9). And so it will be with Christ, who will be publicly recognised as the Head of Israel by His triumph over their enemies.
Commentators differ over how to read the making of Jephthah as head. One writer hears a people looking around for a man, and sets that beside the way God called Gideon:
They hardly knew the authority and guidance of the Spirit of God, for they said, "What man is he?" Only one more step remained — to choose for themselves. They took that step in verses 4-11 of the following chapter. Not that Jephthah was not raised up by God, but Gilead took part in the choice. How very different this was from the call of Gideon! This meddling of man is painfully typical of the last days of decline.
Another writer looks at the same bargain from Jephthah's side. He traces the demand to be made head back to an old wound:
He made a covenant with the people that if he delivered them he should be their head... he will be head, and is going to be recognised as that. His earlier rejection still stings him. He has not taken it as from God, but as bad treatment. So he reminds them that they once despised him. Now, if he is going to be any use to them, they must recognise him and give him a high place. I think in that claiming of headship we can see at least some of the springs of what led to sad failure later on.
What does "before the LORD" mean here? One writer links the phrase to the deal both sides had just made:
Jephthah would agree on one condition. If he defeated Ammon, would Israel agree to make him their head? In agreeing to this proposal, the elders called God as a witness to their agreement (vv. 9-10). At Mizpah the elders and the people appointed Jephthah as their head. There he spoke to them as in the presence of the Lord (v. 11).
Mizpah was no ordinary town. One writer weighs a later generation by how little its name still meant to them:
For Israel, the place of meeting before God was Gilgal under Joshua and Mizpah under the judges. At this time the name of Mizpah meant nothing to the hearts of the people. They did not even speak it (compare Judges 11:11; Judges 20:1; Judges 21:1, 5). The natural result of forgetting God's presence is that the people do not consult Him.
Why such a man for such a post? One writer reads the choice of instrument as God's verdict on the nation:
He was "a mighty warrior," who lived a kind of outlaw's life — the chief of a reckless company of outcasts and desperate men. Things were so low in Israel that even this man becomes an instrument of God's deliverance. In all this God was clearly stamping His moral verdict on the people's state. He could not, in their condition then, use vessels of greater moral worth. He plainly meant to testify to their state by the agents He used for their good.
His name carries its own lesson. One writer turns it into a question for every reader:
How am I to be set free from false doctrine? This man's name is the Opener, the one who opens the word of God to us. It is as the truth, the word of God, is opened to us that we are enlightened by it. Our hearts open to its action on us. Our eye is opened to see the wonderful things in God's law.
- Rejected — Jephthah gave up his rights and went into exile rather than fight for his place. The men who drove him out had to come begging.
- Raised — God knew where to find him and brought him to the front again. The outcast made head pictures Christ, owned as Head by His victory.
- Chosen — Gilead took part in the choice, and Jephthah pressed to be recognised as head. Commentators differ over where the flaw lies. Both see man's hand at work.
- Witnessed — Mizpah was Israel's meeting place before God under the judges, and Jephthah spoke every word there in His presence. A people who forget that presence stop consulting Him.
- Opened — His name means Opener. God's word opened to us is what sets us free from false teaching and lights up His law.