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.