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Judges 10:1-11:311And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. 2And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. 3And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. 4And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. 6And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him. 7And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. 8And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed. 10And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. 11And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. 13Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. 14Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. 15And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. 16And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. 17Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh. 18And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. 1Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah. 2And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman. 3Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him. 4And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 5And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob: 6And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. 7And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress? 8And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. 9And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the Lord deliver them before me, shall I be your head? 10And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The Lord be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. 11Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh. 12And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land? 13And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. 14And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon: 15And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon: 16But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; 17Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh. 18Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab. 19And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place. 20But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan. 23So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it? 24Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess. 25And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, 26While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time? 27Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the Lord the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon. 28Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him. 29Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. 30And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, 31Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. (Judges 10:1‑11:31)
After the death of Abimelech, Tola and Jair judged Israel, but the people still departed from the Lord and worshiped the gods of Syria, Zidon, Moab, and the other nations around them. Then the Lord allowed their enemies to trouble them, and at last the Ammonites gathered their armies together and came over Jordan to fight against Israel.
Then the children of Israel cried unto the Lord and said, “We have sinned against Thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.” This confession looked fine on the surface, but it was not from the heart. Alas, how often this is so. How often the sinner forgets the Lord as long as everything goes well, but then when trouble comes he turns to Him and expects deliverance out of his trouble. Sometimes even we who are Christians do this, but the Lord reminded Israel of all He had done for them, and of how they had turned away from Him to other gods. He told them to call upon the gods whom they had been worshiping and let them deliver them out of their trouble.
Then they owned their sin again, and this time they put away their strange gods and turned to the Lord who heard their cry. They said that the man who delivered them would be their head. We can see from this that although they had turned to the Lord, they were still looking to some man to be their leader. How difficult it is for us to look to the Lord alone. How naturally, even after praying to Him, we seem to look to “an arm of flesh.”
Jephthah was the one whom God used to deliver his people at this time, but there were things about him that showed the sad state into which the people had fallen. He was the son of a harlot, and had been turned out of his father’s house. He had a following of vain men too, but he was a mighty man of valor.
The men of Gilead sent for him, therefore, and told him that they wanted him to be their captain to deliver them from the Ammonites. Jephthah said he would come and fight for them if they would make him their head, when the Lord had delivered the Ammonites into their hands. The Gileadites said they would do this. Jephah then sent messengers to the children of Ammon asking them why they had come out to fight against Israel. The Ammonites said that the land from Amon to Jabbok, and to the Jordan, belonged to them, but Jephthah told them of how the Lord had given it to Israel out of the hand of the Amorites, and that now it belonged to them, not to the Ammonites.
The king of the children of Ammon would not listen to this, and so Jephthah passed over to fight against him. Before doing so, Jephthah vowed to the Lord that if He would deliver the enemy into his hand, then whatever came out of the door of his house to meet him, he would offer up as a burnt offering to the Lord. This was a rash and unnecessary vow. The Lord does not want us to makr such promises to Him, and we can surely say the Lord took no pleasure in the fulfillment of this vow. Nevertheless God honored the faith of Jephthah, as He always does, no matter how weak and failing the instrument. How good He is!
ML 11/01/1953