Judges 12:1-7 – But what about us… (Part II)

¹ And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire.

² And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.

³ And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me?

⁴ Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.

⁵ And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;

⁶ Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

⁷ And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

If you remember way back to Judges 8 and Gideon, this scenario seems oddly familiar. Once again, the Ephraimites complain against their leader, now Jephthah. The Ephraimites, just like before, complain that they were not included in the battle. Jephthah reminds them that he had gone to the for help while his people were still oppressed (before anything that looked good was going on) and they did nothing about it. That was the reason they were not involved in the battle, because they refused to help. Unlike with Gideon, however, this time the Ephraimites end up in a war against Jephthah after they threatened to burn down his house!

The Ephraimites’ problem was that they thought too highly of themselves. They felt like they should be included in anything good happening even if they had chosen not to be involved when things were not looking good for the Israelites. Sometimes, we get the same inflated view of ourselves. We feel like we ought to be included in more things or allowed more responsibilities, but we have to earn those kinds of things. The Ephraimites had a chance to be involved when it was not glamorous, when the people were being oppressed. The Ephraimites, however, choose not to do anything. We need to be committed when things do not seem glamorous. If we are faithful with the little things, God will give us more to be faithful with.

Life Step: Think about it…

Read Luke 16:10. How does it relate to this lesson?

What are the little things that you can be faithful with?

Judges 11:30-35 – Let God Be The Judge

³⁰ And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,

³¹ Then 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.

³² So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands.

³³ And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

³⁴ And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

³⁵ And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.

Most People who know the story of Jephthah are familiar with this part. Jephthah promises God that, if God gives him victory, Jephthah will offer the first thing to come out of his house to meet him to the Lord. Who really knows what he was thinking when he made that vow, but can you imagine his surprise when he arrives home and his only daughter comes running out to meet him?! How ironic! However, he needed to go through with his oath. A quick point of clarification. Some people thing that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, but the text is much more likely that he gave her to the temple to serve God full time. Not quite as dramatic as the other way, but he still had to lose his only child because of a hasty and rash vow.

What could we, as Christians, learn from this? The most important lesson here is that we ought to be careful with what we say. Jephthah made a promise to God, and had to follow through with it. The same applies to us. Do not promise God something you do not intend to follow through on. The same is true, however, with our dealings with other people. We should be careful not to promise something we know would be too difficult to deliver on. We should also be careful not to lie to people, or try to twist and manipulate our words to make it sound just how we want. That is not the kind of way a Christian should act. So, be careful with what you say. Think before you speak. You never know what might come back to hurt you later.

Life Step: Think about it…

What kind of things do we promise, to God or people, that we cannot follow through with?

What ways do our words hurt others?

What can we do to make sure that our words are not something that could hurt us or others?

Judges 11:27-28 – Let God Be The Judge

²⁷ Wherefore 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.

²⁸ Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

Jephthah, now the leader of the people who had kicked him out while he was younger, tries to send a messenger to the Ammonite leader to talk things out before they have to go to war. These diplomatic attempts fail to prevent war, but Jephthah concludes his arguments with the verses above. Although neither Jephthah nor Israel did anything wrong to the Ammonites, Jephthah did not threaten to end this himself. He simply told them that God would decide who is right.

As we will see, God did allow Jephthah to be the one to defeat the Ammonites, but the important thing is that Jephthah was willing to let God be the one to be the judge in the matter. Luke 6:28 says, “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” As Christians, getting back at someone is not our responsibility. God can take care of that himself. In Luke, the Bible goes even further and says that we should even pray for people who use us and bless people that curse us. That’s a high standard!

Whoever might have wronged us, it is not our job to get back at them. We tend to make ourselves judge and decide what punishment people should face for what they have done to us. We, however, do not have the authority to do that, only God. So, if you’re bitter at someone or want to get a person back for some kind of wrong they did, let it go and let God work it out.

Life Step: Think about it…

What is our natural response when people hurt us?

What should our response be?

Why is this difficult for us?

Judges 11:1-3 – When Life Gives You Lemons…

¹ Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.

² And 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.

³ Then 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.

Let’s face it, sometimes life is just not fair! Here we meet the hero of this story, a man named Jephthah who, only because he was born out of wedlock to a prostitute, was disowned by his family. It would have been easy for Jephthah to throw in the towel and give up there. However, that is not what he did! In fact, when he left and went to Tob, he started to gather a following as a “mighty man of valor.” So much so that when the people who had disowned were in trouble he had built a strong enough reputation where they will be going to him for help! They even promise to make him their leader when he wins! Talk about a change in circumstances!

Although w e do  not know more about Jephthah’s time in Tob, he was clearly making the best of a bad situation. Often, life deals bad situations. Sometime, those bad situations are entirely our own fault. When that happens, we just need to do our best to make it right. However, when the situation is no fault of our own, and we, like Jephthah, cannot change our circumstances, they only thing we can control is how we react to it. When bad situations show up, let’s make the most of it! Although we cannot always control what happens to us, we can control how we respond to whatever happens.

Life Step: Think about it…

What kind of bad situations occur by no fault of our own?

How can we make the most of bad situations?