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 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. ³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, ³¹ whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

³² Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. ³³ He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

³⁴ When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.”

³⁶ “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. ³⁷ But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”

³⁸ “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. ³⁹ After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

From this comes the Israelite tradition ⁴⁰ that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. (NIV)

There is no doubt that Jephthah was a hero of faith, and he appears in the Hebrews 11 ‘Hall of fame’. However, I am reminded of the saying that ‘The best of men are men at best.’ We are all fallen, complex and a complete mixture. Reading this passage me reminded me of Ecclesiastes 5:2a:

”Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.”

It is not wrong to make a ‘vow’ to God, but it is a very serious thing to do. In Jephthah’s case, it seems to be an attempt to ‘bribe’, to ‘manipulate’ God: ‘If you do this, I’ll do that.’ So this was a blot on his copy book of faith. It showed a lack of trust in God.

Jephthah’s words were also rash, reckless and irresponsible. Surely he should have realised that ”whatever” (31) came out of his house might well be a human being. (See James 3:1-12)

I find Tom Hale’s words helpful and balanced:

‘Should Jephthah have broken his vow? Yes, of course. The Lord had already made provision for releasing certain people from vows rashly made (Numbers 30:5,8)…There can be no question that Jephthah had real faith in God – and his daughter even more so. In spite of our faith, we humans make terrible mistakes and commit terrible sins; yet God is ready to forgive us. Today, three thousand years later, Jephthah and his daughter are with God in heaven – because of their faith (Hebrews 11:32, 39-40). What seemed so horrible and final back then – physical death, no heirs – now appears much different in the light of eternity. And the deep message of the story is that Jephthah and his daughter submitted themselves to God in faith – regardless of the cost – and God has abundantly rewarded them for doing so.’

(It should be noted, however, that some Bible scholars do not believe that Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter, but rather dedicated her to the Lord’s service as a perpetual virgin. In the Old Testament, women did serve at the entrance to the tabernacle: Ex.38:8; 1 Sam.2:22. Also the law concerning vows permitted substitution when dedicating humans to the Lord: Lv.27:1-8. Warren Wiersbe makes the point that there would surely not be an annual commemoration,v.40, had something so terrible as human sacrifice been involved. I have huge sympathy with this viewpoint, but it is admittedly a difficult passage. It remains correct, I think, to point out how deeply flawed the best of us are, and to entrust ourselves to God’s mercy and grace, without which we are utterly lost.)

 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?”

¹³ The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”

¹⁴ Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, ¹⁵ saying:

“This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. ¹⁶ But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and on to Kadesh. ¹⁷ Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Give us permission to go through your country,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “Next they traveled through the wilderness, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.

¹⁹ “Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Let us pass through your country to our own place.’ ²⁰ Sihon, however, did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He mustered all his troops and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.

²¹ “Then the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and his whole army into Israel’s hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, ²² capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

²³ “Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? ²⁴ Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us, we will possess. ²⁵ Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them? ²⁶ For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during that time? ²⁷ I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”

²⁸ The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.(NIV)

Initially, Jephthah tried diplomacy. What stands out for me in this section is that Jephthah knew his Bible (or as much of it as he had), and he had a good grasp on history. This is significant, living, as we do, in an age of misinformation. We may not know the full extent of it, but we suspect there is a lot of it, and it’s not always easy to discern the ‘wood’ of truth amid the ‘trees’ of information (or misinformation). Jephthah was able to bring clear thinking to the ferment. He could both correct wrong understanding, and draw sound logical conclusions from both his knowledge of history and God’s Word.

Warren Wiersbe points out how God-centred Jephthah is in his understanding. (Look out for examples of this elsewhere in the chapter). He knew that ‘history is His-story.’

Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. ² Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.

⁴ Some time later, when the Ammonites were fighting against Israel, ⁵ the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶ “Come,” they said, “be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites.”

⁷ Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head over all of us who live in Gilead.”

⁹ Jephthah answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me—will I really be your head?”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead replied, “The Lord is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. (NIV)

Although Jephthah responded to an appeal to be the leader, verse 29 shows that he truly was one of the ‘Judges’. Unlike Abimelech, he wasn’t an imposter. He was called and empowered by God.

But consider Jephthah’s background. He did not get off to a good start. He was the illegitimate son of a prostitute (for which he could take no blame). But he was rejected by his brothers, who did not want him to have any part in the inheritance. He was banished. But, over the years, he had a band of fighting men gather around him, and he gained a reputation as a military leader. So, when a crisis arrived, ”the elders of Gilead” sought his help, giving him a promise that he would be their leader. Jephthah was unwanted, until he was wanted!

‘No person should be blamed for the circumstances surrounding his or her birth. Why permit the things you cannot control to burden your life? Learn to accept them, and the Lord will work out His purposes in His own time (Ps.139:13-16). Opposition will one day give way to opportunity.’ Warren W. Wiersbe

‘What a beautiful suggestion of our Lord! He came to his own and they crucified him. He comes to us and we at first refuse him. But his love never faileth. Being reviled, he blesses; being persecuted, he endures; being defamed, he entreats, 1 Cor.4:12.’ F.B.Meyer

After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. ² He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.

Jair

³ He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. ⁴ He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair. ⁵ When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

Jephthah

⁶ Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, ⁷ he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, ⁸ who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. ⁹ The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. ¹⁰ Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”

¹¹ The Lord replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, ¹² the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? ¹³ But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”

¹⁵ But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” ¹⁶ Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.

¹⁷ When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. ¹⁸ The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead.”

Two further judges now enter the story. They are not the biggest names in the drama, but they have their part to play. We do not have to be ‘celebrity’ Christians in order to make a difference. Very few will fit into that category, and I’m not sure that it’s healthy that anyone should. That said, some Christian leaders are undoubtedly given a greater prominence than others. This is God’s business, not ours.

But in spite of the best efforts of God’s choice servants, there is no guarantee that God’s people won’t be drawn back into sin, and find themselves again in the pig-sty. This is the sad ‘Judges’ cycle, repeated once more in this tenth chapter.

‘When there are no battles to fight we tend to take our blessings for granted, which can lead to sin (Deut.8:7-20). The people forsook God and worshiped the gods of the enemy, and God had to chasten them by an invasion of the Ammonites.

The confession in verse 10 was insincere, born out of suffering, but the confession in verse 15 was sincere because it was accompanied by repentance and a putting away of sin. (See 2 Cor.7:8-11.) Remorse and regret are not the same as repentance. God is not impressed by hypocritical tears.’ Warren W. Wiersbe.

This is a very long chapter, and I haven’t included the text here, but I hope you will take the time to read it.

Someone said, ‘If the Lord is going to raise you up, let Him raise you up. But whatever you do, don’t raise yourself up!’ ‘Promotion comes from the Lord’, but self-promotion is of the devil.

Abimelech was a son of Gideon and a Canaanite mother from Shechem (Judges 8:31). It is likely that Abimelech was looked down upon by his seventy half-brothers (Judges 8:30) because of his mother’s inferior status as a concubine. He came up with a plot to establish himself as Israel’s new leader, enlisting the support of his maternal uncles, and the other citizens of Shechem. He murdered his seventy half-brothers and established himself as Israel’s first king. But he was not appointed by God.

The evil Abimelech did recoiled on his own head. He reaped what he sowed (Prov.22:8; Gal.6:7). Tom Hale says, ‘The saying is true: ”Though wickedness may prosper awhile, it will not prosper always.” ‘

‘Abimelech was actually trying to wrest the kingdom away from God (Judg.8:23), and the Lord permitted him to have a measure of success. But God was still on the throne and would see to it that man’s selfish purposes would be frustrated.

It’s a dangerous thing for us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (Rom.12:3). We all need to discover the gifts God has given us and then use them in the place where He puts us. Each member of the body of Christ is important (1 Cor.12:12-31), and we all need one another and to minister to one another. Since there’s no competition in the work of the Lord (John 4:34-38; 1 Cor.3:5-9), there’s no need for us to promote ourselves. The important thing is that God receives the glory.’ Warren W. Wiersbe

 In the evening his disciples went down to the sea, got in the boat, and headed back across the water to Capernaum. It had grown quite dark and Jesus had not yet returned. A huge wind blew up, churning the sea. They were maybe three or four miles out when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, quite near the boat. They were scared senseless, but he reassured them, “It’s me. It’s all right. Don’t be afraid.” So they took him on board. In no time they reached land—the exact spot they were headed to.

^22-24 The next day the crowd that was left behind realized that there had been only one boat, and that Jesus had not gotten into it with his disciples. They had seen them go off without him. By now boats from Tiberias had pulled up near where they had eaten the bread blessed by the Master. So when the crowd realized he was gone and wasn’t coming back, they piled into the Tiberias boats and headed for Capernaum, looking for Jesus. (The Message)

‘The message here is that fear was banished in the presence of Jesus.’ Donald Guthrie

Lord, I pray today for friends, neighbours, colleagues, brothers and sisters, who find themselves in dark places. They are facing strong headwinds, and are being tossed about in a churning sea. I thank you that somehow, mysteriously and wonderfully, you can speak words of reassurance to their souls. You can reach their heart-ears Thank you that you are above the waves that would pull them down and drown them. You are over the storm. You can walk on the raging tide. You know how to get these suffering souls to where they need to be, and maybe more quickly than they could ever have imagined.

Please help us, in every circumstance, to take you ”on board”. May we not neglect you in our trials, but reach out to you for the help only you can give. Cause all our fears to disappear in your presence.

” But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.” (Isa.43:2)

to The people realized that God was at work among them in what Jesus had just done. They said, “This is the Prophet for sure, God’s Prophet right here in Galilee!” Jesus saw that in their enthusiasm, they were about to grab him and make him king, so he slipped off and went back up the mountain to be by himself. (The Message)

Hadn’t Jesus come proclaiming the Kingdom of God? Did He not want people to surrender to Him as King? Well yes, He did. But Jesus saw through the clamour of the crowd to enthrone Him. He knew they were motivated by self-interest. They had a wrong understanding of His Kingship, wanting someone who could meet all their material needs. It wasn’t surrender to the reign of King Jesus that was predominantly on their minds, but the servicing of their temporal wants

‘The most conclusive proof that our Lord was no weak fanatic or enthusiast is afforded by the calm spirit which refused the eager impulse of the crowds to make him king. Here the temptation of the wilderness was repeated, and only one who was filled with the unwavering determination to do God’s will could have refused this shortcut to the Messianic empire. Notice these withdrawals of our Lord to the calm of Nature’s stillness and the bosom of God. If he needed such spaces of undisturbed meditation and communion, surely we do.’ F.B. Meyer

One of the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.”

^10-11 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.

^12-13 When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted.” They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves. (The Message)

Someone said, ‘Give as you can, not as you can’t.’

The little boy brought by Andrew (who is bringing someone to Jesus every time we meet him in this gospel!) gave what he could. It didn’t seem a lot, but Jesus used it to feed a crowd, and there was an abundant surplus.

Many years ago I heard a song, ‘Ordinary people’. As I recall, it went:

‘Ordinary people, God uses ordinary people.

God uses people who will give Him their all, no matter how small their all may be;

For little becomes much when you place it in the mighty Hands of God.’

^1-4 After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (some call it Tiberias). A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick. When he got to the other side, he climbed a hill and sat down, surrounded by his disciples. It was nearly time for the Feast of Passover, kept annually by the Jews.

^5-6 When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered, “Two hundred silver pieces wouldn’t be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece.” (The Message)

‘The world is to be fed by the co-operation of Christ and his Church.’ F.B. Meyer

”We are workers together with God…” (2 Cor.6:1/1 Cor.3:9). Jesus gives to us the privilege of teaming up with Him in order to perform the miraculous. Even when we don’t have an answer to the challenges He poses (let alone the right answer) He still works with us to grow us, to ”stretch” our faith. He always knows what He is going to do. He is not dependant on us for advice.

‘Christ often tests us to see what we shall say and do in the presence of overwhelming difficulty, but he always knows the way out.’ F.B.Meyer

”Two hundred silver pieces” would not have been enough; but neither were they going to be needed. Jesus had another way. Faith recognises that God has other ways we may not yet have comprehended.