UBF Daily Bread

JEPHTHAH, THE MIGHTY WARRIOR

Passage: Judges 11:1~28

Key verse: 21

11 Jephthah^(A) the Gileadite was a mighty warrior.^(B) His father was Gilead;^(C) his mother was a prostitute.^(D) ²Gilead’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.” ³So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob,^(E) where a gang of scoundrels^(F) gathered around him and followed him.

⁴Some time later, when the Ammonites^(G) were fighting against Israel, ⁵the 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.”

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

⁸The 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^(I) over all of us who live in Gilead.”

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

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

¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?”

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

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

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

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

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

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, ²²capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.^(AE)

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? ²⁴Will you not take what your god Chemosh^(AF) gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us,^(AG) we will possess. ²⁵Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor,^(AH) king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them?^(AI) ²⁶For three hundred years Israel occupied^(AJ) Heshbon, Aroer,^(AK) the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during that time? ²⁷I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge,^(AL) decide^(AM) the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.^(AN)”

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

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Footnotes

Judges 11:16 Or the Sea of Reeds
Judges 11:20 Or however, would not make an agreement for Israel

Jephthah the Gileadite was the son of a prostitute. His brothers drove him out of Gilead. But when the Ammonites began to threaten Israel, the elders sought Jephthah, because he was a mighty warrior. Jephthah knew that they only came because they were in trouble, but they persuaded him to come back. In their desperation they needed Jephthah to lead them. They made him their head and commander.

When the Ammonite king claimed the land of Gilead east of the Jordan, Jephthah gave him a lesson from history. The land in question, originally Ammonite territory, had been conquered by the Amorites. Israel had taken it from the Amorites (Dt 2:24-37) and had occupied it since. It was God who gave the land to the people of Israel. The Ammonites’ god was too weak to give it back to Ammon. But God is able. Jephthah served God who is the giver of all things.

Prayer: Lord, you are the giver of good things. Raise spiritual leaders with a sense of history to serve you today!

One Word: Take hold of God’s gifts