Jephthah: OT Bad Boy or Hero of the Faith? Or Both? Part 1
The Return of Jephtha, by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini
As some of you might already know, a few of us here at Foundry are on a preaching team for a little church in Camp Sherman, OR called Chapel in the Pines. Normally, we preach one-off sermons. But one of the church elders asked if we would string together a sermon series. One of our team members proposed walking through the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. What follows is part 1 of my attempt to make sense of the notorious character of Jephthah in Judges 10:6–12:7.
Even if you have only a passing knowledge of the Bible, you probably know the story of Jephthah. He’s the guy who sacrificed his own daughter, right? Or did he? Stay tuned.
But his story raises questions about the nature of spiritual leadership, the kind of person God uses for his purposes. Certainly, character counts in leadership, but the lack of it (or at least gaps in character) doesn’t necessarily disqualify.
The ragged history of Israel recorded in Judges presents a cycle of sin that’s hard to break: idolatry (in which we serve someone or something other than God), oppression (in which we fall under the thumb of the idol we serve), repentance (a genuine forsaking of our idols and crying out to God for deliverance), and deliverance (in which God raises up a leader in answer to our cries for help).
God raised up twelve such leaders in Judges, four of whom stand out: Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson. An unlikely group of faith heroes if there ever was one! Jephthah falls ninth in this series of deliverers.
Os Guinness, author, theologian, and social critic, wrote a book entitled, A Free People’s Suicide, echoing Abraham Lincoln’s quote on freedom:
"If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
Guinness (and Lincoln) maintain that the greatest threat to freedom is freedom. In other words, freedom and virtue must travel together.
Is it any wonder that the key verse of Judges is Judges 21:25? “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (NIV)
These judges in general and Jephthah in particular tell us about the kind of people God chooses and uses in leadership. Broken, flawed people. Character counts for sure, but if we’re waiting for the perfect pastor or perfect leader…well, we’ll still be waiting.
In his commentary on Hebrews 11, 16th century pastor and theologian John Calvin wrote: “In every saint, there is always to be found something reprehensible. Nevertheless, although faith may be imperfect and incomplete, it does not cease to be approved by God.”
Jephthah’s story spans from Judges 10:6 to 12:7. Let’s look at the background behind his rise to power in Judges 10:6-18.
The all too familiar cycle of sin precedes Jephthah’s leadership (10:6-18)
Here’s three observations that struck me reading this passage:
God’s people were more like the culture they lived in rather than influencing the culture around them. Exchange the names of these foreign gods for today’s money, sex, and power and you’ll grasp that idolatry is alive and well. (10:6)
There’s a difference between regret and repentance. Judges 10:7-10 exposes the oppression (18 years!) idolatry creates. God’s people cry out for help but demonstrate only regret. God allows them to wallow in their misery until they truly repent (cf. Prov.28:13) by forsaking their foreign gods and throwing themselves on the mercy of the one true God. (10:11-14)
Notice God’s compassion (“and he could bear Israel’s misery no longer” v.16b NIV), and in response he raises up a deliverer to save them.
God raises up an unlikely (and in the eyes of the Israeli leadership) an unqualified leader in the person of Jephthah (11:1-11)
In Judges 11:1-3, Jephthah is given the same title given to Gideon by the angel of the Lord: mighty warrior. It was a title of prominence. It marked him as a capable fighter. But through no fault of his own, he was disqualified from even being a citizen of Israel because his mother was a prostitute (Deut.23:2). He was loathed by his family. He fled his homeland to escape it all. He gathered around him misfits he molded into a potent fighting force. Verse 3 reminds me of 1 Samuel 22:1-2:
David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.
Sounds like the core group of some new church plants I’ve known!
But in desperation (vv.4-6), the leadership of Israel compromises their principles to find a deliverer from their oppressor, the Ammonites. They promise Jephthah a kingship if he consents to lead and wins a military victory. Geographically, all this conflict is taking place east of the Jordan River. But this story could be repeated anywhere and in anyplace.
When asked to serve, Jephthah is understandably bitter, v.7. But his time away seems to have deepened his faith. Judges 11:9 attributes any victory over the Ammonites as from the Lord. He sealed his agreement to serve as judge with an oath before the Lord, vv.10-11.
Jephthah’s reaction reminds me of Prince Harry, now fifth in line to the British throne behind his brother, Prince William, and William’s older children. He wrote about his bitterness in his book, Spare:
“The Heir and the Spare—there was no judgment about it, but also no ambiguity. I was the shadow, the support, the Plan B. I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy. I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion, and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow. This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life's journey and regularly reinforced thereafter (p.15).
How about you? Have you felt written off by others? Because of your past? Or your background? Felt relegated to second place? Treated as unworthy? Even by your own family?
I remember as a church pastor the pecking order among ministers. Those with the largest congregations ranked on top. Those of us with small churches were often dismissed as unimportant.
Fortunately, that’s not how God thinks. In 1 Cor.1:26-28, Paul writes:
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
In his negotiation with the Ammonites, Jephthah reveals his knowledge of the Bible, specifically Numbers 20-25 (11:12-28)
Jephthah draws on historical record in Numbers to demonstrate that the Ammonite claim to the land east of the Jordan River was bogus. In vv.14-27, he gives an accurate account of Israel’s rightful land ownership. Sounds like today’s Middle East doesn’t it? How about the Ukraine-Russia conflict?
What Jephthah may have lacked in theological sophistication, he made up for it in his leadership abilities and trust in the Lord. Judges 11:27 says, “Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
But the Ammonite king ghosted him! Judges 11:28: “(he) paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.” War with the Ammonites was inevitable.
Stay tuned for part 2, where we explore Jephthah’s vow, and whether it was rash or a sign of faith.