A series on the
Judges of Israel
– Jephthah from the tribe of Manasseh in
Transjordan
(Click on the
link below to read the verses.)
Judges 10:6-11:33
[The book of
Judges is a roller coaster ride. It’s about the history of Israel following
their entry into the Promised Land. Unfortunately, Israel went through cycles
of rejecting God and then repenting. Each time, the Lord saved them by raising
up a leader who was called a judge. In this series, we will be looking at some
of these judges to learn about God’s character as well as our own.]
Every year before Christmas, my wife invites our grandchildren over to
bake Christmas cookies. When she started this tradition, she used metal cookie
cutters to form the dough into various Christmas images like a tree, a star or an
angel. They would make a whole batch of cookies that all looked and tasted exactly
the same.
However, life isn’t like that. It’s not a cookie cutter pattern. Life
takes all kinds of unexpected twists and turns, ups and downs. Here’s a story
for you that exemplifies this.
6 Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s
sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram,
Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and no
longer served him at all. NLT
What happened next was predictable. The Lord burned
with anger and gave Israel over to the Philistines and the Ammonites who
oppressed them for eighteen years. Eventually, Israel repented and cried
out to the Lord for help. But the Lord said no!
14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them
rescue you in your hour of distress!” NLT
Finally, the Lord relented when Israel “put aside their foreign gods and served
the Lord”. But when the Ammonites prepared for war by gathering their
armies together in Gilead, none of the leaders of Gilead wanted to lead the fight
against them. Enter Jephthah! But there was a problem!
Even though Jephthah was a mighty warrior, his
mother was a prostitute. Plus, his father had other sons by his wife. Those
half-brothers decided to force Jephthah out of the region of Gilead. Something
about not wanting to share the inheritance. As a result, Jephthah was an
outcast in a foreign land.
Being a mighty warrior, you might have expected
Jephthah to immediately attack the Ammonite armies. Instead, he sent messengers
to negotiate. However, when the king of Ammon rejected Jephthah’s message, the
Spirit of the Lord came upon him.
32 So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and
the Lord gave him victory. NLT
Jephthah’s life and faith was anything but a cookie
cutter pattern. There were many unexpected twists and turns, ups and downs. But
through it all, the Lord was at work.
Like Jephthah, the Lord is at work in your life and
mine. But He is not a cookie cutter God. Not every person that has faith looks
like a tree, a star or an angel. The Lord works in unexpected ways and in ways
that we may never understand.
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