Bible Studies
Jephthah, Head and Chief (Judges 10:6-9)
Series: Studies in the Book of JudgesIntroduction:
1. The search for leadership in Israel continues. 2. The Ammonites are oppressing them. Israel’s need for leadership reaches a crisis. 3. They have their army assembled in Mizpah. The Ammonites are camped in Gilgal. They offer themselves in subjection to the man who would begin to fight against Ammon. No one stepped forward. God raised up no leader.Discussion:
I. Abimelech, the lesser son of Gideon, had seized control by assassinating his brothers, but his reign was short-lived and plagued by conflict. A woman who threw a millstone from the tower of Thebez crushing his skull brought him low. Two lesser judges are mentioned briefly in the account that bridges the gap between Abimelech and Jephthah (10:1-5).A. Tola is identified as the son of Puah, the son of Dodo.
1. Family lineage including father, grandfather and mother affect leadership status in Judges.
a. Gideon’s leadership gave status to his sons.
b. Abimelech’s mother being a concubine diminished his position among his brothers.
2. With Tola, Gideon’s influence is broken.
3. The text says, “Tola arose to save Israel.” Contrast this with what is said of Othniel, “The Lord raised up a deliverer.”
B. Jair was a Gileadite.
1. He had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys.
2. Apparently the status quo was maintained for the 45 years that these two served.
C. The oppression by the Ammonites is the result of Israel serving the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines. They forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.
D. They appealed to God for deliverance but God raised up no deliverer (10:10-16). Taking matters into their own hands they sought out Jephthah. Offered him to be chief (11:6). He asked to be head (11:9). They gave him both (11:11).
II. If an individual seizing power is not a good approach to leadership perhaps seizing an individual and making him leader might be more effective. This seems to be the approach used in the appointment of Jephthah.A. Jephthah was a Gileadite like Jair.
B. It was the Gildeadites who sought out Jephthah as judge.
C. He is described in 11:1-3.
1. Two things commend him.
a. He is a valiant warrior. Israel needed a warrior.
b. He was a Gileadite.
2. He had his negatives.
a. He was the son of a harlot.
b. He had been driven out by the more legitimate sons.
c. He lived in Tob.
d. Worthless fellows gathered themselves about him. This was the same kind of fellows that Abimelech had hired to follow him.
D. It is often amazing the poor judgment used to appoint a leader.
1. An Abimelech wants to seize power and it is allowed.
2. People press God for a leader and when He does not respond the way they want they become impatient and launch out on their own to appoint one.
3. We do this in our personal lives.
a. We determine something that we want to do and search until we find someone that says, “Do it.”
b. We approach the age of marriage. We search out for someone who looks good to us, who meets some need that we have and we give ourselves to them. Often little or no consideration is given to the will of God.
c. It is not that we cannot see the negatives. We compromise and settle for what we want.
4. We do it in the church.
a. Select leaders whose moral character is questionable. “Well no one else volunteered to teach the class.”
b. Appoint preachers because of their eloquence; elders because of they are good business men.
5. Let us not settle for low quality leadership just because the Ammonites are pressing and we need a leader now.
6. May be better to be without leadership than to have leadership that leads in the wrong direction.
a. Better to have no elders than elders who are not qualified.
b. Better to have no spouse than to have one not qualified. Christian lady not married. . . I asked her why? Her response, “Better to want something and not have it than to have something you don’t want!
III. While Jephthah overcame the Ammonites his leadership is marred by two things: the tragedy of his vow that resulted in the sacrifice of his daughter and the institution of a civil war with Ephraim (11:12-12:6).A. Jephthah seeks to “negotiate” with the Ammonites.
B. “What is between you and me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?”
C. The king of Ammon said, “Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt.”
D. Evidently the land belonged to the Moabites when Israel came up out of Egypt. It then came under Israelite control. Three hundred years had passed and now the Amorites are laying claim. Jephthah’s question, “Why did you not recover it within that time?”
1. God gave it to Israel.
2. “Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you?”
3. “I have not sinned against you. You are doing me wrong by making war against me.”
4. May the Lord judge.
E. In his attempt to secure God’s help Jephthah vowed that whatever came out of the doors of his house to meet him when he returned would be the Lord’s. “I will offer it as a burnt offering,” he said (11:30-31).
1. What was he expecting? Who comes out to greet you when you return from a trip? Who picks you up at the airport? Someone who loves you.
2. The problem of child sacrifice arises here. Such was forbidden by God, but Jephthah has made a vow to God. Some have suggested she was to be redeemed and not actually sacrificed, but this does not seem to satisfy the text.
3. His daughter submits to the vow. She requests two months to weep because of her virginity. Some think because she has no children, but this is never mentioned in the text. Is it because she will never experience to pleasure of the sexual relationship?
4. Jephthah follows through on his vow and the virgins of Israel commemorate the virgin daughter of Jephthah each year for four days of the year. Is this annual commemoration in Shiloh from which the Benjaminites find “virgin” wives? See Judges 21:21
F. The Ephraimites questioned why Jephthah had not enlisted their help in fighting the sons of Ammon.
1. Immediately they threatened burning the house down on Jephthah.
2. Jephthah said when I called you you did not deliver me.
3. “Why then have you come up to fight against me today?”
4. He fought against them and defeated them. 42,000 fell in Ephraim.
Conclusion:
1. Jephthah was invited to take power over those who had previously rejected him. 2. He made a vow that resulted in the death of his daughter. 3. He initiated the first civil war destroying 42,000 of Israel.
