Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 11-13.

Back towards the end of the Book of Joshua when the warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half tribe of Manasseh were sent home from fighting alongside the other tribes west of the Jordan, they built an altar to remind those tribes that those Israelites living east of the Jordan River were their brothers.  Today’s passage contains evidence that their concern was justified.  After Jephthah was successful in defeating the Ammonites who were threatening the people of Gilead (the Israelite territory east of the Jordan River), the Ephraimites mustered against them.  Similar to when Gideon was victorious over the Midianites, the Ephraimites complained that they had not been summoned to the muster for war.  Jephthah claimed that he had called upon them to join him, but they had not come in a timely fashion.  In response, the Ephraimites called the Israelites living east of the Jordan river renegades from the territory west of the Jordan, in a manner similar to what worried those who originally built that memorial altar.  Their hostility for their fellow Israelites ended badly for the Ephraimites.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 11-13.

By the way we write and talk today, reading this passage leads us to believe that Jephthah was the illegitimate son of a man named Gilead, who was in turn descended from the Gilead after whom the territory of Gilead was named.  By that reading, Gilead, the father of Jephthah, also had several legitimate sons, and those legitimate sons drove Jephthah away to avoid sharing their father’s inheritance with him.  However, it would be consistent with the way people sometimes wrote in the past for this to have a different meaning.  Perhaps, since Jephthah’s mother was a prostitute, when the writer says that his father was “Gilead” he meant that his father was an unknown man of the territory named Gilead.  Further, when the writer referred to “Gilead’s wife” having sons, he was referring to the legitimate sons of the citizens of Gilead.  By that reading, the elders of Gilead who asked Jephthah to command the defense of Gilead were the same people who had exiled him in the first place.  This second reading makes a lot more sense of Jephthah’s response to their request.  In either reading, we see that the people of Gilead were lucky that Jephthah did not hold a grudge against them for their earlier mistreatment.  Of course, on the other hand, Jephthah may not have developed the leadership skills which they needed if they had not done so.

The conflict between the Ephraimites and Jephthah after Jephthah’s victory can be hard to understand.  In order to understand what happened we need to go back to Chapter 10, where it tells us that the Ammonites oppressed the Israelites living in Gilead, east of the Jordan River, for 18 years, and then began raiding into Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim.  The Ammonites mustered their army in Gilead (it is not clear to me if this was in response to a religious revival among the Israelites which led to their unrest against the Ammonites, or if it was just an annual muster by the Ammonites to go raiding).  In response, the Israelites gathered at Mizpah, where the leaders of Gilead determined to call Jephthah to lead them.  This sets the stage for the battle.  Apparently, the Ephraimites gathered their forces somewhere else (or decided to wait to join the muster).  In any case, after Jephthah had won, the Ephraimites were angry because they did not get a share of the loot which the victorious Gileadites had acquired by defeating the Ammonites and threatened to kill Jephthah and his family.  This dispute illustrates that the warriors of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh were prescient when they built the altar as a monument as they returned home after Joshua’s wars.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Judges 11-13.

Whenever I read today’s passage I cannot help but compare and contrast Jepthah with Amelek, Gideon’s son.  Both of them left their father’s house and gathered followers whom the writer records as “scoundrels”.  What is interesting is that despite both being followed by scoundrels their following indicates opposite things about what kind of leader they would make.  Amelek sought out scoundrels and hired them.  Jepthah was outcast and the scoundrels sought him out.  Amelek’s followers followed him because he paid them while Jepthah’s followers followed him because he was a good leader.  Further, the different ways in which each became leader of more than their small band called for different types of leaders.  Amelek sought out the role by approaching the people of Shechem.  On the other hand, the people of Gilead sought out Jepthah to lead them at a time when they were under threat.  I want to note that this difference does not mean that Amelek would have been a good leader in different circumstances.  Rather, it means that Jepthah, who was a good leader, would never have become a leader in different circumstances.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Judges 11-13.

I was going to focus on comparing Jephthah to Abimelek, but I realized that I do that most years, if not every year. So, today I am going to spend a little time on the birth and conception of Samson.  The first thing we see is a precursor of the angel’s announcement to Mary that she would give birth to Jesus.  In a way, the story of Samson gives us evidence of how unique Jesus is.  Samson was dedicated to God from the moment of his conception, as was Jesus.  Samson’s parents raised him according to the vows of the Nazirite laid out in the Law of Moses.  I like to compare and contrast Samson to Samuel.  Both were dedicated to God by their mothers from the moment of conception. Both led Israel to victory over their enemies.  Both illustrate the powerful influence a mother can have over her sons.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 11-13.

Yesterday we looked at the story of Abimelech becoming ruler over part of Israel  Today we have the story of Jephthah becoming ruler over another part of Israel.  Both men were estranged from their brothers.  In Abimelech’s case, he appears to have chosen to go out from among his brothers and seek the support of his mother’s people against them.  In Jephthah’s case, his brothers drove him out and he had no one to turn to for help.  Both men acquired followers who were little more than thugs.  However, I think the difference in the way they acquired those followers is telling.  Abimelech took the money which the people of Shechem gave him and hired some thugs to do his bidding.  Jephthah. on the other hand, attracted followers as he made his way in the world.  We have no reason to believe that Jephthah’s followers were any less thugs than Abimelech’s, but Jephthah’s followers followed him because of his leadership qualities while Abimelech’s followed him because he gave them money.