The biblical text is found in Judges 11.
After the death of Joshua, a period began where judges ruled the people of Israel. At that time, a boy named Jephthah was born who eventually grew up and became a true warrior. If it had not been for its origin, perhaps the history of his life would have gone unnoticed.
The bible does not tell us in what context it has grown, but it gives us a hint of how difficult it must have been in its childhood and how much bullying it must have suffered. This detail is found in Judges in the first verse of Judges 11: "... son of a prostitute ...".
His half-brothers expelled him because he was "different" by saying to him, "You do not belong here." Another translation says, "You shall not inherit our father's house, for you are the son of another woman." (verse 2). Like Jotham, Jephthah had to flee from his half-brothers and went to live in a land called Tobe, setting up a gang in that region.
Tobe was in the south of Bashan, south of the Sea of Tibiríades, north of the lands of Manasseh on the east. Bashan in Hebrew means "light of the earth". We read about the wild cattle of Bashan with their rich pastures in Ezekiel 39:18 and Psalms 22:12; Its forests containing stout oaks in Isaiah 2:13, Ezekiel 27: 6 and Zechariah 11:2. We are reminded of the beauty of their plains in Amos 4:1 and Jeremiah 50:19. All the land beyond the Jordan was called Gilead, but out of the vast land given to Manasseh. Today this region belongs to Jordan, bordering on Syria.
The fact that Jephthah was the son of a prostitute, not knowing who his mother was, seems to me to be somewhat unnoticed. The prostitutes were despicable women among the people of Israel, even because the practice of prostitution was abominable among the people, according to Deuteronomy 23:18.
Once despicable men were joining Jephthah, we came to believe that he was the refuse of the human race, still more to live among men of levity as quoted in verse 3. And to our human eyes who would give a penny to this spurious Of Israel?
However, the story begins to mount a little differently when the elders of Gilead go after Jephthah to cry for help. The biblical text reads: "And they said to Jephthah, Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the children of Ammon" (verse 6).
Now if Jephthah represented the scum of the race, "product" of the intercourse between a man and a prostitute, they would not have gone after him to seek help. Yes, as opposed to the fact that he was the son of a prostitute, the first verse of this chapter 11 of Judges describes him: "Then was Jephthah the Gileadite, a mighty man ...".
Jephthah seems to have kept no grief because he accepts the request of the Gileadite elders imposing only one condition: to be their chief all. Of fugitive, the son of a prostitute, without inheritance in his father´s house (a father who had committed the sin of adulterating with a prostitute any of that city) happens to be the "general" of the Gileadites. We will see that he then becomes judge over all Israel. How awesome!
From verse 12 until the 28th we will realize that Jephthah knew very well the history of his ancestors, his people, the people of Israel. Read quietly imagining Jephthah as a Secretary of State, a scholar in the affairs of Israel: "And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What is there between me and thee, that thou hast come to me to fight against my land? And the king of the children of Ammon said unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel went out of Egypt, and took my land from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and even unto the Jordan: Restore me now in peace. And sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel hath not taken the land of the Moabites, nor the land of the children of Ammon: for as Israel went up out of Egypt, and walked through the wilderness to the Red sea, And he came to Kadesh: and Israel sent messengers to the king of the Edomites, saying, I pray thee, let me pass through thy land: but the king of the Edomites hearkened not unto him: and he sent also unto the king of Moab, And he went into the wilderness, and surrounded the land of the Edomites, and the land of Moab: and he came from the east of the sun to the land of the Moabites, and lodged beyond Arnon. But he did not enter the border of the Moabites, for Arnon is the border of the Moabites. But Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites king of Heshbon; And Israel said unto him, Let us, I pray thee, pass through thy land unto my place. But Sihon did not trust in Israel to pass within his bounds; And Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jasa, and fought against Israel. And the LORD God of Israel gave Sihon, and all his people, into the hand of Israel, which smote them; And Israel took for an inheritance all the land of the Amorites who dwelt in that region. And by inheritance they took all the borders of the Amorites, from Arnon to Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto the Jordan. Thus the Lord God of Israel dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; And would you possess them? Would you not possess what Chemosh your god would dispossess from before you? Thus shall we possess all that the Lord our God dispossess from before us. Now are you even better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of the Moabites? Has he at once contended with Israel, or fought against him? And Israel dwelt three hundred years in Heshbon, and in their villages, and in Aroer, and in their villages, and in all the cities that are beyond Arnon, why did ye not recover them at that time? Neither have I sinned against thee! But you use me badly to fight against me; The Lord who judges today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon. But the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not to the words which Jephthah sent unto him".
Now what the biblical text tells us is the same thing that happened to Othniel, Samson, Saul and David and also fills our spirit with strength and vigor: "Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh By Mizpeh of Gilead, and Mizpeh of Gilead, passed over to the children of Ammon. " (verse 29). "And he smote them with a great slaughter, from Aroer unto Minith, twenty cities, even unto Abel-keramim: and the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel." (verse 33). The Spirit of the Lord enveloped that man!
He fights 20 cities without stopping. Really only being taken by the Spirit of the living God of Israel.
In chapter 12, verse 7 says: "And Jephthah judged Israel six years ...". From a bastard, he becomes a general; from an illegitimate to a judge. How marvelous it is!
Wow ... what a general! What a judge! What a brave man! What a man who knows the history of the people of Israel!
Jephthah means WHO GOD RELEASES and this man called Jephthah died freed from his stigma.
