Judges 11:1-3 Comfort

 1Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father. 2And Gilead’s wife bore him sons who grew up, drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.”

3So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.

Comfort

“This brave and notable man in Israel had a clouded pedigree. His mother was a harlot, a common heathen prostitute.” (Guzik)

“The area of Gilead was the part of Israel that lay east of the Jordan River, comprising the territory of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Coincidentally, Jephthah’s father was also named Gilead.” (Guzik)

“Howbeit God made choice of such a one here to be a deliverer of his people; and hath registered him among other of his worthies, famous for their faith (Hebrews 11). This is for the comfort of bastards, if believers, and born of God (John 1:12-13).” (Trapp)

“The one thing which we emphasize is that God did not count the wrong for which he was not responsible, a disqualification. He raised him up; He gave him His Spirit; He employed him to deliver His people in the hour of their need.” (Morgan)

“Tob has been tentatively identified with the modern el-Taiyibeh, about 15 miles east-north-east of Ramoth-gilead, in the desolate area which lay just outside the eastern boundary of Israel and the northern frontier of Ammon.” (Cundall)

“Jephthah wasn’t necessarily the leader of a band of criminals. Adam Clarke explains that the term worthless men doesn’t necessarily mean a bandit: “The word may, however, mean in this place poor persons, without property, and without employment.”” (Guzik)

“He and his band probably operated more in the manner of David and his group years later, protecting cities and settlements from marauders.” (Wood) 

Notice how this chapter begins, “Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor” which is a clue that the Lord chose him. I find it interesting that his brothers rejected him just as the Scribes and Pharisees rejected sinners during the time of Jesus! They should have known better because of this chapter in their history and they were the keepers of history!

Let this be a lesson for us:

1. We are all sinners and we shouldn’t sit in His throne and judge a person’s pedigree!
2. The Lord looks at the heart.
3. The Lord can use the least of us for mighty works of His choosing!

Are you comforted, that the Lord could use a person like Jephthah?

Blessings