Judges 11:12-13 Diplomacy or War?

 12Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land?”

13The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”

“Jephthah asked a simple question: why are you in the land of Israel? Perhaps the whole dispute could be solved by negotiations and diplomacy instead of warfare.”

“The king of Ammon gave a simple reply, saying that they were in Israel because it was really their own land, and Israel took it from them unjustly.” (Guzik)

Diplomacy or War?

The Lord who created the heaven and the earth gave the Israelites the promised land and Sihon, king of the Amorites waged war against the Israelites and lost because the Lord was with the Israelites some 320-310 years prior to Jephthah.

https://bibleinsight.com/judges-chronology.html

But the Israelites sinned too, which is the reason for the cycle In the Book of Judges.

It is wise and prudent of us to examine our hearts daily and confess our sins to the Lord.

I am reminded by this verse:

James 5:16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

Blessings 

Judges 11:9-11 Watchtower

 9But Jephthah asked them, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me, will I really be your leader?”

10And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”

11So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.

Watchtower 

“Jephthah was only willing to assume leadership in the crisis if he could also remain a leader after the crisis. He didn’t want to be rejected again as a worthless man.” (Guzik)

Before the LORD in Mizpah: This was the same place where the famous agreement between Laban and Jacob was made (Genesis 31:43-50). The idea of Mizpah (“watch”) is “If you do wrong according to this promise, God will see it and may He punish.” (Guzik)

Genesis 31: 48Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.”

Therefore the place was called Galeed. 49It was also called Mizpah,f because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other.

f Mizpah  means watchtower .

Ecclesiastes 5: 5It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

I’m guilty of making a vow and not fulfilling it, how about you?

Blessings 

https://www.gotquestions.org/Mizpah-in-the-Bible.html

Judges 11:4-8 Experience

 4Some time later, when the Ammonites fought against Israel 5and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6“Come,” they said, “be our commander, so that we can fight against the Ammonites.”

7Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and expel me from my father’s house? Why then have you come to me now, when you are in distress?”

8They answered Jephthah, “This is why we now turn to you, that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become leader over all of us who live in Gilead.”

“The nation of Ammon, the Ammonites, lived to the south of Israel. They were a semi-nomadic group of people who descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot.” (Guzik)

“May not God justly say as much to most of us? We seldom seek to him till needs must.” (Trapp)

“Because of the crisis of the Ammonites, the leaders of Gilead were desperate for an able leader, and they turned to Jephthah. They were willing to give him the authority as head over Gilead.” (Guzik)

Experience 

One major lesson that the Bible teaches us through life’s trials is that, through those trials a person gains the necessary experience so that the Lord can use them. Several examples are David when Saul was trying to kill him and Joseph when his brothers sold him as a slave to Egyptian traders. Could either boy have gained the experience necessary to lead a nation or save a nation and people from starvation if they didn’t experience the trials set before them?

Would Jephthah have gained the experience necessary to become a warrior and to be considered a commander if his brothers didn’t expel him from his father’s house?

The question we need to consider is when we are faced with a trial is, what is the Lord going to teach me and how will He use me when I come out on the other side?

Blessings 

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 

Judges 10:17-18 No Leader

 17Then the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, and the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. 18And the rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all who live in Gilead.”

No Leader

“Israel gathered, but had no leader. God’s pattern for doing great works among His people is to raise up a man. He could do the work all by Himself; He could send angels to do the work for Him; He could use a leaderless mob or a committee. Yet God’s normal means of operating is to raise up a man, and through that man to do a great work. God uses leaders.” (Guzik)

What does the Bible say about the Lord raising up leaders?

Daniel 2:21 - And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Deuteronomy 28:1-68 - And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

Who will the Lord raise up to save the Israelites? 

Read chapter eleven to find out!

Blessings 

Judges 10:15-16 God Grieves Over You

 15“We have sinned,” the Israelites said to the LORD. “Deal with us as You see fit; but please deliver us today!” 16So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel.

“This indicates that Israel came to a place of total surrender to God. The prayer that comes most naturally to us is, “Do to me whatever seems best to me.” The change in heart meant that the season of affliction eventually did affect Israel in a good way.” (Guzik)

He could no longer bear the misery of Israel.

“The Hebrew word literally means ‘impatient.’ It suggests God’s restlessness in the presence of suffering. It is the restlessness of His love, and that is the cause of His anger, and the governing principle in all its activities.” (Morgan)

God Grieves Over You

“God grieves for the miseries to which his creatures are reduced by their own sins. Be astonished ye heavens, at this; and shout for joy, all ye inhabitants of the earth! For, through the love whence this compassion flowed, God has visited and redeemed a lost world!” (Clarke)

“His soul was grieved; not properly, or as to inward affection, for God being infinitely happy, is not capable of grieving; but figuratively, and as to outward expression. He acted towards them like one that felt their sufferings.” (Poole)

“And now He grieves over you. If only you would forsake your sins and turn to Him, He would assuredly raise up a Jephthah for your help.” (Meyer)

Our God grieves over you when you sin! Just imagine the amount of grief over a whole world full of sin! Why doesn’t He just say ENOUGH and end the world now?

I’m reminded of this verses:

Genesis 18: 23Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there? 25Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

26So the LORD replied, “If I find fifty righteous ones within the city of Sodom, on their account I will spare the whole place.”

Abraham was standing before the LORD and asking about the number of righteous ones that the Lord would sweep away with the wicked! 

God is grieved over us but He is waiting for the LAST soul to come to Him who have been made righteous through His Son Jesus Christ!

If God is grieved over you, shouldn’t you be grieved over your sin?

Blessings 

Judges 10:10-14 Man-made gods!

 10Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.”

11The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, 12Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonitesc oppressed you and you cried out to Me, did I not save you from their hands? 13But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.”

“The words of this cry seem fine, but God’s response seems to indicate that He saw something lacking in Israel’s repentance. One may cry out to the LORD, yet really just wish things were different. Crying out to God with the voice is not necessarily the same as crying out to Him with our heart.

i. God wanted from Israel the same thing He wants from us - a heart that will put its hand to the plow and not look back (Luke 9:62). He wants us to come to the place where we know that there is nothing worth following except God.” (Guzik)

“For the first time it is recorded that He refused to save them, reminding them of how repeatedly He had delivered them, and yet they had turned back to their evil courses. In the message of His anger there was clearly evident a purpose of love.” (Morgan)

“This apparent rejection, and the apparent indifference to the pleas of His people, was designed to test the sincerity of their response.” (Cundall)

“One technique used to help people stop smoking is to put them in a small, unventilated room and make them smoke for hours on end, until they can hardly bear it. It makes them sick of smoking and makes them truly want to stop. In the same way, sometimes God will allow the natural consequences of our sin to crash upon us in concentrated form, so we can become sick of our sin.” (Guzik)

“You have not been forced to worship these gods by your oppressors and tyrants; but you have freely chosen these gods before me.” (Poole)

Deuteronomy 4: 27Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. 28And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

Acts 17: 24The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. 25Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

I’ve never understood the concept of inventing a god by human hands and then worshiping a man-made god!

Habakkuk 2:18 “What good is an idol carved by man, or a cast image that deceives you? How foolish to trust in your own creation— a god that can’t even talk!

My God talks to me through the Bible (His word), speaks to me in my heart ❤️ and through my mind!

Do you hear Him calling you?

Blessings