Judges 11:1-22
The LORD is "a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful" (Nehemiah 9:17). He is to deliver His people once again, this time by the hand of Jephthah. This judge’s story begins rather like Abimelech’s. But instead of rebelling and of taking revenge on his brothers, he gives up what is rightfully his and goes off to the land of Tob where God knows where to find him when the time comes.
Jephthah is deprived of his inheritance, chased away by his brothers and exiled in a foreign country from whence he returns eventually as liberator. This side of the story is very much a picture of the Lord Jesus. After having been rejected by His people Israel, who did not recognize His rights, Christ is now absent, gone up to heaven, from whence He will come again with power and as conqueror (see Luke 19:12-14). Before Israel’s enemies, Jephthah is full of courage. How does he reply to their complaints and lies? He does so by recalling the truths of their beginnings and resting on the blessings of earlier times. What an example for each of us to follow! We should first know well the principles of the Word which have guided believers in past generations and in the second place hold on to them steadfastly (2 Thessalonians 2:15).