Judges 11:9

His brothers rejected Jephthah, though apart from his origin he was the eldest of the family: "You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman." Does that not remind us of the words, "We do not want this man to reign over us"? Jephthah let himself be stripped of everything. He humbled himself instead of lifting up his head among the wicked. He gave up all his rights and went away to a foreign country. But God knew how to find him and bring him to the front again. The moment came when the men who had driven their deliverer away had to throw themselves at his feet as beggars. They had mocked this saviour, and now, like Joseph's brothers, they had to acknowledge him in a far country. Jephthah did not agree to take this title before the victory. And so it will be with Christ, who will be publicly recognised as the Head of Israel by His triumph over their enemies.

I think certain things in the life of Jephthah strongly suggest our Blessed Lord — though with many reservations and additions. His brothers cast him out. They refused him as a disgrace to themselves, and when they saw him, there was no beauty that they should desire him... In a far-off land he gathers around him those who, like himself, were despised — "worthless fellows," as they are called, like David's company in the cave of Adullam. I use the word "suggests" deliberately, and with great hesitation. There were moral reasons for his brothers' rejection of Jephthah — he was the son of another woman — which make us shrink from linking his name with the spotless Son of God.

He made a covenant with the people that if he delivered them he should be their head... Remember how Abimelech craved headship, and how he used every effort to get kingship over Israel. We see traces of that same spirit in this man, though Jephthah stands infinitely above Abimelech... But he will be head, and he is going to be recognised as such. His earlier rejection still rankles in him. It has not been taken as from God, but as bad treatment. So he reminds them that they once despised him, and now, if he is going to be of any use to them, they must recognise him and give him a high place. I think in that claiming of headship we can see some of the springs of what led to sad failure later on.

Perhaps no man shows the danger of rash vows in the joy of a divine deliverance more than Jephthah, and that vow touched him in the closest possible way. Yet he was the very opposite of rash when he entered on his service for the people of Israel. Listen to the solemn appeal Jephthah makes to the elders before he acts. No doubt his desire for his own importance and advancement is only too obvious. But when he enters on the service itself, he makes sure Israel feels the right is on their side beyond dispute. He also makes sure his enemy knows it, and presses it on his conscience.

They had no sense of the unity of the people. Gilead set itself up as a party on its own. The authority and guidance of the Spirit of God were barely known, for they said, "What man is he?" Only one more step remained — to choose for themselves. They took that step in verses 4-11 of the following chapter. Not that Jephthah was not raised up by God, but Gilead took part in the choice.

Things were so low now in Israel that even this man becomes an instrument of God's deliverance. In all this God was plainly stamping on the people His moral verdict on their condition. In their state He could not use vessels of greater moral worth.