Bad boys, Bad boys.... or Commitments in the hour of desperation (2)

By the grace of God, Jephthah has been restored to his people, and his first focus, according to our text is, “what’s in it for me?” We have talked a little about what is wrong with his mindset, but there is also something right about it. It turns out the Jephthah was a man of faith.

If we turn briefly to the New Testament, we see that the writer of Hebrews (probably Paul), calls him one of the pillars of faith from the Old Testament.

“And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” (Hebrews 11:32-34)

So, whatever we may think about the character of Jephthah so far, we find assurance in Hebrews 11 that he was a man who had faith in God and that his faith was put into action. Faith without action is a waste!

It is import5ant to remember that the Bible is ONE continuous and continuing story, not a lot of little stories with no apparent connection. As we can see in Judges 11:9, Jephthah expects that if he goes up against the Ammonites and gains victory, it will be the Lord’s doing.

Jephthah clearly demonstrates the mind-set and heart-set we should have before and certainly after accomplishing any undertaking.

James echoes this same sentiment and admonition in the New Testament. “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” James 4:13-5

Along with (if not before) all of the other preparations we put into place to order our lives, prayer (and of course, actually listening to the still small voice) should be a priority.

First, we acknowledge that it is the Lord who guides our steps. Second, we must be certain that we are following the Lord’s direction, and following Him; and not trying to lead Him where we want to go. Third, after we have our victory and success in whatever way we may choose to define that, we must remember to give Him the glory and the credit.

So we are beginning to se a much more complex man who knows where his help comes from, but is also has his feet firmly grounded in earthly reality. This reminds me of another adage about people being so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good.

We must know where our help comes from, recognize it and be grateful for it; but as responsible stewards of a supply of gifts and talents, we are to spend them wisely, not squander them. This is the least that expected of us; that we use our gifts wisely and to the benefit of others, and not just ourselves.

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Bad boys, Bad boys.... or Commitments in the hour of desperation (1)

Bad boys, bad boys…. You guys know this song- whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

Well, we are still in Judges. The text is Judges 11:1-12:7


Have you ever encountered someone who is so afraid that they will be cheated, short-sheeted, burned or screwed over at every turn, that they are wholly unpleasant to be around? It feels as though you need to put everything in writing for them. They want assurances and promises from others before they will take any requested action or partner in any conceived plan. You know, they don't want to waste their time and effort if nothing good is going to come of things.

We learn from the text that Jephthah is the illegitimate son of Gilead, born of a union between his father and a lady of the evening. However, when the legitimate sons of Gilead grew up they drove Jephthah out so they wouldn’t have to share their inheritance with him. The wording seems to indicate that he was older than the rest; perhaps conceived and born before Gilead even married the woman who gave him other sons. In this case, and according to the tradition of the day, the older son would receive a double portion and the sons under him would divide up what was left of the inheritance between them equally.

So we have an unknown number of brothers who have grown up in a house with a half-brother as the oldest, in line for the lion’s share of the inheritance, and kind of an embarrassment to them because of the circumstances of his birth, so when it comes time to start thinking about dad going the way of all flesh they decide Jephthah has to hit the road.


Verse one says he was a valiant warrior, and that apparently played a role in his success in drawing a gang of street toughs around him. The Bible says they were ‘worthless fellows’. The NIV uses the word ‘adventurers’. The Hebrew word means ‘empty’, idle’. They hung out together in the land of Tob, an area east of the Jordan and according to Bible maps, just outside of Gilead.


Jephthah wants some assurances, first.


In due time, while Jephthah was away, the Ammonites attack Israel. The citizens seek protection, so now they call upon the most-valiant Jephthah. Not the unworthy and illegitimate Jephthah, but mighty warrior Jephthah.


He has a bit of an attitude, some of which may be justifiable, but he rapidly moves to extremes. Verse 7 is one of the first evidences of the attitude in Jephthah. He tosses their earlier ill treatment of him into their faces and then challenges them to justify now coming to him for help. The elders state their reason for coming and in the very wording of it they say they want him to come and be their chief.

But then in verse 9, Jephthah asks for a confirmation of what they have just offered. In fact, he puts the question to them as though they have not just made an offer, and that it was his idea to begin with. Don't you hate working with people like that. You ask them to help with you with something, but they want to sound like they invented toast and that you may be the most moronic person they've ever met! Thankfully everything we do is not about who gets the credit. But I digress...

Basically, he wants to know what’s in it for him, and he’s not going to mount up until he has a verbal (if not written) agreement before witnesses. “If you take me back to fight against the sons of Ammon and the Lord gives them to me, will I become your head?” This sounds like wise planning since they kicked him out before. What's wrong with it?


When we find ourselves in a position to do something for others, are we right in asking ‘what’s in it for me’? Are we ever justified in listing all that we have done to be of service to them?


Here's the challenge:

Pick a day, soon. For one day set aside your all of your grudges, everything you want to get even for, everything you think an individual (or the world) owes you...and just be helpful to anyone who asks. I'm only asking you to do it for a day, 24 hours.

Let me know how it works out for you.
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Fleas and Fellowship- Who’s in your crew? Judges (6)

What do fleas, Lord of the Rings and Gideon have to do with real life?


In life, marriage and business we need to carefully choose the people who will be with us on our journey. Many will be with us for a short time, a season; a few will stick it out for the long-haul. I am by no means advocating that we disdain hanging with anyone.

We have limited time, and most of us have purposes, passions and pursuits we'd like to be about.  There will be way too people who will only take from us, while others will build us up and help lift us to new heights. You want people with you who are bringing something positive to the relationship, something beneficial to the struggle. Life is not just about getting stuff from other people. We should each make it an effort to give at least as well as we get. This is not to be accomplished in a competitive spirit. Think about it for a minute. Do you like being second chair all the time? Probably not. We can’t honestly expect our friends and teammates to continually be the booster and never the victor.

We all want to have a great time in life, but when things get hard we want someone standing there in the trenches with us that we can depend on. We have needs that go well beyond lending us a few bucks. There are times in our lives when we need them to lend us an ear or a shoulder.

There are many people we may call acquaintance, but precious few who are friends. Be careful who you roll with. As my mother counseled me, “If you lay down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas”…or something worse.

The Fellowship (LOTR) never lost site of the goal, even when they lost site of Frodo. They remained committed to the fellowship and the quest. This remained true when they were surrounded  by thousands of comrades in arms; and it remained true when there were only 3 of them.

Gideon's started out with an army that was woefully out-manned and outnumbered. His army was then reduced to 1% of its original size. He was left with a tiny force that was focused, attentive and willing to be led.

As we strive for excellence and move toward mastery, as we try to become better human beings, we want to associate with people who have similar perspectives.