Judges 10

Life and literature are filled with the “Cinderella legend,” stories about rejected people who were eventually “discovered” and elevated to places of honor and authority. Horatio Alger wrote over 100 boys’ novels that focused on the “rags-to-riches” theme, and he became one of the most influential American writers of the last half of the nineteenth century. Whether it’s Abraham Lincoln going “from log cabin to White House” or Joseph from the prison to the throne of Egypt, the story of the successful “underdog” is one that will always be popular. We like to see losers become winners.

The account of Jephthah, the main character in these chapters, is that kind of a story, except that it doesn’t end with the hero living “happily ever after.” After Jephthah’s great victory over the Ammonites and Philistines, he experienced anything but happiness, and the narrative ends on a tragic note. The story can be divided into four scenes.

There were three deficiencies in Israel that gave evidence that the nation was decaying spiritually.

Israel’s lack of gratitude to the Lord (vv. 1–5). For forty-five years, the people of Israel enjoyed peace and security, thanks to the leadership of Tola and Jair. We know little about these two judges, but the fact that they kept Israel’s enemies away for nearly half a century would suggest that they were faithful men, who served the Lord and the nation well. Tola was from the tribe of Issachar, and Jair from the Transjordan tribes, the area known as Gilead.

If Jair had thirty sons, he must have had a plurality of wives and a great deal of wealth. In that day, only wealthy people could afford to provide their children with their own personal donkeys (5:10; 12:9, 14). In addition, each son had a city under his authority. This arrangement looks to us like nepotism, but at least it helped keep the peace.

The people of Israel, however, didn’t take advantage of these years of peace to grow in their relationship to the Lord. After the death of Jair, the nation openly returned to idolatry and once again invited the chastening of the Lord. They enjoyed forty-five years of peace and prosperity but didn’t take time to thank the Lord for what He had done for them. The essence of idolatry is enjoying God’s gifts but not being grateful to the Giver, and Israel was guilty.

One of my great-uncles was a minister, and he occasionally had Sunday dinner in our home if he happened to be preaching at the church we attended. As a lad, I was impressed by him, especially the way he asked the blessing after the meal. Praying before the meal was logical and biblical, but why pray after you’ve finished dessert and coffee? Then I discovered Deuteronomy 8:10, “When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you” (nkjv). My Uncle Simon took this admonition seriously, and perhaps we should follow his example. If we did, it might keep us from ignoring the Lord while enjoying His blessings. Thanksgiving glorifies God (Ps. 69:30) and is a strong defense against selfishness and idolatry.

Israel’s lack of submission to the Lord (vv. 6–16). If the people had only reviewed their own history and learned from it, they would never have turned from Jehovah God to worship the false gods of their neighbors. From the time of Othniel to the days of Gideon, the Jews endured over fifty painful years of oppression from the enemy. By now they should have known that God blessed them when they were obedient and chastened them when they were rebellious. (See 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1.) After all, weren’t these the terms of the covenant that God made with Israel, a covenant the nation accepted when they entered the land (Josh. 8:30–35)?

When God chastens us in love and we’re suffering because of our sins, it’s easy to cry out to Him for deliverance and make all kinds of promises. But when we’re comfortable and enjoying His blessings, we tend to forget God and assume that we can sin and get away with it. Comfortable living often produces weak character. “Happiness is not the end of life,” said Henry Ward Beecher, “character is.” But character is built when we make right decisions in life, and those decisions are made on the basis of the things that we value most. Since Israel didn’t value the things of God, she ended up destroying her own national character.

The Lord had given Israel victory over seven different nations (Judg. 10:11–12), but now Israel was worshipping seven different varieties of pagan gods (v. 6). No wonder God’s anger “was hot against Israel” (v. 7). What foolishness to worship the gods of your defeated enemies! Israel had to be chastened again, and this time God sent the Philistines and the Ammonites to do the job. The Ammonites were distant relatives of the Jews, being descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot (Gen. 19:38). It must have given the leaders of Ammon and Philistia great joy to subdue their old enemy Israel and oppress them. Their armies invaded the area of Gilead on the east side of the Jordan and then crossed the river and attacked Judah, Ephraim, and Benjamin. It was a devastating and humiliating conquest.

History repeated itself, and the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance (Judg. 10:10; 2:11–19). But the Lord didn’t send help immediately. Instead, He sent a messenger to the people who rebuked them for their lack of appreciation for all that God had done for them in the past. Then God announced that He wouldn’t help them anymore. They could ask their new gods for help! (See Deut. 32:36–38.)

For the people to abandon God was one thing, but for God to abandon His people was quite something else. The greatest judgment God can send to His people is to let them have their own way and not interfere. “Wherefore God also gave them up.… God gave them up.… God gave them over” (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). This was too much for the Jews, so they repented, put away their false gods, and told God He could do to Israel whatever He wanted to do (Judg. 10:15–16).

Their hope wasn’t in their repenting or their praying but in the character of God. “His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel” (v. 16). “In all their affliction he was afflicted” (Isa. 63:9). “Nevertheless in yYour great mercy You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; for You are God, gracious and merciful” (Neh. 9: nkjv). “Yet he was merciful; he atoned for their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath” (Ps. 78: niv).

Israel’s lack of adequate leadership (vv. 17–18). The people were prepared to act, but from all the tribes of Israel, there was nobody to take the lead. Whether in a nation or a local church, the absence of qualified leaders is often a judgment of God and evidence of the low spiritual level of the people. When the Spirit is at work among believers, He will equip and call servants to accomplish His will and bless His people (Acts 13:1–4).

In his book Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy wrote, “We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.” What’s true of political leadership is often true of spiritual leadership: We get what we deserve. When God’s people are submitted to Him and serving Him, He sends them gifted servants to instruct and lead them, but when their appetites turn to things of the world and the flesh, He judges them by depriving them of good and godly leaders. “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart” (Isa. 57: niv).

After eighteen years of suffering, the Israelites assembled to face their oppressors (Judg. 10:11). There are several places in Scripture named “Mizpeh”; this one was in Gilead (11:29; see Josh. 13:26). Israel had an army, but they didn’t have a general. In order to get a volunteer to command their army, the leaders of Israel promised that their commander would be named head over all Gilead. Had the princes of Israel called a prayer meeting instead of a political caucus, they would have accomplished more.

When I was a young Christian, I heard an evangelist preach a powerful sermon on the text, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” (2 Kings 2:14). “We know where the Lord God of Elijah is,” he said; “He’s on the throne of heaven and is just as powerful today as He was in Elijah’s day.” Then he paused. “The question is not so much ‘Where is the Lord God of Elijah?’ as ‘Where are the Elijahs?’”

Indeed, where are the Elijahs? Where are the spiritual leaders who can rally God’s people and confront the forces of evil?