Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah
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Introduction
This study is based on the third book of the History of Redemption series, entitled ‘The Unquenchable Lamp of the Covenant: The first fourteen generations in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.’ And we’re looking at chapter 24, which covers the work of the Judges.
So here is a list of the judges of Israel.
Othniel
Ehud
Shamgar
Deborah
Gideon
Tola
Jair
Jephthah
Ibzan
Elon
Abdon
Samson
And today we’re looking at the judges from Gideon to Jephthah.
Gideon
Gideon
Gideon is a major judge.
Gideon (גִּדְעוֹן) = Woodcutter, lumberjack, warrior
Gada (גדע) = to cut off, to fell a tree
Tribe of Manasseh (Judg. 6:15)
At the time of Gideon, the Israelites had peace for 40 years thanks to Judge Deborah. But they neglected God and fell back into sin, and so God gave them into the hand of the Midianites for seven years.
The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.
For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey.
The oppression by the Midianites caused the people of Israel to live in anxiety without any sense of safety. They didn’t feel safe in their tents and villages, so they went to live in dens and caves in the mountains. When the harvest time came, the Midianites and the Amalekites would come and plunder their fields.
So after facing such dire circumstances for seven years, it says that the Israelites were brought very low. And they cried out to the Lord for help.
And God hears their cries and raises Gideon to deliver them.
Gideon calling from God
Gideon calling from God
God sends an angel to reach out to Gideon. But Gideon is found beating wheat in a winepress. You would normally beat or thresh your wheat in a large open area with lots of air circulation. But Gideon, because of his fear and crippling anxiety of the Midianites, threshed his wheat in a small tiny winepress.
Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
But the angel comes to him and called him a mighty man of valor. Valor means ‘to have great courage, especially in the face of danger.’ Which is the precise opposite of what Gideon was. But the angel knew that if God was with him, even the most cowardly person could become a mighty man of valor.
But God knows that Gideon couldn’t change into a mighty man of valor overnight. So God guides him, step-by-step, into becoming the man he’s supposed to be.
So God instructs Gideon to carry out a religious reformation in his town. Gideon has to take down the idols and their altars, and build an altar to the Lord. So Gideon does this, but with ten of his servants and in the shade of night where no one could see.
So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
I believe that we also want to become mighty men and women of valour. So what can we do to grow in courage? We need to obey God’s Word, step by step. When it comes to physical training, no one gets a great physique after a week, or even a year. It takes time. You slowly add more and more weight to the barbell. You slowly pickup the heavier dumbbells. Likewise with spiritual training.
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
God’s humility
God’s humility
Next, the Midianites start gathering for a huge attack. And Gideon gathers the Israelites together to fight. But he’s still not sure if God’s strong enough. So he puts a fleece of wool on the ground. He tells God, if the fleece is wet in the morning, but the ground isn’t, then he’ll believe. And God makes it happen. But then Gideon then asks for the opposite. Keep the fleece dry but make the ground wet with dew. And again, God makes it happen.
Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”
And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.”
And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
This is how humble God was to Gideon, and that’s how our God is to us. God hears our prayers and even accommodates to us. So we shouldn’t be afraid to admit to God, “Hey God, I don’t really trust You yet. Can You help me trust You?”
Gideon’s Great Victory
Gideon’s Great Victory
The Midianite army had 135,000 men.
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword.
On the other hand, Gideon only had 32,000 soldiers. But God told him that he had too many people. And so Gideon had to downsize his army two times, to 10,000 men, and then to 300 men.
Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’ ” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.”
And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.
Men of courage
Alert and awake
Who were these 300 men? They were men who didn’t tremble in fear, and who remained alert even when drinking water (Judg. 7:5). Those who have fear in their hearts and who cannot remain alert will not be able to fulfil their duties as God’s warriors.
And for us, we are called to be alert and awake. Not physically, but spiritually.
For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
Next, God commanded Gideon and his company to go and attack the Midianite camp. But God saw fear in Gideon’s heart, and so He gave Gideon another sign of confirmation that he would win.
When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.”
And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.”
As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.”
What we see in Gideon here is something all of us experience. It’s the mixture of faith and uncertainty, of belief and doubt. And this time, God gives Gideon a sign without him asking for it. So we can take courage that God will help us out of unbelief and doubt.
Also, we can note that this is the last time we see Gideon worshiping God.
And so Gideon goes back to camp, divides the 300 men into 3 companies, and gives each of them a trumpet, an empty jar, and a torch inside the jar.
And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars.
Sometime between 10-11pm, Gideon and 100 men with him saw that it was the time for the Midianites to change guards. And so they divided their 300 men into 3 companies of 100, blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers with torches inside.
Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
When the 300 men blew their trumpets together, the Midianite army thought they were completely surrounded by an enormous army and fell into a great fear and confusion.
Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
In the end, Gideon and his 300 men defeated the Midianite army of 135,000. They captured and defeated the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna.
They relied completely on God and obeyed God together in unity. And God gave them 40 years of peace.
So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
The trumpet signifies the Word of God, and the broken pitchers signify the weak vessels that God chooses to fill with His glory.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
We must rely on God completely, cast away all doubts, and overcome all obstacles as we march forward to the great victory in the end.
Gideon’s prideful end
Gideon’s prideful end
Gideon’s story ends awkwardly. The people come to him and try to make him their king, but he gives a very powerful declaration of faith.
Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.”
But what he does next is he makes an ephod of gold and sets it up in his city, and that leads the people into idolatry.
And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.
What’s an ephod? An ephod is a kind of apron worn by priests.
So how can it be that an ephod causes the people to idolize it? Gideon must have made a huge showcase of it.
Furthermore, even though Gideon said he wouldn’t be their king, he acts like a king. He takes many wives for himself and has seventy sons. And through a concubine, Gideon has a son called Abimelech.
Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.
It says that Gideon named this boy Abimelech. What does Abimelech mean?
Abi (אֲבִי) = my father
Melech (מֶלֶךְ) = king
Abimelech (אֲבִימֶלֶךְ) = my father is king
So what this shows is that when Gideon said “I won’t rule over you”, what he meant was “Yeah okay I’ll rule over you.”
So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
And after Gideon dies, Abimelech decides he wants to become king. And so he rounds up a group of gangsters and murders all 70 of Gideon’s sons. And Abimelech ended up ruling over Israel as a tyrant for 3 years.
Abimelech ruled over Israel three years.
In the end, he died while attacking the city of Shechem. A woman threw a millstone and it crushed his skull. And he asked his armor-bearer to kill him (Judg. 9:53-54)
Tola
Tola
After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.
Tola is a minor judge.
God raised up Tola after the cruel oppression of Abimelech. Tola probably felt righteous indignation because of Abimelech’s tyranny. And God used Tola to save the Israelites.
Tola’s name comes from the word ‘yala’ which means ‘to speak without thinking,’ ‘to speak hastily,’ and ‘to swallow,’ and it means ‘worm’ or ‘maggot.’
Tola (תּוֹלָע) = worm, maggot
Yala (יָלַע) = to speak without thinking, to speak hastily, to swallow.
And what we see is that Tola was born in the land of Issachar, but he served the people in the land of Ephraim for 23 years. But what stands out is that he died and was buried there. This tells us that he was so committed to God’s calling even though it took him away from his homeland.
This reminds us of our own calling.
Revelation 2:10 (ESV)
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Jair
Jair
After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.
Jair is a minor judge. As we studied previously, Tola and Jair’s reigns probably overlapped with each other since Tola reigned in the west whereas Jair reigned in the east, beyond the Jordan River.
Jair (יָאִיר) = Enlightener, the one who shines light
Light (אוֹר / or)
There was no mention of evil deeds or oppression during the time of Jair, so we can know that his 22-year reign was a time of peace.
This tells us that Jair probably cast away the darkness of sin by teaching the people the Word of God.
Psalm 119:130 (ESV)
The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
Jephthah
Jephthah
Judge Jephthah is a major judge.
During Jephthah’s time, the people neglected God again and began worshiping idols.
The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve him.
Forsook (עזב / azav) = to leave behind, to abandon one’s spouse.
Which idols do they start worshiping? The gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines.
Spiritual oppression leads to physical oppression. And so God hands them over to be physically oppressed by who? The Ammonites and the Philistines.
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites,
And this time the oppression is worse because it’s by two different nations at the same time, attacking two different parts of Israel. The Ammonites to the east and the Philistines to the south.
Jephthah deals with the Ammonite oppression, which lasts for 18 years.
and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
And so the people of Israel cry out to God, they put away their idols, and God raises up Jephthah to save them.
Jephthah (יִפְתָּח) = God will open it up
Patah (פתח) = to open, to liberate
Son of a prostitute
Unwanted by his family
Forced to flee from home
Worthless fellows gathered to him
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.
But what’s interesting is that when the Ammonites came to attack Israel, the elders of Jephthah’s hometown sought him out in order to ask him to be their leader.
And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.”
But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”
Does this seem familiar at all? Who else has felt like this throughout the entire book of Judges? Could it be that God has let Jephthah feel what He feels?
Next, Jephthah tries his hand at diplomacy. He sends messengers to the Ammonite king and points out the injustice of his attack on Israel.
And he gives two reasons why they should stop their attacks.
First, Israel took the land of the Amorites, not the Ammonites.
And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.
Jephthah then explains why they have the land. God gave it to them. So why don’t you keep the land that your god gave to you? He’s making a theologically profound declaration based on faith.
So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.
You don’t own anything you or your god can’t protect.
But his attempts at peace-talks didn’t work, and he had to take the battle to the Ammonites. But in doing so, he made a spontaneous vow.
Jephthah’s Vow
Jephthah’s Vow
And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
So he’s saying that if he wins the battle, he’s going to sacrifice the first thing that comes out of his house.
Many houses back then had room in the first floor for their livestock animals. So Jephthah perhaps had in mind his goat or sheep.
He wins the battle and subdues the Ammonites. But he comes home, and his only child, his daughter, comes out to meet him.
Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”
Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.
The faith of Jephthah’s daughter
The faith of Jephthah’s daughter
Jephthah’s daughter showed great faith. She doesn’t resist. She confessed that God kept His part of the vow, and so now her father must keep his word. It’s almost as if she’s saying that the victory against the Ammonites was worth the cost of her life. And so she willingly dies for the victory of God’s people, according to a covenant, as a burnt offering. Remind you of anyone?
And all she asks for is two months to be with her friends.
And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.”
So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains.
And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel
Even though Jephthah’s heart was broken in despair, his daughter’s genuine faith became a source of consolation. He dedicated his daughter to God and kept his vow.
Civil War
Civil War
Finally, there was civil war between the tribes of Israel because of Jephthah’s victory over the Ammonites.
The men of Ephraim became envious of Jephthah’s victory and started a conflict. The men of Ephraim were selfish opportunists who wouldn’t take action until there was victory. And we see that the men of Ephraim also showed up in Gideon’s story, immediately after Gideon’s victory.
The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.”
Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they accused him fiercely.
Ephraim is like that distant relative who suddenly becomes friendly after you win the lottery. Aren’t we family? Why don’t we share the spoils of war? But as soon as you reject them, they get vicious and bitter.
And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand.
Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.”
So then men of Ephraim then insult and slander the men of Gilead by calling them fugitives of Ephraim. We can think of the huge protests when the residents of HongKong were essentially called fugitives of China. It challenged their legitimacy as a people. That’s exactly what the men of Ephraim were saying about Jephahth and the men of Gilead.
This starts a civil war in which the men of Gilead fight with the men of Ephraim.
And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,”
they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.
The emphasis is on disunity among the tribes of Israel. Brother kills brother.