Jephthah is the most motley character amongst the Judges of Israel. He was an illegitimate son whose mother was a prostitute. He was driven out of his family and his inheritance and became an infamous bandit to whom his people subsequently turned in their hour of need. But for all his faults, Jephthah was also a man of some faith and is even included in the list of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11:32. His life demonstrates that a very faulty man with a bit of faith can be used by God to do great things. His faith is manifest in his reference to the dealings of God with the Ammonites in the desert period before they entered the land. He found a precedent in the historical records of God’s acts and he trusted God on the strength of this precedent. It was with this bit of faith that he fought this battle. Jephthah shows us that you don’t need perfect faith to be used by God, for his faith was faulty indeed. His vow to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house on his return was a brief relapse into his pagan roots. He did not need to bargain with God like this and his attempt to do so had terrible consequences. His lapse into paganism would become a full lapse that led him into the common Canaanite practice of child sacrifice. (Note: God did not require him to fulfil this vow, but his superstition did.) Here again is a story of God using a very faulty man with a bit of faith for his purposes.
Ask God to use you today.
Read Judges 11 and 12
