Fetching Jephthah - Judges 11:5

In the book of Judges we learned how, “it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel”, and in chapter eleven and verse five of Judges, we learn how,“the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah” where we read,

And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel,

 the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:

The verse reads, “And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel,…” The writer began with the words, “and it was so” which means “and the following existed, happened, fell out and occurred”, “that when the children of Ammon” or ”that at the time and moment the offspring and progeny belonging to Ammon whose name means ‘tribal’ and was a people dwelling in Transjordan who descended from Lot through Ben-ammi” “made war against Israel” which means “fought and did battle in opposition to Israel whose name means ‘God prevails’ and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob” the following happened. The writer shared that the following occurred when the offspring belonging to “Ammon” initiated fighting in opposition to the people of “Israel”. 

The verse goes on to say, “… the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:” The writer continued with the words, “the elders of Gilead” which means “the older and aged men belonging to Gilead whose name means ‘’rocky region” and was “a mountainous region bounded on the west by the Jordan, on the north by Bashan, on the east by the Arabian plateau, and on the south by Moab and Ammon; sometimes called 'Mount Gilead' or the 'land of Gilead' or just 'Gilead'. Divided into north and south Gilead” “went to fetch Jephthah” or “left and departed to get, lay hold of and seize Jephthah whose name means ‘he opens’” “out of the land of Tob” which means “from the region and territory known as “Tob” whose name means ‘good’ and was “a region east of the Jordan, north or northeast of Gilead, probably Aramean whose location is uncertain”. The writer shared how the aged men within “Gilead” departed to seize “Jephthah” from the region of “Tob”. 

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn because the offspring of “Ammon” were attacking “Israel”, the aged men within the region of “Gilead” departed from their home territory to lay hold of “Jephthah” who was living in the region of “Tob””. We shall see what the elders tell “Jephthah” in our next verses, but for now let us realize how this is the beginning of of Jehovah God delivering  “Israel” through “Jephthah”. God works with us in a similar fashion when we receive His Son Jesus as our “Savior and Lord” who died on the cross for the sins of all mankind and was raised from the dead after three days. When we yield to Him, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and give us His Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and let us know He is at work in our lives even when we are unaware of it. (See John 3:16; Psalm 25:14; Daniel 2:2)

Next time we learn how the elders, “said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance”.