The people of Israel turned away from the Lord again, and worshiped the heathen gods Baal and Ashteroth, and the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon and Philistia. Not only this, but they no longer worshiped Jehovah at all. This made Jehovah very angry with His people, so He immediately permitted the Philistines and the Ammonites to begin tormenting them . . . this went on for eighteen years. Finally the Israelites cried out to the Lord, "We have sinned against You and have forsaken You and worshiped the Baal idols." But the Lord replied, ". . . Has there ever been a time when you cried out to Me that I haven't rescued you? Yet you continue to abandon Me and to worship other gods. So go away; I won't save you any more. Go and cry to the new gods you have chosen! Let them save you in your hour of distress!" But they pleaded with Him again and said, "We have sinned. Punish us in any way You think best, only save us once more from our enemies."

   Then they destroyed their foreign gods and worshiped only the Lord; and He was grieved by their misery.

   "Who will lead our forces against the Ammonites?" the leaders of Gilead asked each other. "Whoever volunteers shall be our king!"

   Now Jephthah was a great warrior from the land of Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. His father (whose name was Gilead) had several other sons by his legitimate wife, and when these half brothers grew up, they chased Jephthah out of the country. "You son of a whore!" they said, "You'll not get any of our father's estate."

   So Jephthah fled from his father's home and lived in the land of Tob. Soon he had quite a band of malcontents as his followers, living off the land as bandits. It was about this time that the Ammonites began their war against Israel. The leaders of Gilead sent for Jephthah, begging him to come and lead their army against the Ammonites. But Jephthah said to them, "Why do you come to me when you hate me and have driven me out of my father's house? Why come now when you're in trouble?"

   "Because we need you," they replied. "If you will be our commander-in-chief against the Ammonites, we will make you the king of Gilead." To be continued.

Taken from Judges 10, 11, The Living Bible. For free Lifescope book,
write to Box 1575, Carlsbad, NM 88221. Please send $1.00 for postage and handling.