Here in this chapter we see some unpleasant truths about the selfishness of man, but also assurance that faithfulness in the Lord will still prevail.
The men of Ephraim refused to help their kindred in need, so in faith Jepthah went to deal with the problem without their help for the sake of his people, even though his own people had offended him in the past. By the Lord’s hand, he achieved a great victory against his oppressors, but then, rather than being content with his handling of the situation that they refused help with, the other men of Ephraim became jealous that they did not get to share in the Lord’s blessing as a result.
So having just returned from dealing with a foreign oppressor, Jepthah was then even more injustly faced with being attacked by his own kin for their own selfish and wrongful attitude toward him, but here the Lord also gave him victory and did not allow him to be overcome. But what a sad statement about mankind that such cases can, and often do, exist, and we must take to heart both the great importance of honestly considering the character of those surrounding us and also guarding ourselves against being similarly blinded by moments of selfishness that might cause us to miss out on great blessings or, even worse, require the Lord’s hand to go against us to protect others we might carelessly hurt if allowed to continue. However, we can also be equally encouraged that our God still cares for and keeps us, no matter what our fellow man might think or do.
Very good article and a lot of wisdom passed along with it. It’s wonderful to know that God loves to us and he displays this continually, by fighting our battles for us.
(that God loves us) Sorry, about my typing errors!
This is a wonderful message; no matter what may befall is or how dread the road ahead may appear to us, when put ig God’s hand, when our faith and trust is in Him, He will deliver us. Love, this. Thanks for sharing God’s word. Keep sharing.
Thank you for explaining a very complex scripture.
Thanks for the encouragement. Although I am doing these public Bible readings to keep my own discipline in place, I am very glad if they help others, too.
I often find the harder-to-get scriptures end up yielding more in the end than ones that seem easier to grasp right off the bat, due to having to go to God with them and asking, “What on earth do You mean by that?” and waiting for His answer rather than leaning on my own understanding.
Sometimes we do need easy answers, so those certainly serve their purpose as well (2 Tim 3:16 – all scripture is profitable), but there a lot more riches lying under the surface if we are willing to dig deeper for them.