11:1
We now get to the meat of the matter. As we read through this chapter I cannot help seeing some parallels with the current Israel-Palestine situation. There are arguments over who has a right to the land, with some of the arguments being based on incomplete information. With the whole Judges situation there are parallels as well. Israel at the time was thoroughly apostate, yet God still intervened to help them at various times.He tried to teach them a lesson, but they were very stiff-necked. Modern Israel is a very atheistic/secular nation, with much outsight disobedience to God, as well as the refusal to recognise Jesus as their Messiah. Yet God still has a care for the nation. Obviously one must be careful in reading too much into this, but the parallels seem interesting.
11:1-3
Jephthah was described as a “mighty warrior” from the beginning, and seems to see himself as such, unlike Gideon. Like Abimelek, he had a dubious ancestry. His mother was a prostitute. The “real” sons of Gilead considered themselves better than Jephthah and drove him away, not wanting him to have any share in their inheritance. Jephthah fled to Tob, and gathered a bunch of scoundrels around himself. This reminds me of David gathering various malcontents around himself (1 Sam 22:2).
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