“Then Yiftach fled from his brothers and lived in the territory of Tov, where he enlisted a gang of rowdies who would go out raiding with him.”-Judges 11:3
As what happens to many illegitimate children suffering from low esteem, Yiftach fled from his brothers after being kicked out of the family and started a gang.
And he must have been quite good at it.
Because he soon developed a reputation as a ruthless fighter who could hold his own among even the most vicious of hardened criminals.
And as divine fate would have it, that reputation was about to come in handy.
Israel had been attacked yet again…this time by a hostile group of people known as the Ammonites.
And under this renewed source of brutal oppression the leaders of Gilead were at a loss of what to do.
So after what must have been hours of long and drawn out debate the men decided to swallow their pride and call upon Yiftach, the very man who they had banished, to help them.
How did Yiftach respond?
Well, I imagine he was filled with mixed feelings at being approached by the very people who had treated him so badly and booted him out of their group.
Undoubtedly some of Yiftach’s own family members were part of the group of men who approached him.
Calling upon Yiftach for help must have been the LAST resort for the people of Gilead.
Because think about it.
Not only did they have to accept the humiliation of bowing down to the son of a whore but if he was victorious, this harlot’s child would be ruling over them for the rest of their lives.
Yiftach’s mixed feelings and suspicions were reflected in what he made the men of Gilead do next.
He forced them to officially seal the deal in the Lord’s personal name (Yahweh).
Then he escorted all the leaders to their headquarters in Mitzpah and in another religious ceremony of sorts had them again point by point repeat the term and conditions of the agreement they had just made.
Once that was done, that meant the deal had been sealed both publicly and spiritually.
So Yiftach now felt ready to get on with business.
We’re going to see Yiftach possessed street smarts that went far beyond what a typical gangster is capable of.
The first action he took against the Ammonites was not violence.
Instead, Yiftach first decided to negotiate with Israel’s enemies and in doing so proved himself to be quite a level-headed thinker and capable communicator.
Again, the qualities he displayed aren’t the kind we would normally associate with a street thug.
So here’s the takeaway I’m getting from today’s post…and it has something to do with the name of the town Yiftach escaped to after his brothers banished him.
The area he fled to was called TOV.
You know what TOV means, don’t you?
It means “good” in Hebrew.
However, Yiftach’s life up until this point had been anything but good.
He had been cast out of his home by his own brothers and was living a gangster lifestyle when the Lord began to arrange events in Yiftach’s favor.
In other words, the Lord would end up wringing TOV out of RAH…or good out of evil.
And that’s the takeaway for today.
The Lord was about to take Yiftach, this son of a prostitute, and transform him into both a hero and leader for Israel.
And that is why we should never judge our future by our current circumstances.
Because the Lord can radically change your situation…literally overnight.
You know, Rich, this message (for me, at least) is appropriate in current times.
Yiftach was mistreated and bullied as a child, yet he overcame that and ended up as a mighty leader.
True, he redirected that anger into becoming a raider, but that was almost a profession in those days.
The lesson I see that fits today is that Yiftach overcame the hardships he suffered as a child, and it was those hardships that made him a tough and self-confident leader of people.
Today’s children are not given the chance to learn hardships- we are raising them in an emotional bubble, with parents who would rather be friends than mother and father; discipline is lax and doting is commonplace.
I am not sayinng that we should purposefully hurt our children or allow them to be bullied in school or mistreated by family, but we need to allow them to go through tough times now- while they are young and able to recover- and to keep them psychologically sound. We shouldn’t cuddle them but teach them to cope with the evils and hardships of the world, so that when they grow up they grow up strong, self-confident, and psychologically prepared for the tsouris the world will give them.
That is how you make a strong society. And when the children have a moral compass that always points to God’s laws, you will also have a holy society.
I am sorry to say America has faled its children: our parents and leaders have gone way off track, and we will suffer the consequences of our sins against God.
In fact, it’s already started.
Thanks brother. As I mentioned on the FB feed, love getting your perspective.