JEPHTHAH wasn’t ready to follow the same path that he’d taken before. He wanted something more than yesterday’s standing.
Yes, he wanted to be more than a warrior under another. He wanted to be that man who bows to no one, whether kin or foe.
For Jephthah wanted to be the lord of all Gilead. So he demanded that one thing. The condition for which he’d answer Gilead’s call.
Now he spoke out. ‘Listen, elders of Gilead, and I will state my case:
‘If today I the son of Gilead follow you home to fight for Israel—if I fight the king of Ammon and the Lord gives me victory over him, then I will be your ruler and your lord!’
The elders looked at themselves as the demand hit them. And as if those wordless glances spoke out their readiness, they answered:
‘We agree, Jephthah, we agree!’
‘Yes, be our ruler and our lord!’
‘Be our ruler and our lord! Be our ruler and our lord!’
Jephthah never expected such a quick response. He was surprised at the eagerness with which the men wanted him as their head in Gilead. The very men who chased him out of that homeland.
So the former warrior was surprised and he just bowed his heart and soul in awe of the God of Israel. The One who’d taken him out of dirt and was making him prince over his people.
After about a week, the great warlord returned to Israel bestriding a giant horse. And following him were an entourage of a century which he gained in the land of his exile.
That pack of a hundred combatants were led by his new deputies: Baddok, Simone, Gilkar and Sham—along with Macot leader of that hundred.
Then as Jephthah’s mighty fleet came into Gilead, and matched through the highway in Mizpah on the northern side of that region, the people flocked out of their houses to see their champion return.
It was as if Israel had just won the battle against Xarxus that day, with the thrill and excitement filling everywhere.
Women danced with overwhelming happiness, and the young lads ran to catch up with Jephthah’s gallant canters.
Dusts filled the air that early morn, being raised by happy heels to marry the mists of a new dawn.
But this big welcome given the returning hero didn’t shake him at all. It didn’t shake Jephthah like the times of old.
For that broken warlord only heard the call of duty from those praise songs chanted for him. And so he faced the battle he needed to win.
Indeed, Jephthah couldn’t bear to dash the hopes of those many people receiving him there.
He knew they weren’t praising his feats of yesterday—he was sure of that. He knew they were only asking him to repeat them again.
Thus the young warrior got down from his horse when he arrived at the sanctuary courts in Mizpah of Gilead. There the elders converged to hear him talk. And there the valiant man got down to work.
Yes, there at the vast arena overlooking the sanctuary in Mizpah, Jephthah restated his terms in the presence of God.
He told the people that he’d be their ruler and commander, if the God of Israel granted him victory over the Ammonites.
But the elders sealed their promise to the young man right there. For there and then they installed him as ruler and commander over all of Gilead.
Thus, Jephthah the man of war became the supreme head over Gilead.
Elar, however, didn’t gather with the leaders that morning. As the former chief commander wallowed in worries within his house.
The man wondered if Jephthah would take revenge on him then. Even right then that he’d just returned from that humiliating exile he sent him.
Elar thought about it:
If Jephthah is that hot-blooded like I think, he wouldn’t have served under me his younger brother when I oust him from that position he badly wanted.
If he’s that vengeful like I fear he is, he wouldn’t even have stayed quiet through the time of his exile, would he?
I think he’d have been back from the first month. He’d have come back for my head straightaway!
But Elar didn’t feel at home despite the hopes that those words could possibly stir. And that very morning, he packed his small family into a wagon and left Gilead for the region of Ephraim.
He feared Jephthah and the people. So he exiled himself.
However, Jephthah came back to his own family that he’d been forced to leave behind in his father’s house.
He had his wife restored to him as well as his one precious daughter. His little girl had in fact grown to be a beautiful damsel.
And now when Jephthah saw that his wife hadn’t got another child apart their daughter, he marvelled that his wife had kept herself through the hard, long years.
For, truly, she’d sorrowed every single day. She’d waited for that new day when Gilead himself will call her husband back.
Now when Jephthah realized all of these, he broke down shedding in tears and held his family within his arms.
For he remembered his days of drinking and gambling in the land of exile. And he told himself this one thing.
‘There’s no justification for irresponsibility!’ he sighed.
‘Whether there in that free land. Or even now when duty calls.’
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