Lessons from an unusual hero - 2

“..they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob Judges 11:2-3

Yesterday I commented [Click here to read yesterday’s post] on the striking nature of the introduction of this man Jephthah in the Bible, and the principle of “living in God’s image instead of man’s image”. Today I want to address another striking thing that I notice about Jephthah. He fled. He fled when his brothers rejected him. His action seems incongruous to the declaration of his character being a “mighty man of valor”. I would imagine that a mighty man of valor would never run but fight. Fight for his inheritance, fight for his rightful place. He could have routed them as the rest of the story indicates, instead he fled. But it was the right thing to do, and the rest of the story vindicates his flight. His gift of courage brought him before the elders and he ended up becoming the chosen leader over his brothers. If he would have fought, he might have won, but would have had to constantly fight to keep his place. He would have never become their true chosen leader – only a forced one.

I see here another principle for life: “Don’t waste your energy fighting what you cannot change. Instead work on the gift that God has given you.” I know that there are times when it is right to fight or stand up for the cause of justice, but the motivation of revenge or a drive to extract fairness often does more damage than good. We may end up winning the battle but losing the war. We may get what we want by force, but we will spend lifetime fighting to keep it. Fleeing is not always a sign of weakness, sometimes it takes greater strength to flee than to fight. When a heart rests in God’s goodness and justice, it is ok to not resist, but rather allow God to work.

Some may argue that he may have fled because he was alone. I offer you two reasons why I do not think so. The rest of the story makes it plain. First, he never came back to fight after he did have a lot of freebooters who banded around him. Two, he came back willingly and whole-heartedly to be their leader when they most needed him – to fight the common enemy. A man with revenge on his heart would have taken the first chance to get back at them, and a man with bitterness in his heart would have refused to help them when they needed it.

Jephthah had a right to have an offended heart. He was raised with the other sons; he deserved an inheritance, and if anyone had a right to be bitter and offended – Jephthah did. Jepthah ignored the “unfairness”, and instead developed the skills God had gifted him with – however crude that development may have been. He seemed to have no thought of revenge, no thought of fighting for justice to be done, no thought of bitterness and hatred. He simply exercised his God-given courage.

Incidentally, the word “Tob” in Hebrew means “good”. Jephthah ran to the land of good! A great metaphor that is! He fled from the land of rejection to the land of good. Flee to the land of good when you are rejected. Flee to the Lord’s house, His presence, where all true Goodness is found! Run to the land of the good where blessing abounds. Do not stay in the land of rejection, and fight and get bitter, and seek revenge. It will consume you. May this unusual hero teach us not only to live with God’s image of us, but teach us that fighting out of revenge and bitterness are not true signs of courage. Rather trusting in God’s goodness and justice, and fleeing to Him are often the most courageous things to do.

Danesh Manik