Jephthah was an unlikely hero. His brothers had exiled him; they said it was because his mother was a prostitute. Prostitution and polygamy were quite common, and society did not attach a social stigma to the son of a prostitute. That was an excuse; he had to leave so that he would have no claim on the family inheritance. Jephthah’s family was well to do and socially respected. We know this because he is described as being a “mighty warrior” or “man of valor.” This was a term reserved for men with social status. It would not have been applied to an individual from a lower caste family, no matter how good a fighter he was. The leaders of Gilead could have offered him some protection, but they sided with his stepbrothers and enforced his exile. In exile he was forced to live as an outcast, but because of his leadership abilities he gathered around himself a gang of followers who were all social outcasts like himself.

When the Israelites called upon God to save them, He did not pick a leader for them as he had done before. He forced them to swallow their pride and pick their own leader; a man that they had treated wrongly and driven from their midst. Jephthah did not make it easy for them. He did not settle for being the commander of their fighting forces; they had to acknowledge him as their leader, and agree to make him head of all of Gilead.

Jephthah believed in God, and knew that if he were to be victorious it would only be because the Lord was with him. Jephthah was only willing to lead them if they made a covenant with him before the Lord. In the town of Mizpah, the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their commander head over them. In that moment, in a covenant before God, Jephthah an exiled outcast became a judge of Israel.

When God is with us, no matter how unlikely, Christians do amazing things.