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Lessons from Judges 10 and 11: Trust in God
May 5, 2026 · 14 min
Explore the stories of Tola and Jair, their roles as judges, and Israel's cycle of sin and repentance.
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Tola, Jair, and True Repentance 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to stand on the word. Thanks for joining me this morning as we look at Judges chapters 10 and 11. Verse 24 of chapter 11. Will you not possess whatever chemos your god gives you to possess? So0:22 whatever the lord, our god, takes possession of before us, we will possess. Now this morning, we have, 2 chapters, 3 judges, and 1 very difficult episode0:33 that has resulted in a lot of discussion and debate. Let's start with verse 1 of chapter 10. After Abimelech, there arose to save Israel Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a0:45 man of Issachar, and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim. He judged Israel 23 years, and he died and was buried in Shamir. Wow. Here's the total of what we know about Tola.0:57 He was born. He was the son of Dodo. He served as a judge for 23 years. He died, and he was buried. Of course, after Abimelech and all the stuff that he did, maybe a mundane nondescript judge was a welcome1:09 change. So then we have at verse 3, after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and he judged Israel 22 years. Now he had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys, who had 301:21 towns, which were called Hav Ath Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried1:33 in Kaman. So what we, what we know about, Jair, having 30 donkeys for your 30 sons was actually, like, 30 sports cars. So we know he had1:45 affluence, but no evidence that he had influence. Then the cycle begins again. Verse 6. Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and Ashtoreths,1:57 the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, the gods of the Philistines, and they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. So the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,2:09 and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon. Verse 10. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord saying, we have sinned against you because we have both forsaken2:19 our God and served the Baals. So the Lord said to the children of Israel, did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines? Verse 13.2:31 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore, I will deliver you no more. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in your time of distress. And the children of2:43 Israel said to the lord, we have sinned. Do to us whatever seems best. You only deliver us this day, we pray. So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the lord, and his2:55 soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel. Alright. First, we have remorse in verse 10. We have sinned, which was the result of3:07 the oppression that they brought upon themselves by their sin. But god basically says, I've heard this before. Right? You've done this before. You've you've, you know, you you the the oppression starts the consequences3:19 of your sin, and and you cry out to me. He says, go cry to the gods you've been serving. But something happens. Then comes repentance. So they put away the foreign gods, and they serve the lord. You3:31 see, true repentance, not remorse, true repentance results in action. And then look how god responds. His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel, and he helps them.3:42 Verse 18. And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to 1 another, who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. And3:54 then the answer comes in chapter 11 verse 1. Now Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot, and Gilead begotJephthah: From Reject to Commander 4:06 Jephthah. And as we read on, we see here another bad situation, another family situation. Now as we was I think we we talked about this at the beginning. These judges were flawed individuals.4:19 Right? The thing about the scripture that helps us know that it is true is that it doesn't it doesn't, it doesn't gloss over the fallen nature of man, even4:30 those that god uses. So number 1, it shows us that the word of god is true, but number 2, it gives us hope. If god can use these people, I mean, we fit right in there. Verse third verse 3 of4:42 chapter 11. Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob. And worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. Not a good thing.4:54 It came to pass after a time that the the people of Ammon made war against Israel. And so it was when the people of Ammon made war against Israel that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of5:06 Tob. Then they said to him, Jephth said to Jephthah, come and be our commander that we may fight against the people of Ammon. So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, do you not hate me and expel me5:18 from my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress? It's kinda like, what what, they the the people as a whole did to god. And I didn't want anything to do with him when things are going5:30 well, but when things go bad, they're looking for help. So shortening a long story, Jaffa becomes their leader. He begins to negotiate for peace, which is the right approach with the king of Ammon. Interestingly,5:42 though, what read this. Pay no pay close attention. What was it over? What was it what was the issue? It was over land. Those same debates continue today. Now Jephthah5:54 recounts the history of their acquisition of the land. Verse 12. Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon saying, what do you have against me that you have come to fight against me in my land?6:05 And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah because Israel took away my land. Alright. You see that? When they came up out of Egypt from Arnon and as6:17 far as Jabach and to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore those lands peaceably. The king Ammon's, his his entire argument was based on a flawed understanding.6:30 Can you point to what it is? That's what I just pointed at. Look look what he says, my land. Who owns the land? God owns the land, and he gives it to whomever he desires. And he specifically stated this land6:41 was given to the children of Israel, given to Abraham and his descendants. Look at verse 23. And now the lord god of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites. Why? Because of the the gross sin.6:54 And remember, god had warned Israel, well, I'll do the same to you. You will be vomited out of the land if you do the same thing that the previous inhabitants did. Before me, his people Israel, should7:06 you then possess it? Let me read that again. And now the lord of lord god of Israel had dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel. Should you then possess it? And by the way, we've talked about this7:17 before, but, yes, god did expel them out of the land, but the the covenant was an everlasting covenant. That's why they've been brought back into the land and will be brought back into the land. Now he7:29 communicated with the king of Ammon who claimed that the land belonged to him, but Jephthah tells how God took it from the Amorites and gave it to Israel. Israel they dispossessed, the the7:41 Amorites of the land when Israel entered the promised land. The Amorites did not have the land, and their claims were a rewrite of history. Alright? Verse 24. Will you not possess whatever7:53 Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the lord our god takes possession of before us, we will possess. Now don't forget this reference to Chemosh. I I I I think it8:05 is a clue to what we're about to look at in just a minute. Verse 29. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead, Ammanasa, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead. And from8:17 Mizpah of Gilead, he advanced toward the people of Ammon. Now the spirit of the lord, I think we've talked about this before, but the the the holy spirit, the spirit of the lord came upon8:29 particular offices and individuals for missions in the Old Testament. This was part of the anointing that we would see at times, but it was limited, and it was for the purposes of God to be accomplished. Now in the New8:40 Testament, under the new covenant, believers receive the Holy Spirit. We all have the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the 1 who leads us on this journey, teaching us all things.8:53 Alright. So, let me, continue on. And Jetha made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the door of myThe Costly Vow and Cultural Warning 9:04 house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon shall surely be the lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.9:17 He is successful, and then he goes home. Verse 34. When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing, and she was his only child.9:28 Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass when he saw her that he tore his clothes and said, alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low. You are among those who trouble me, for I have given9:40 my word to the lord, and I can I cannot go back on it? So here's the question. Does Jeff, sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering? I don't9:52 know. This is on my, my list to inquire about when I get to heaven. But for now, this is what I can share with you. Scholars are divided. They are divided over what Jephthah10:04 actually did. Some think that he didn't sacrifice her, but rather committed her to service to the Lord, similar to what Hannah did with Samuel. Now this is this is plausible10:16 because the firstborn of humans and animals belong to the lord. We've we've seen that with the Levites. The animals were sacrificed, but the people were dedicated to the lord's service by proxy with the Levites as a10:27 tribe. This, they're being committed to the lord. However, however, the passage doesn't totally support that view. Alright? It doesn't support10:39 it. But how could he sacrifice his daughter? Which God clearly said not to do. It was it was the Lord said don't do it. So how could he come to that place of doing10:50 it? Well, he came from the east side of the Jordan near the pagan nations that worshiped Chemosh and Molech,11:03 which as we've discussed previously engaged in child sacrifice. Jephthah and and we've seen him. He hung out with bad guys. He didn't come from a good family.11:14 He could have been so influenced by the prevailing culture that he developed this syncretic faith that led him to believe that such an action of sacrificing one's child was actually pleasing11:27 to god. Now before you dismiss that idea as not possible, consider how some today try to harmonize the cultural acceptance of of abortion, of11:38 same sex marriage. I mean, look at the polling data. Many Christians have warmed up to this idea trying to, you know, reconcile it with Christianity, which you you can't if11:50 you actually believe the Bible. Well, like Moses, Joshua, and others, I, you know, I I know that I sound like a broken record repeating once again the, the preventative or the the antidote12:02 to spiritual compromise and moral corruption that would lead us to to try to, blend the cultural direction that our country is in12:14 with the Christian faith as opposed to standing against it. You wanna guess what I'm about to say? The word of God. If we are to follow Jesus, we must be aware of,12:28 of and then live we we need to be aware of of of the culture. Okay? But we gotta live counter to the prevailing ways of the culture when it's in conflict with the word of god. And how do we12:40 do that? Well, we only know what the word of god says by following, by being in the word of god and by following the ways of god. This, again, this can only be accomplished by abiding in Christ, which win which12:51 means we must be in the word of god. But it doesn't stop with being in the word. The word must be in us, which comes about through obedience to the word and the indwelling presence13:03 of the Holy Spirit that enables us to live according to the word of God. You see, we have the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit. And if we're in the word, it's like13:15 activation. It's like you put the 2 together. You put the word and the holy spirit together. That's our power. That's our ability to live the Christian life. Father, thank you for your word13:27 and, lord, you know, there are some things here we just struggle with but we pray the holy spirit would open our eyes to understand the principles here, what you're communicating, what the word, the living word is13:38 communicating to us so we might apply it to our lives in this world in which we live. Father, may we be very sensitive, and may, lord, may we do nothing, nothing in our lives that would bring13:49 reproach upon your name. For we pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for being with me this morning. And until next time, keep standing on the word.14:01 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:13 can read through the entire bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Tola, Jair, and True Repentance3:59 Jephthah: From Reject to Commander8:54 The Costly Vow and Cultural Warning
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