FAITH – JEPHTHAH, DAVID, SAMUEL, THE PROPHETS
Wednesday – June 13, 2018, Sivan 30, 5778
Greetings to one and all, and welcome back to this faith building study based upon the Book of Hebrews, entirely based on the Holy Word of God. Before I plunge into todays study I would like to encourage everyone who follows these teachings on Facebook to follow the link to the WordPress site and sign up to receive these teachings by email. If you value these teachings, are a regular reader please sign up for them to be delivered to your email inbox daily. As you know I have been teaching down through the Faith Hall of Fame and I am now dealing with the second part of Hebrews 11:32.
Hebrews 11:32-34 (KJV)
32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
The Scripture is full of very imperfect characters exactly like you and me. Many of these did not have faith in the beginning but developed great faith over time and truly did exploits for our God. Many had peaks and valleys but, in the end, soared like an eagle. Of course, there are many persons in Scripture who exhibited great faith when God needed it, and they needed it, who are not in the Faith Hall of Fame. The human author of Hebrews exclaims this knowledge in this verse and briefly summarizes. After all many of these are written of in whole Books of the Bible like David, Samuel, and many prophets just to mention a few. Therefore, neither will I be talking about their lives as well, each would be a study by itself consuming many months if not years. If we will but look there is no shortage of peoples in Scripture facing all the same things we face and we can learn from them what to do and what not to do. It should be obvious to even the casual observer of Scripture that God’s ways are infinitely better than our own ways.
Our primary Scriptural text mentions a Judge of Israel by the name of Jephthae (Jephthah) and his story is found in Judges chapter eleven. This account shows, as do many others in Scripture, how a person can get off to a less than illustrious start and be a mighty person for the purposes of God. We will also see the horrendous dangers of not controlling our tongues.
Judges 11:1-4 (KJV)
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
2 And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.
4 And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
So, we see the less than illustrious start for Jephthah being born of a harlot. The other children of his father and his fathers’ wife threw Jephthah out. When he went out the Scripture tells us that vain men went with him. Vain men are worthless men. We have seen this before with Abraham and Lot (Lot being the vain man). When trouble came they realized that they needed this “mighty man of valour”, so they sent for him and made him their “head and captain”. Jephthah tried the diplomatic approach to begin with which was unsuccessful. The enemies of Israel claimed that Israel had taken and were occupying their land. Does this sound anything like what we hear from the Palestinians today? The final solution was war and the next verses tells us the outcome.
Judges 11:29 (KJV)
29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.
Judges 11:33 (KJV)
33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
However, before this wonderful victory Jephthah made a very foolish statement.
Judges 11:30-31 (KJV)
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
Judges 11:34-35 (KJV)
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.
The words of our mouths, all of our mouths without exception are the most potent determinants of our lives and unfortunately those around us. Think of the story of Job and how fear and the words of his mouth brought terrible consequences. Covenants made must be kept at all costs (value of our word). Let us determine to put a guard over our mouths and ask the Lord to help us every moment of every day.
Judges 11:39 (KJV)
39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
2 Peter 1:2-4 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
PARTNERSHIP AND GIVING – Those of you who are not Partners of this Ministry and you find this ministry to be of value to you and perhaps others with whom you share it, we ask you to consider becoming Partners. A Partner is one who prays for the Ministry on a regular basis and contributes to the Ministry on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly, annually). Thank you and may the Lord be pleased with your decision.
CONTACT E-MAIL: pastordavidwood@gmail.com
BLOG: https://awakeariseandtriumphministries.org
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/awakearisetriumphministries
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PastorDavidWood
MAILING ADDRESS: 10 Village Green Circle, Oakland, Maine 04963
MY BOOKS: https://awakeariseandtriumphministries.org/shop/
