Jephthah` from outcast to a man of valour who kept his promises and was raised high by God

Here we see the picture of Jephthah. Let us take a closer look at him to see why he is in this great hall of faith.
Jephthah was the son of a man named Gilead and a harlot or prostitute. Because of this, he wasn't much liked by his half brothers who made him leave the family's home land when they all became adults. They did this, because they did not want to share their inheritance with him. Jephthah went to live in the land of Tob with some people who went with him.

 No one thought again of Jephthah for many years. Then the children of Ammon made war with the Israelites. Because Jephthah was a great man of valour, the elders of Gilead came to ask him to be their Captain and lead the armies of Israel. At first he wasn't going to go, but they promised to let him go home and be part of the family. so he went.

Before they went out to war, Jephthah prayer to God asking God to give them victory, for he had faith that God would give them the victory. In the prayer, he made a deal with God that if God would give them victory over their enemy that he would give the first thing that came out of his door to God as an offering of thanksgiving. This showed that he truly believed that God would give him the victory. They won the war, of course. So Jephthah went home happy.

Jephthah went home rejoicing and made plans to give a gift to God when we got home. I believe that he thought that an animal would run out to meet him, when he made the promise to God. But this was not to be true, for his daughter was first to run out and meet him. She sang songs of celebration for his victory. But Jephthah's heart was no in the mood to celebrate, for he knew that he had to keep his promise to God and sacrifice his daughter who was his only child to the Lord. He was so unhappy about it he tore his clothes when he saw her. He told her of his promise to God.

Jephthah's daughter told him that it was alright,  that she would allow him to do so, Then she asked if she could have time to grieve first. He gave her two months to do so. Upon her return, he kept his promise. This too took a lot of faith. God rewarded his faithfulness by making him a judge over Israel for 6 years before he died.


You can read all about Jephthah in Judges 11:1-12:7).