Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

THE ELDERS OF GILEAD ARE IRRELIGIOUS OPPORTUNISTS. They do not care about true worship of the Lord, for they willingly usurp Yahweh’s role in raising up a deliverer. There is no prayer to God from these men, no seeking his will, no trust in him to guide. They can do it themselves because in so doing they can guarantee their positions of authority (or at least they think they can). They seek to take advantage of Jephthah. These are the kind of leaders who would gladly abuse whomever they can to maintain or gain more power. There is nothing that they wouldn’t do to anyone to this end. How ironic that they get a leader like themselves. Jephthah is willing to do anything to anyone in order to seize power and to maintain that power and status. He wants so desperately to be restored and accepted, to be the head, that he will do anything and deal with anyone (including the unscrupulous elders) in order to achieve his goals. The error in both cases is the same: a placing of blind ambition above covenantal loyalty, familial loyalty, and proper worship of God. Thus the elders and Jephthah deserve one another. Selfish ambition drives them all. Yahweh is passive here. While both the elders and Jephthah use his name to legitimate their actions, he is not active in raising up a deliverer for the Israelites. Rather, he allows them to proceed in their own plans and devices. As we will see, he can work his will even in spite of these.