Despised and Rejected
Jesus our Lord was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification. Romans 4:25
Not one of the heroes of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 was a flawless man. Each one’s reputation was tarnished: either by their own unrighteous actions or through the circumstances of their birth. In the end we must all agree with the apostle Paul who writes, ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’(Romans 3:23). Hebrews 11 does not celebrate flawless people, rather, it celebrates people who trusted God at decisive moments. For ‘God has given to every man a measure of faith’ (Romans 12:3) that, like Jephthah, we also might ‘subdue kingdoms’.
Reading about Jephthah in Judges 11, we find that his mother was a prostitute, and when his father’s other sons had grown, they disinherited and disowned him. Forced to live by his wits, he led ‘a band of rebellious men who went out raiding with him’. When another nation threatened war against the men of his home territory, their opinion of him changed, and they turned to the bravest, most ruthless leader they knew. They only secured Jephthah’s aid by promising their allegiance to him if he defeated their enemies. In a display of enormous self-confidence, Jephthah attempted to reach a diplomatic solution with their enemies, but when they would not listen to reason ‘he fought against them and the Lord delivered them into his hands.’
Historians and Hebrew scholars have mixed opinions of Jephthah. Like him, the reputation we build in our life of rebellion is sometimes impossible to overturn. But the Spirit of God inspired the writer of Hebrews to include Jephthah in the Hall of Faith, not because life had taught him to be self-reliant, but because when the moment came, by faith in God he subdued kingdoms! Don’t pay any regard to your history or to people’s opinions of you! Live by faith and conquer the enemies that wage war against you!
When you consider how the people needed Jephthah’s boldness and then consider what Isaiah prophesied centuries before Jesus’s suffering, you catch a glimpse of the faith of our savior.“He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaian 53:3)
Yet, through His faith He subdued all the power of hell and the grave to secure our salvation. Though in our helplessness we gave no regard to His work or His word, He conquered sin and death for us; to give us all the benefits of eternal life. “Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are healed.”(Isaiah 53:4-5) May we now love him who was once despised and submit in allegiance to His lordship in our lives.
Read: Hebrews 11:32-40; Judges 11:1 – 12:7; Isaiah 53:1--6
Listen: ISAIAH 53 “Man of Suffering” ; Man of Sorrows