Lived: Approximately 1100 BC
Jephthah was born into a complicated family in Gilead, in what is now northern Jordan, east of the Jordan River. His father was a respected man, but his mother was a prostitute. This made him an outcast from day one.
During his lifetime, the great civilizations were rising. Egypt was in its New Kingdom period, building temples to gods. The Shang Dynasty ruled China with bronze and oracle bones. Across the Mediterranean, the Mycenaean civilization was at its height in Greece.
When his half-brothers drove him away, Jephthah fled to the land of Tob, northeast of Gilead in modern-day Syria. There he gathered a band of “worthless fellows”—other outcasts and adventurers who had nowhere else to go.
Against all expectations, this rejected son became one of Israel’s judges, leading for six years. His story proves that where you come from doesn’t determine where you’re going.