Jephthah was not happy with his family. His younger brothers did not want him to live with them. “Actually, they are not my brothers,” Jephthah might have said to himself. They were his half-brothers. Jephthah and the other boys had the same dad, called Gilead, but Jephthah’s mother was another woman. That is where all the problems started. Gilead and a woman he did not marry had a child – Jephthah. Then Gilead got married and he had several younger sons. These sons of his hated their half-brother Jephthah.

How did Jephthah feel?

Jephthah must have been very unhappy. The others had fun together but he had to be alone. “What are they talking about? Are they talking about me?” Jephthah might have thought when he was watching his brothers. Even if they had said nothing he felt bad about it.

Maybe you feel like Jephthah. Maybe you too have brothers or sisters (or half-brothers or sisters) who don’t accept you. You feel they don’t want you at all. Maybe your friends at school or in the street make you feel unwanted. As if you aren’t important. That must be very hard for you and it must make you sad sometimes.