Jerubbaal Bedan and Jephthah Each as Great as Moses in His Day

"And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt in safety" (1 Samuel 12:11). Jerubbaal — this is Gideon. Bedan — this is Samson. Jephthah — according to its plain meaning. Scripture set three of the lightest of the world alongside three of the mightiest of the world, so that you should not say, "How could these have led Israel in their time?" — to teach you that every set of three who stand in the court of Israel should be in your eyes like Moses and like Aaron and like Samuel. Jerubbaal in his generation is like Moses in his generation; Bedan in his generation is like Aaron in his generation; Jephthah in his generation is like Samuel in his generation. And not only this, but the court of Jerubbaal and of Bedan is weighed equal to the court of Moses. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Do not say, "What is the reason that the former days were better than these?" Do not say, "Had Rabbi Zeira been alive, I would learn Torah [before him]"; "Had Rabbi Tarfon been alive, I would learn Torah [before him]." You have none but the sage who is in your own generation. Rabbi Berekhiah brings it from here: "And Jehoiada, the leader of Aaron" (1 Chronicles 12:28). And was Jehoiada a leader over Aaron? Rather, this teaches that had Aaron been alive, Jehoiada would have been greater than him in his generation. Rabbi Simon brings it from here: "And Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt-offering," etc. (1 Chronicles 6:34). And was it Aaron and his sons? Was it not Zadok and his sons? Rather, this teaches that if Aaron had been alive, Zadok would have been greater than him in his generation. Rabbi Hillel the son of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman brings it from here: "And all the congregation of those who had returned," etc., "for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun" (Nehemiah 8:17). "Since the days of Joshua the son of Nun" is not written here, but rather "since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun" — Scripture diminished the righteous one in the grave for the sake of the man of his own time. And the Rabbis [bring it from here]: "[Ezra] the son of [Abishua], the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest — this Ezra went up from Babylon" (Ezra 7:5–6). Rather, this teaches that had Aaron been alive, Ezra would have been greater than him in his generation.