Jephthah’s Rash Vow

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We are at judges chapter 11 We're gonna talk about an interesting fellow. His name is Jeptha Jeptha. Yep. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray. We'll figure out who this Jeptha dude is. No, I don't want any coffee. Maybe I wasn't going to offer it to you.
Okay, well, let's pray Yeah, father. Thank you so much for this day Thank you for the opportunity we have by your spirit and because of your grace to read your word Lord, we pray that as we read that we would understand it We pray that your holy spirit would enlighten our eyes, but also soften our hearts lord that we would not just understand it intellectually, but that we would learn how to live it in our hearts. Father, teach us, correct us, reprove us, and train us. In Jesus' name, amen.
All right, here we go. Judges chapter 11. Oh, you didn't have your Bible open. Oh, you're way behind, man. I'm way past Judges chapter 8. We're at Judges chapter 11. All right, so we'll go paragraph by paragraph, okay? So you'll read, I'll ask you what it's about, and I'll read, and we'll ask what it's about, and back and forth, all right? So you can start.
Now Jephthah the Gilead was many men of valor, but he was the son of a holland, and Gideon the Gilead begot Jephthah. Gilead's wife was Gilead's wife's son. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, You shall have no inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman. Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob. And Wathis' men banded together with Jephthah and went raiding with him. All right, so Jephthah is a Gileadite, right? So Gilead is on the other side of the Jordan.
And what's the background history of this guy? His... Right, so that would be his... So his father... Then some stuff he wasn't supposed to. Yeah, he sleeps with a harlot, right? A prostitute. And then... They have Jephthah and then he gets married, but then the other sons say, no, you can't. All right. Yeah. So they didn't get nothing. Yeah. So the brothers drive him out. Right. All right.
And so he and he gets all these worthless men. You weren't in here for chapter eight, but this was the same or chapter nine. Sorry, but this is the same thing that Abimelech did. Well, David didn't assemble worthless men, but yeah, people came together behind David. But here, like Abimelech before him, now worthless men are kind of gathering together. OK, so here we go.
It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. And so it was when the people of Ammon made war against Israel that the elders of Gilead went to Jephthah from the land of Tob. And they said to Jephthah, Come, be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Amnon.
All right, so what happens there? And we were like, Gilead is like, eh, we kind of need you now. Yeah, right, good. You want to read verse, what's Jephthah saying, verse 7? So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did you not hate me and expel me from my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress. Right, so what's Jephthah's answer to her saying, hey, come be our commander?
It's kind of all of a sudden, you wanted me to do this. Like, why don't you do this now? And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, that is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. They're kind of like, well, we'll bribe you out.
Yeah, so they're kind of changing course, right? All right, what's Jephthah say in verse 9? So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, if you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head? All right, so what's Jephthah's answer? Ask them like a second time, are you sure this is what's going to happen? Yeah, right. Am I really going to be your head? I go with you. I go to war. Are you really going to make me your chief? You're really going to make me your head?
And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, the Lord be a witness. Flip the page. The Lord be a witness between us if we do not do according to your words. Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead and the people made him head and commander over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.
Alright, so they do it, right? Can you keep your feet down for me? Yeah, so they actually make him commander over the armies, right? And so, what's Jephthah going to say now in verse 12? Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, What do you have against me that you have come to fight against me in my land? And the king of the people of Ammon answered, and the messengers of Jephthah Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peacefully. Alright, so Jephthah sends a message, and what does the messenger say?
He's like, uh, why are you fighting against us? Yeah, and what does the king of Amnon say? Because you took the land from us and you want it back still? After a few years, you still want it back? This is a couple hundred years at this point now, right? But yeah, it's right. There's old beef. That's our land, not your land. Lord didn't give that to you. That's ours. Give it back peacefully. Wait, what is Amon again? That was one of the pagan. Oh, the Ammonites. Yeah, the Ammonites. So, let's see, how does Jephthah answer? You want to go through that in verse 14?
So Jephthah again sent messages to the king of Ammon, and said to him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel did not take away the land of Moab, the land of the people of Ammon. But when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kedesh.
Then Israel sent Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Please let me pass through your land. But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh. And they came and went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and he camped on the other side of Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for Arnon was the border of Moab.
Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon. And Israel said to him, Please, let us pass through your land and into our place. But Sihon did not trust Israel, so he passed through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people together and camped in Jazza and fought against Israel and the Lord God the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land the Amorites who inhabited that country. They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from Aaron to Jeba, the wilderness to the Jordan."
Okay, so what's Jephthah's answer to this king of Ammon who says, that's our land, not yours? Let's go back to the history books. That's not what happened. Yeah, so what did happen? Defeated that. We defeated you. Did they even want to come into fighting with them? Nope. No, at first it was just let us pass through your land peacefully. And how did the king of Ammon respond? Right, they gathered an army. And so what did the Israelites do? Sihon was the king of Ammon. Yes, Sihon, king of the Amorites. And Og, the king of the Bashanites. Right, that's a little bit south.
We try to go through peacefully. You guys are the ones who try to fight against us, and you won. So it's not your land anymore. Exactly. Bye. I bet back then it was just like, you take somebody's land because you fought against them, that's your land. Well, yeah, it still works today. That's what Russia is trying to do with Crimea and the eastern part of Ukraine. Right? Like that's literally how wars are. A lot of wars are fought over sovereignty over a territory. Right? So he says, ah, hold on. Remember how this happened. Right? All right.
And now the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel. Should you then possess it? Would you not possess whatever Chemosh your God gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab?
Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them? While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aror and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the Lord, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon. However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.
What happened to that last section? You know what? If you really wanted this, it's been open for about 300 years and you haven't took it. So it was kind of your own fault. Yeah. So who's in the wrong? You guys. You guys are in the wrong. Because you had 300 years and now you're finally like, you know. Exactly, yeah, right, so it's like you've forgotten your history, you've forgotten the treaties, right, like we won this land. You could have made a claim against it long before this, but you didn't. All right, so that's kind of the whole section that we're going to deal with. Oh, no, no, what are we talking about? We still got a little bit more to do, sorry.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. and pass through Mizpah of Gilead. And from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced towards the people of Haman. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, I will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, or sorry, if you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.
Alright, so what's he say there? So whatever God, I think in His mind, He's saying, oh, whatever God chooses to be, I'm going to offer it. That's what I'm going to do. Yeah, right. So the first thing that comes out of my gates, it's the Lord's, right? You give me this victory, God, I'll give you the sacrifice. Right. So what's that sheep or pig or bull walks in my house, that's what I would eat. Yeah. All right. So verse 32.
So Jetha advanced toward the people of Amon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from Aeor as far as Minas, twenty cities, and to Abel, Kera, and Mim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Amon were subdued before the children of Israel.
Right, so what's the outcome of this? It was good. Yeah, he wins, good. Well, when Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing, and she was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass when he saw her that he tore his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low.
You are among those who trouble me. For I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back on it. Uh-oh, what happens? Maybe you should have said that. Yeah, because we made that vow to God, right? If you give me this victory, I'll give you... Whatever comes out of my house. What comes out of his house? His daughter. Spoken in a little bit of a haste. And I spoke in haste, didn't I? Well, you want to read verse 36? I'm going to shut this door while you start reading verse 36.
So she said to him, My father, you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me according to what he says. has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon." Then she said to her father, "'Let this thing be done for me. Let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountain, and beware of my war duty, my friends and I.'" So he said, "'No.'" So what's Jephthah's daughter's response? Let me have a quick vacation of that. It's kind of like a morning time, right? Okay, I guess it's gonna happen, but give me a couple months. I'll never get married. I'll never have kids. My life is over. So he said go.
And he sent her away for two months and she went with her friends and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father and he carried out his vow with her, which she had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite.
So here's a question. So it just says that he carried out his vow with her, which she had vowed. Do you think he actually sacrificed her? I don't know. Well, part of me was also thinking, I could see how somebody would like to use this as, well, see, God obviously did this. Okay. Yeah.
I mean, it's the Lord's providence that that's what happened, right? But there's a lot of arguments about this. Some people think, well, she mourned her virginity, so maybe he offered her up to the Lord, like what Samuel's mother Hannah would do, right? Where she has the baby, she nurses the baby, and then she offers the baby to the service of the Lord in the tabernacle. Right? What's that? Okay, well it makes a lot of noise if you touch it. We have microphones on, so... Yeah, right, and so it's... Maybe it's that.
I'm of the opinion, I think he probably did do it. I'm of the opinion that this was a rash vow. Now, I can't prove that for certain, but how it says, right, and he carried out his vow with her, which she had vowed, I think that he actually probably went through with it.
I think this is a despicable thing. I don't think the Bible always gives us stories to tell us this is the perfect thing, but just tells us the thing, this is what happened, right? And so, it's this ugly thing. In a weird way, she becomes this sacrifice that is supposed to be this rejoicing in the victory. And that's evil and ugly. Was it her willing to do this? I don't think it was. She laments, she weeps, she mourns. Her dad is sorrowful of this. I don't think this is a good thing.
But yeah, we find Jesus on the other end, willingly going, willingly submitting, being perfect, and laying down his life. And he wins the victory by laying down his life. I think Jephthah actually almost uses the Lord as like, almost like a totem. Almost how the pagans would treat their gods. They're like, oh, I'll go to war, and if you do this, I will do these things. Yeah, right. So there's a number of things we can learn about here, right? Rash vows, right?
Don't make vows quickly. But I don't think also the Lord makes us live up to horrible, sinful vows. But there's a whole lot we've covered. I forget who told me this, but the thing is that when God makes a covenant with It's always a lopsided covenant because he always keeps his end of the covenant and we never keep us It sure seems like that, doesn't it? Yeah Yeah, it always has to figure out how to keep the covenant and his end of the covenant. God keeps both sides, right? Yeah It's very different here, isn't it? Because there's another time in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis where one of the patriarchs is told by God to offer up his son. Do you remember that? Right Abraham's told the offer of Isaac his only son and as he goes and he's about to Sacrifice him. He's got the wood there. He's got everything set up. His son Isaac is laying on it.
He picks up the knife He's about to pick up the knife and he's about to plunge it into his chest and what happens Don't do it Abraham believed God I was doing it Jephthah, I think, is using God. I don't think he's totally godless, but I think he does something foolish here. Even though he's sincere, I think it's wrong, most likely. So it's a difficult thing. Is he a man of faith? Yeah. Is it a foolish faith? Very possible. He's a complicated subject. There's no like perfect way to wrap up Jephthah. He was a judge. Born of a harlot. Everything about this story is weird, isn't it? And isn't that somehow like how God does things? He uses unlikely people in unlikely places and even with all their sin and yet that's how he's bringing about things. Doesn't it leave you a little bit unsatisfied? Like, really? Jephthah's the judge? Aren't you glad that he's not the supreme judge? Yeah, he's not the ultimate ultimate judge ultimately It's God use foolish stupid pastors elders.
Yeah Sometimes I am Hold on you I was talking generally you're talking about me. Yeah. Oh, okay. Wow. I So like like I was like, well, you're not always stupid and you're like sometimes am I? Yeah, yeah, right, but sometimes yeah, it's like Yeah And yet it's God somehow using even simple silly stupid people Yeah, somehow he is But doesn't make us long for the perfect elder the perfect Shepherd the perfect judge. I Yep. You ready to pray? Yep.
Father, we pray that we would not be content with any judge or ruler in this life. We pray that we would follow after you and love you. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for your love for us in Jesus' name. Amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ, and we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.