The Foolhardy Faith Of Jephthah - Part 2 Series

Title: Foolhardy Faith of Jephthah (Part 2)

VI. The Proof of the foolhardiness of the vow!

Judges 11:30b “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” -NIV

Judges 11:31 I will burn as an offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me, when I come back from the victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice." – GNT

Judges 11:31 I will sacrifice to you whoever comes out to meet me first. -CEV

Judges 11:31 Then it shall be that whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, surely it shall belong to the LORD, or I will offer it up instead of a burnt offering. AFVT

A) Problem?

1. Controversy in interpreting this passage!

a) Whatever – An it?

b) Whoever – A person?

B) Portrait:

1. Now in the homes of Mid- Easterner’s, it would not be that uncommon or unusual for the front door to open and a chicken, or goat, or sheep, to come out of the house.

2. Houses and barns were in many instances joined together.

3. I think that explains the statement:

Judges 11:31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.

C) Point?

1. Whatever or whoever he was expecting, is not what or who that walked out the door!

Judges 11:34a When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels!

VII. The Perplexity caused by the foolhardy faith of Jephthah!

A) Perplexity-Bewilderment, complication, puzzlement and pain!

Judges 11:34b She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter!

Judges 11:35b You have brought me down and I am devastated.

1. Who? Her? No! You!

2. Why?

B) Principle:

Judges 11:35b I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.”

C) Proof?

1. The statement is affirmed by his daughter!

Judges 11:36 “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.

D) Plea?

Judges 11:37 But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”

E) Permission:

Judges 11:38 “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

Judges 11:39b From this comes the Israelite tradition 40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

VIII. THE PROBLEM of this particular lesson of the foolhardy the faith of Jephthah?

A) Interpretation!

1. Did he follow through on his vow?

a) Yes!

Judges 11:39b he did to her as he had vowed

2. How did he follow through -Did he offer his daughter as a burnt offering?

a) Theologians throughout history are split right down the middle of this controversial statement!

b) Some say he did!

3. The Case for “Yes”

Ellicott's Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. 2, pg. 233- "Now it is well known that human sacrifices were frequently practiced in Syria, and it cannot surprise us that a man brought up as Jephthah was, and leading the life of a freebooter at the head of a band of Syrian outlaws, should have the common Syrian notion of the efficacy of human sacrifices in great emergencies"

Ellicott's Commentary on the Whole Bible (vol. 3, p. 125). "In that reckless vow he exhibited a rude and unenlightened piety that was typical of the wild mountaineer fighter that he was."

Flavius Josephus – “Jephthah's daughter was indeed offered up as a burnt offering, but this act "was neither conformable to the law, nor acceptable to God"

Robert Deffinbaugh (Author of Layman's Bible Commentary Set) - I must admit to you that I very much dislike what I read in our text about the “sacrifice” of Jephthah’s daughter. I would love to find some “way out” that would let me interpret this account in a way that did not include the death of Jephthah’s daughter. But having read many (most, I suspect) of the explanations of this passage which lead to a different conclusion, I have not been convinced by any of them, even though I am predisposed to believe them. It seems to me that Jephthah did make such a foolish vow and that he eventually kept his vow by putting his daughter to death.