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.
Robert Deffinbaugh (Author of Layman's Bible Commentary Set) Having read and agonized over our text, and having heard all of the possible reasons for viewing it differently, I still am forced to take the passage literally, and thus conclude that Jephthah literally sacrificed his daughter. I know that many will disagree with me here, and I respect their right to do so. But once I start setting texts aside and seeking an interpretation other than the plain and simple meaning of the text, I am no better than those who set aside clear texts, simply because they don’t like what they say.
Robert Deffinbaugh (Author of Layman's Bible Commentary Set) Remember, my friend, we are in the Book of Judges, a book where a dagger is plunged into the belly of a man, where a tent peg is driven through a man’s head, where a mill stone crushes the skull of a man, and where a man’s concubine is tossed to the perverts of the city to abuse as they see fit, only to cut her into twelve pieces after she has died. Given the context, a father’s sacrifice of his daughter is much less shocking than it would be in our world.
Kay Daigle- President & Executive Director at Beyond Ordinary Women Ministries - Did Jephthah’s daughter die at the hand of her own father because he bargained with God for his own benefit? I agree with many scholars and the rabbis through the centuries who felt that he did. The word for burnt offering, which he used in his vow, always means a sacrifice that is totally burned up as an offering to God. The argument often used that the people of Israel would have known better and stopped him assumes that the rest of the Israelites knew the scriptures, which is a leap when you read the book of Judges. Sadly, it seems that she lost her life because of her father’s ambitions.
Ligonier Ministries –What did Jephthah actually do to his daughter? Some commentators have argued that he did not actually kill her but only that she was given over to a life of celibacy and that she bore no children, ending Jephthah’s line. However, that is not what most likely happened. Ancient commentators held that Jephthah’s daughter was actually sacrificed, that she was put to death, and there is no real reason to think otherwise given the language of the passage.
c) Some say he didn’t!
4. The Case for “No”
L. H. Wiseman, M. A. - Among Jewish paraphrasts and commentators, the more ancient are mostly of opinion that Jephthah did actually sacrifice his daughter. They censure the rashness of his vow, but they do not appear to doubt that the sacrifice of the maiden was actually made.
L. H. Wiseman, M. A. - Some later Jewish writers, however, of great authority, have contended that Jephthah's daughter was not slain, but devoted to a life of virginity; being shut up in a house which her father built for the purpose, and there visited four days in each year by the maidens of Israel as long as she lived.
L. H. Wiseman, M. A. - Since at least the 12th or 13th century, Jewish scholars have taken fulfilment of Jephthah's vow as meaning that he only kept her in seclusion. This view is put forward also by Christian scholars from the 14th century and continues to be propounded today, who consider it most likely that the fate of Jephthah's daughter was perpetual virginity or solitary confinement.
A) An argument for no:
1. Jephthah is in the Hall of Faith
2. The Spirit of the Lord Came upon Jephthah
3. He knew the history of Israel
4. Wouldn’t he know therefore the Law?
Leviticus 18:21“You are not to sacrifice any of your children in the fire to Molech. Do not profane the name of your God; I am the LORD. – CSB
Leviticus 20: 2 Moreover, you shall say to the Israelites, Any one of the Israelites or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech [the fire god worshiped with human sacrifices] shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones-AMPC.
Deuteronomy 12:29 When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go to dispossess, and you dispossess them and live in their land, 30 Be watchful that you are not ensnared into following them after they have been destroyed before you and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? We will do likewise.-CSB
Deuteronomy 12: 31 You shall not do so to the Lord your God, for every abominable thing which the Lord hates they have done for their gods. For even their sons and their daughters they have burned in the fire to their gods. -CSB
Deuteronomy 18:9 When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of these nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or who uses divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer,
Deuteronomy 18:12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and it is because of these abominable practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you.- AMPC
5. Another reason -Biblical interpretation?
Judges 11:31 then it hath been, that which at all cometh out from the doors of my house to meet me in my turning back in peace from the Bene-Ammon -- it hath been to Jehovah, [or] I have offered up for it -- a burnt-offering.'- Young's Literal Translation
a) And/or – if is a animal burn it, if it is a person “offer it up to God.”
b) Definition of “burnt offering”
i. Burnt Offering – ????? -o·lä' - whole burnt offering -ascent, stairway, steps
ii. Some interpret this to mean he offered his daughter up to a lifetime of celibacy singleness, and barrenness, in devotion and service to God.
6. Virginity seemed to be the issue.
Judges 11:37 So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, [Not my life]- I and my companions.- ESV
Judges 11:38 So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. [Not her life]-ESV
Tim Chaffey of Answers in Genesis - In that society, a woman’s view of her own worth was often based upon the number or quality of the children she bore. Consider the desperation expressed by Sarai (Genesis 16:2), Rachel (Genesis 30:1), and Hannah (1 Samuel 1:6, 10–11) when each woman contemplated her own barrenness. Jephthah’s daughter’s reaction would have been appropriate if she were to be dedicated as a lifelong virgin.
IX. What is the Point of Jephthah’s rash foolish vow?
A) Perspective of vows:
1. Present day problem?
2. Rash of divorces which are due to broken vows!
a) Traditional vow- Groom: I,____, take you,_____, to be my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honor and cherish you, forsaking all other, I will be faithful to you, until we are parted only be death, as God is my witness, I give you my promise.
George Barna -Christian Divorce Rate – The % of Christian who break them:
1) Evangelical Christians- 26% will break that vow.
2) Non-Evangelical Born Again Christians- 33%
3) Notional Christians- 33%
4) All Born Again Christians- 32%
5) All Non-Born Again Christians- 33%
6) Protestant Christians- 34%
7) Catholics- 28% will break that vow!
B) Problem with that?
Psalm 15(NIV)
1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?
2 The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
4 who despises a vile person
but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and does not change their mind;
Matthew 19: 3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. -NKJV
Proverbs 20:25 It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider one's vows. - NIV
Ecclesiastes 5:5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?
C) Principle?
1. When I break my wedding vow, the household that we were building comes crashing down!
2. I found a piece of literature from a law firm that put out this letter to perspective clients considering divorce:
Marriages that end in divorce are prevalent in the United States, as 40% of all American marriages will end in a divorce at some point. While divorce significantly impacts the two spouses, it also impacts their children’s lives. At ____ Law Firm, we want our divorce clients to make an informed decision about what’s best for them and their families. For this reason, we gathered these insightful statistics concerning children and divorce.
A) Physical Effects
1. Children of divorce are more likely to experience physical hardship (injury, asthma, headaches, speech impediments, etc.) than children whose parents remain married. (Dawson, “Family Structure and Children’s Health and Well Being” National Health Interview Survey on Child Health, Journal of Marriage and the Family)
2. Children of divorce are 50% more likely to develop health problems.
B) Emotional Effects
1. Children of multiple divorces are considered “less pleasant” to be around by their peers.
(Andrew J. Cherlin, Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage –Harvard University Press 1981)
2. Teenagers in single-parent families and in blended families are three times more likely to need psychological help within a given year. (Peter Hill “Recent Advances in Selected Aspects of Adolescent Development” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 1993)
3. Children from broken homes are almost twice as likely to attempt suicide.
C) Educational Effects
1. Children of multiple divorces receive lower grades than their peers.
2. Children of divorce are twice as likely to drop out of high school.
. (Andrew J. Cherlin, Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage –Harvard University Press 1981)
D) The Long Term Effects of Divorce On Children
1. A study of children six years after a parental marriage breakup revealed that even after all that time, these children tended to be “lonely, unhappy, anxious and insecure. (Wallerstein “The Long-Term Effects of Divorce on Children” Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 1991)
2.. Seventy percent of long-term prison inmates grew up in broken homes. (Horn, Bush, “Fathers, Marriage and Welfare Reform)
3. Children of divorce, particularly boys, tend to be more aggressive toward others than those children whose parents did not divorce. (Emery, “Marriage, Divorce and Children’s Adjustment, 1988)
E) THE POINT OF IT ALL?
1. Breaking of vows can be disastrous!
2. Therefore be sure before you make them!
3.Think before you make them
4. Count the cost before you make them!
Proverb 20:25 says, “It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy, and afterward to reconsider his vows.” (NKJV).
5. If you make them – God may DEAL WITH YOU ABOUT keeping them!
A) Consider Jonah!
1. From the belly of a great fish he prayed:
Jonah 2:8 “Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
X. God’s Provision for Jephthah’s rash foolish vow?
Leviticus 5:4 “Or suppose you make a foolish vow of any kind, whether its purpose is for good or for bad. When you realize its foolishness, you must admit your guilt.
A) Admit it!
B) Admit your guilt!
1. Don’t try to shift the blame on anyone else, own up to it!
Leviticus 5:5 “When you become aware of your guilt in any of these ways, you must confess your sin.
B) Confess your sin!
1. Be cleansed of it!
Leviticus 5:6 Then you must bring to the Lord as the penalty for your sin a female from the flock, either a sheep or a goat. This is a sin offering with which the priest will purify you from your sin, making you right with the Lord.
C) Make restitution for it if possible!
Matthew 5: 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
1. Promissory note. – Attempt to pay it!
Leviticus 5:7 “But if you cannot afford to bring a sheep, you may bring to the Lord two turtledoves or two young pigeons as the penalty for your sin. One of the birds will be for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. 8 You must bring them to the priest, who will present the first bird as the sin offering. He will wring its neck but without severing its head from the body. 9 Then he will sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering against the sides of the altar, and the rest of the blood will be drained out at the base of the altar. This is an offering for sin. 10 The priest will then prepare the second bird as a burnt offering, following all the procedures that have been prescribed. Through this process the priest will purify you from your sin, making you right with the Lord, and you will be forgiven - NLT
XI. God’s PROVISION FOR ALL OF OUR SIN, RASH PROMISES, ETC.
A) Salvation!
1. The Providing of a Savior!
1 Corinthians 6:9b Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
a) What is salvation?
i. A new system of be reconciled to God that is based on a solemn oath – vow!
Hebrews 7 (NIV)
20 This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, 21 but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him,
“The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow:
‘You are a priest forever.’”
ii. So what good does that do us?
Hebrews 7 (NIV)
22 Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.
23 There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. 24 But because Jesus lives forever,(Because of this oath) his priesthood lasts forever.
iii. So you say?
Hebrews 7:25Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. – NKJV
One of the main reasons the book of Hebrews was written was to encourage the readers to persevere in their faith so that they would receive all of the promises of God. The author encourages his readers in their faith, reminding them that one of the greatest old covenant saints, Abraham, also had to wait and persevere in obedience before he obtained the promise (6:15).
God was content not only to offer a promise to Abraham and his descendants but also to confirm His promise by means of an oath (6:14). At this point we might ask ourselves why God would need to swear an oath to us. Men swear oaths to each other because we often lie or do not follow through with our promises. But this is not true of God. There is no shadow of deceit in Him (Num. 23:19). He is faithful and always true to His word.
Quite simply, God did not need to make such an oath. As Hebrews 6:17 tells us, He “desired to show more convincingly” the immutability of His purpose to all the heirs of the promise. This is why He made the oath to Abraham. Here we see a marvelous example of God’s condescension to human needs. Our sinful nature makes us so prone to doubt God’s promises. Abraham should have known better than to doubt God’s truthfulness — we also should know better. But sometimes our sin causes us to act as if God’s word cannot be trusted.
Instead of leaving us in our doubt, God’s mercy and love leads Him not only to promise blessing to Abraham, but also to swear it. John Calvin writes: “See how kindly God as a gracious Father accommodates himself to our slowness to believe; as he sees that we rest not on his simple word, that he might more fully impress it on our hearts he adds an oath.” In His love, God decided not to leave us doubting, but to confirm His promise to us with a solemn oath. This is a pure act of grace, - PTL!!
Conclude:
1. Made a vow? Keep it!
2. Rash one and broke it? Repent of it?
3. Not saved? Salvation is God fulfilling a vow – wow!
