Jephthah

June 18, 2017 Background Scripture: Judges 11 Lesson Passage: Judges 11:4 – 11, 29 – 31 If ever there were a judge who threw caution to the wind it was Jephthah. I know many would have thought about Samson, who always seemed just a bit arrogant when I read about his exploits. However, Jephthah owns this distinction in the worst way. No matter what you name this award: “Foot-in-Mouth”, “Don’t-Look-before-You-Leap”, or “Talk-first-then-Think-Later”, Jephthah owns it. The short version of the story is that Jephthah made a pledge before he had any idea how much the pledge would cost him. Jephthah served as judge for the shortest period of time recorded for the judges. He served for six years. Prior to Jephthah being raised by God to judge Israel, the nation had again slipped back into idolatry and sin. They did not worship just one of the idol gods but they worshipped all of the major idols of the pagans around them. Sadly, they worshipped everything but God. God allowed them to be punished by their enemies for eighteen years. Then Israel repented and turned to God and began to seek a leader from among them to lead them in battle against their enemy. Jephthah was an outcast in the land of Gilead because he had been born to his father by a harlot. He was an “outside child”. His brothers by his father’s wife ran him away so that he would not receive any of his father’s inheritance. When Israel found herself in battle against the Ammonites, the elders sought out Jephthah to come and lead Israel’s army. Jephthah agreed when the elders offered to allow Jephthah to become their leader after the battle was successfully decided in Israel’s favor. Jephthah showed that he was quite knowledgeable about Israel’s history when the Lord first led them into the land. Their history proved that the Ammonites did not have any right to the land they were attempting to dispossess Israel of. In spite of the accuracy of the historical facts, the Ammonite king chose to ignore Jephthah’s reasoning and to continue to press on. God anointed Jephthah with His Spirit and sent him into battle against the Ammonites. It was at this point that Jephthah made the crucial error I wrote of earlier. Jephthah made a vow that if the Lord would give him victory against the Ammonites, then he would sacrifice to God whatever came out of his house to meet him when he returned home after the victory. He did not merely offer to give it to God but to offer it to Him as a burnt sacrifice. Because of God’s Spirit upon Jephthah, he completely routed the Ammonites. When Jephthah returned home, his one and only child came out of the house dancing with a tambourine to greet him. Jephthah’s little girl was the only child he had and he had foolishly pledged her life as a burnt offering to God. With much grief and distress, Jephthah resented the vow he made to the Lord. His daughter displayed more wisdom than her father by telling him to keep the vow he made to the Lord but to allow her a four month period of mourning first. This was done and the rest is history (or “her story”). Robert C. Hudson April 20, 2017