Good morning guys! Judges chapter 11.
This is a disturbing chapter and the word I think of is “Stupidity!” Jephthah is driven out of his home and City because his mother was a prostitute. I'm sure he was bitter and angry with his family and wanted to be loved by them but felt unloved. After being driven out he gets hooked up with evil men. Despite the fact that he chose evil men to hang out with, it appears he still believes in the God of Israel. He also seems to be educated about their history. For a City who wanted nothing to do with him, he must have had a rough reputation that they would ask him to be the commander of their army. I imagine that Jephthah felt pretty good about being back in with his people and family, per se. He must have felt some value and worth. But next comes what I call the stupidity because he makes an unnecessary vow to God that if he gives the enemy into his hands he would sacrifice to God the first thing that comes out of his house to greet him when he returns home.
In the previous versus it says the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. And then he makes his vow to the Lord! Why? Did he say it out of desperation? Was he so desperate to win so he could be back in Gilead with his family that he made the vow? Was this his way of getting significance and value back into his life? Was he so use of trying to buy people's love that he felt he had to make a deal with God? Who did he think was going to come out of his house to greet him? The cat or dog? A stray sheep or ram? Of course it would be a human, and most likely his daughter since she was an only child.
Sadly, we feel we need to make deals with God. God loves us and wants a relationship with us. We don't need to make vows or deals with God to capture his attention and love. I'm sure Jephthah felt he needed to because of feeling unloved most of his life. But he was mistaken. God was already with him and going to give victory. The vow of sacrifice was not necessary. God is not looking for a special sacrifice or a deal or a Vow! God is looking for our hearts. For our willingness to serve him. Our obedience. God loves us. Pursue him with your heart! He's already with us. We don't need to make a stupid vow or deal with God.
I was thinking the same thing as Pastor Blair today. What a foolish thing for Jephthah to do! It was unnecessary and it didn’t make any sense to me at all. This incident reminds me of a couple of other places in the Bible.
1. I was reminded of when Abraham was willing to sacrifice his child Isaac, but this was different because the Lord asked him to do it and the Lord also provided the sacrifice in Isaac’s place.
2. I also thought of how Herod made a vow that he was sorry for later on as we see in Mark 6:21-26.
“But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her.”
May we be careful with how we use our words. We shouldn’t pledge to do things, give up things, or make deals especially when we don’t even know what the other part of the deal is even going to be! Jephthah and Herod didn’t seem to be thinking straight when they made their vows that they came to regret. We need to watch out because we also have an enemy who wants to cause us to not think clearly and to make bad decisions as well.
May God help us to follow Titus 2:11-12. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,”
The ApologetiX song for today is Jephthah You Needed, a parody of Just What You Needed by the Cars.
https://youtu.be/zjrh49VHRd8
Perhaps ‘be careful what you wish for’ applies here.