March 21

Read Judges 10-12

Judges 11 Jephthah’s Vow

The book of Judges stands in stark contrast to the book of Joshua. In Joshua an obedient people conquered the land through trust in the power of God. In Judges, however, a disobedient and idolatrous people are repeatedly oppressed by their enemies. There are 12 judges found in the book and they ruled Israel for a period of 400 years. The 7 cycles can already be seen.... when skies were blue the nation would leave the Lord. Then storms clouds would roll in and the people would be oppressed. A judge would arise to set them free from the bondage and the sun would come out again. The theme of this book is found in the last verse, "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Today we see one of the more unusual, yet greatly misunderstood stories of this book. These stories will get more bizarre so prepare yourselves. Today we study the life of a fellow named Jephthah. He is a judge, warrior and father who is called to fight a decisive battle. He makes a foolish vow to God that if he won this battle, whatever would come out of his front door to meet him he would sacrifice. You have to ask yourself, who did Jephthah think would come out of that door? The candidates include a pet, but pets can’t open doors, or servants, but they wouldn’t run to the master. How about his wife, maybe things weren’t so good between Mr. and Mrs. Jephthah? My last suggestion is his mother-in-law who overstayed her Christmas visit by a few months. We don’t have any definitive answer to the question of expectation but we do have disappointment when it turns out to be his daughter.

Our second question centers on the sacrifice. What type of sacrifice is this? At first glance it appears to be a human sacrifice but Jephthah was familiar with God’s law concerning that. God makes his will known 4 times in the Law that human sacrifice is strictly forbidden. No priest in the land would have helped him do this. If he did sacrifice his daughter he would not have been included in the “Faith Hall of Fame” in Hebrews 11.

This was a vow of sacrifice for a life of dedication to the Lord’s service. That is why she was allowed to go on Spring Break for two months, not to bewail her approaching death, but rather to lament over her permanent virginity. She was her father’s only child and because of that her father’s line would die out.

Further evidence that this was not human sacrifice is found in Judges 11:39 “After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.”

This remark about being a virgin would have been pointless and inane if she were in fact put to death.

In the end we have Jephthah acting as a man of honor in carrying out his promise and presenting his daughter as a living sacrifice to the Lord. His commitment to God outweighed even family loyalty and personal happiness. Lesser men would have renounced the vow the moment they saw their precious daughter walking through the front door.

Be careful in vowing before God. But when you do make a vow, keep it at all costs.