Judges 11:1-40
Prayer: Father, we confess that we are people who have forgotten much of our past. We do not remember your faithfulness, and we do not remember our fathers, and so we are easily manipulated and we believe the lies of our enemies. Cause Your Spirit to use this text to reignite our love for your story so that we may fight faithfully, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
History is covenantal. This means that Christ is Lord of history, and this means that history is demonstrating the covenant faithfulness of God – that God keeps His promises – ultimately in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
This also means that history is the story of God’s personal dealings with people, families, and nations based on how they respond to God. It is not an impersonal machine churning through time; it is the story of God’s dealings with His creation. He raises up the humble; He puts down the proud.
All of it is designed to make us worship Him, to stand in awe at His wisdom, and to trust Him through our chapters in His epic tale. The story of Jephthah underlines these themes. God is Lord. God is King.
The Text: “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah…” (Judges 11:1-40)
Summary of the Text
Jephthah was a son of Gilead, a descendent of Ephraim, by a harlot and was rejected and sent away from his family, where a gang of outcasts gathered around him (Judges 11:1-3). However, when the Ammonites came against Gilead, the elders sent for Jephthah to lead their armies because he was a “mighty man of valor” (Judges 11:4-6). Understandably, Jephthah wanted to make sure that if he fought for them, he would not be treated as he had been previously, but he and the elders and the people may have also had a more kingly goal in mind as they swore oaths before the Lord (Judges 11:7-11).
Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonites asking why they were invading the land of Israel and when the Ammonites tried to use revisionist history to claim they were merely retaking stolen land, Jephthah explained that it was actually the Amorites who lost the land fair and square when their ancestors attacked Israel peacefully passing through (Judges 11:12-26). Jephthah appealed to the Lord as Judge, and when Ammon refused to relent, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah and he vowed to offer to the Lord whatever came out to meet him when he returned in victory, and the Lord delivered Ammon into his hands (Judges 11:27-33). But when Jephthah returned, it was his daughter who first met him and therefore she was dedicated to the Lord as a virgin, as was a custom in Israel, and it became an annual day of memorial (Judges 11:34-40).
Human Sacrifice?
This story has puzzled and troubled Bible readers for centuries. Jephthah vows to offer whatever comes out of the doors of his house as a “burnt offering” (Judges 11:31) and the end of the story says that he did with her “according to his vow” (Judges 11:39). And many commentators conclude that this can mean nothing other than that he offered his daughter as a human sacrifice to God. Some cite the story of Abraham offering Isaac as a potential parallel as well as stories from ancient pagan cultures to explain the plausibility. I do not think that is what happened for a number of reasons:
1. While Jephthah’s gang may have been rough around the edges, the context depicts Jephthah as a pious and educated man: he is a “mighty man of valor” like Gideon (Judges 6:12) and he appeals to the Lord for deliverance and justice, takes vows before the Lord, and knows Scripture and the history of God’s people well – including, presumably, God’s law (Judges 11:9-11, 14-27).
2. In the immediate context of Jephthah’s vow, it says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him (Judges 11:29). While it’s true that men who have the Spirit of the Lord sometimes sin colossally (e.g. Samson, David), for a frivolous or wicked vow to come immediately after that seems entirely incongruous.
3. While God tested Abraham with the command to offer Isaac, the uniform testimony of Scripture is that human sacrifice is considered pagan and utterly repulsive to God: “There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire…” (Dt. 18:10, cf. Dt. 12:31, 2 Kgs. 16:3, 21:6). God considers it an abomination that is repulsive to his commands and mind (Jer. 7:30-31). Hebrews says that Abraham believed that God was going to raise Isaac from the dead (Heb. 11:19).
4. The of law of God specifically provides that for humans that are “devoted” to the Lord as an offering, they must be redeemed either by money or (presumably) for service to the Levites (Num. 18:14-16, Ez. 44:29, cf. Num. 8:17-18). Therefore, this was something like Hannah’s vow when she dedicated Samuel to the tabernacle (1 Sam. 1:11), which has some corroboration elsewhere (Ex. 38:8, 1 Sam. 2:22, Lk. 2:36-27).
5. Jephthah’s daughter is said to specifically “bewail her virginity” for two months (Judges 11:37-38). And the conclusion of Jephthah keeping his vow is: “And she knew no man” (Judges 11:39). The clear emphasis is on his daughter’s ongoing virginity, not the end of her life.
6. Finally, Hebrews lists Jephthah as a hero of faith (Heb. 11:32). This does not mean that Jephthah was sinless or incapable of significant failure, but to accuse of him of such vile paganism without clear repentance makes the Hebrews evaluation appear impossible.
Jephthah’s Sorrow
At the same time, Jephthah is clearly heartbroken about dedicating his daughter as a virgin to serve at the tabernacle. Why? First, the text emphasizes that she is his only child (Judges 11:34). Any hope of descendants evaporates with the fulfillment of this vow. Second, it seems likely that Jephthah’s flaw was similar to Gideon’s and what we have seen several times already: the temptation to embrace Canaanite-style politics. So Jephthah will not only not have grandkids, he will not have a political dynasty. To his great credit, he keeps his vow and submits to the Lord (Judges 11:35). It is a hard providence, but it is not an evil outcome. So I take Jephthah’s vow as pious, but God tested him and underlined the fact that Jephthah would not be king. All of this underlines the importance of keeping your vows (marriage, membership, baptism, contracts, etc.) and trusting God (Ps. 15:4).
The Importance of History
We should not miss the fact that the military invasion of Ammon included an educational-information war. Like most conflicts, there was propaganda element to it – revising history to fit an agenda. We have been in a similar culture war for many decades, including many revisionist claims in our schools (E.g. Darwin, Columbus, the 1619 Project, slavery, civil rights, etc.). This is why we must be people steeped in history, beginning with Scripture itself but also including the history of the West broadly and America in particular. You and your children need to be prepared to tell God’s story – His-story so that you will not be manipulated, duped, or conquered. Knowing and studying history is central to understanding the Lordship of Christ over history. This is why Christian education is so important – but it must not be a Christian education on autopilot. Christian education is war.
Conclusions
In some ways, Jephthah reminds us of Jesus – a rejected son from a scandalous birth, a friend of sinners and tax-collectors, filled with the Spirit to defeat our enemies. And where Jephthah’s vow required him to completely surrender his kingly aspirations, Jesus kept an even greater vow and surrendered His life to a sacrificial death on our behalf in order to be crowned as King forever.
And that orients everything we do. He is King, and our children belong to Him. He is King, and we work for Him. He is King, and He must reign until all of His enemies are put beneath His feet. He is King, and the nations must submit to His rule.
Prayer: Father, please teach us the wisdom of history, the wisdom of Your covenantal faithfulness, the wisdom of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Grant us courage and patience, power and joy, in Jesus’ name…
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