Last week, in “Testing God? The Time Before the Kings, Part 9”, we saw that is that it’s okay to ask God for a sign. He is patient, He understands our need to be sure. However, how much happier it would make Him … How much more blessed we would be! … if we would believe without needing the sign!
We will be returning to the story of Gideon next week; however, in honour of Father’s Day, we will be jumping ahead a few chapters to Judges 10 – 11, to the story of one of Israel’s judges who seemed to be a cruel father…
The backstory is not an unfamiliar one. Israel once again turned to worship other gods, abandoning the Lord. Once again God became angry with Israel, and this time He sent the Philistines and the Ammonites against Israel. Once again — and this time for 18 years! — Israel was afflicted and sorely oppressed (See Judges 10:6-9). Once again, the people turned back to the Lord: “We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have abandoned our God and served the Baals.” (Judges 10:10 NASB).
The people did eventually remove the foreign gods and returned to serving the Lord (See Judges 10:16); nonetheless, the Ammonite army came up against Israel. Israel gathered for battle, but this time they didn’t have anyone to lead them: “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the sons of Ammon? He shall become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” (Judges 10:18 NASB).
Enter Jephthah, the 9th judge of Israel!
Jephthah wasn’t a man of reputation. Born out of wedlock, he was rejected by his brothers and he fled to live with other outcasts. However, when the chips were down, guess who Israel turned to? You got it! Jephthah the outcast (See Judges 11:1-6), because he was a “valiant warrior” (Judges 11:1 NASB). The Bible records, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he …. made a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If You will indeed hand over to me the sons of Ammon, then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.’” (Judges 11:29a, 30-31 NASB)
I’m sure that Jephthah was probably thinking about the goats and lambs that ran free in his yard, who were always running through the doors of his home. Or perhaps he was thinking of a turkey or a rooster. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imaged that the first living creature to come through the door of his home would be his only child, his beloved daughter! Had he realized this, there is no way in the world he would have made such a vow, for when this was exactly that which happened, “he tore his clothes and said, ‘Oh, my daughter! You have brought me disaster, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.’” (Judges 11;35 NASB).
From this one story we know one thing for sure: Jephthah was a God-fearing man! He understood that it was God who had given victory to Israel through him. He understood the significance of a vow made to God, along with the consequences of breaking it (See Numbers 30:2). So there he is, stuck between a rock and a hard place. He had made a vow that he couldn’t break, but now it had backfired upon him, and it was his beloved daughter, his only child, who would suffer… What would he do?
Perhaps he remembered Abraham. Perhaps he thought that through obedience his daughter would be saved. The Bible doesn’t say. In fact, the Bible doesn’t really tell us plainly what happened to the girl. We only know that she went up into the hills with other some of her friends and wept for two months, and that after this, she returned to her father who, “did to her what he had vowed…” (Judges 11:39 NASB).
Many of you out there must think this is a very strange story. How could a loving father sacrifice his only child because of a silly vow? You may have similar thoughts about Abraham. Yet I firmly believe that Jephthah is an ultimate example of love, not only for the people of Israel, but even for his child. Let’s remember that Jephthah’s daughter wasn’t forced to comply. She was the one who said, “Let this thing be done for me…” (Judges 11:37a NASB). Here in the response of Jephthah’s daughter we see something vitally important: Her love for her father was without bounds. She trusted him without question.
This all makes me think of another vow that had to be fulfilled. God Himself made a vow. Right after Adam and Eve committed the first sin, God vowed to crush the serpent’s heal; but in doing so, God knew that it would be a sacrifice that would bring hurt to Himself as well, for He said, “…he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15b NASB). And in the fulness of time, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters.” (Galatians 4:4-5 NASB).
It’s true that Just like Jephthah’s daughter, Jesus could have thwarted the entire plan. Nonetheless, just like Jephthah’s daughter, He said, “…yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42 NASB), and as a result of God’s vow made out of love for us, Jesus was sacrificed on a cruel cross.
Please understand that I’m not condoning Jephthah’s actions. Nonetheless, I believe this story contains some powerful lessons for each of us today.
First of all, let’s be careful what we vow to God!
Secondly, and most importantly, let’s let our earthly father/child relationships resemble that of Jephthah and his daughter:
1. Fathers, treat your children with so much love that in the end, they will trust you without question, just as Jephthah’s daughter did.
2. As human beings, we all have an earthly father. Some deserve the title, some don’t. Nonetheless, let’s treat our earthly fathers with the same respect that Jephthah’s daughter showed to her father.
3. Let’s all remember that we have a Heavenly Father, who sometimes asks us to do things that don’t seem natural, and perhaps don’t even seem rooted in love. Nonetheless, we can trust in His unfailing love for us, for: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32 NASB).
Next week, we will be returning to the story of Gideon. Please join us for “Wait, what? My Army is Too … Big? The Time Before the Kings, Part 11”!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
(To access the entire “The Time Before the Kings” mini-series, please click here.)
