Judges 11:36-40 Lament

 36“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander for two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.”

38“Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months.

So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains. 39After two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she had never had relations with a man.

So it has become a custom in Israel 40that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Lament

a. He carried out his vow with her which he had vowed: Some think that Jephthah did really offer his daughter as a burnt offering. If he did, this was clearly an example of misguided zeal for God because God never asked him to make such a foolish vow or to fulfill it so foolishly.

i. Later in their history, Israel began to serve a terrible pagan god named Molech, who was appeased with child sacrifice in the most terrible way imaginable. God never asked to be served in this terrible way, and therefore it can’t be blamed on God.

b. She went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity... She knew no man: These words indicate that it is more likely that Jephthah set his daughter aside for the tabernacle service according to the principle of Leviticus 27:2-4, where persons set apart to God in a vow were not required to be sacrificed (as animals were) but were “given” to the tabernacle in monetary value.

i. We know that there were women who were set apart for the tabernacle service; they were called the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting (Exodus 38:8; 1 Samuel 2:22). It is likely that Jephthah’s daughter became one of these women who served at the tabernacle.

ii. His daughter and her friends were rightly grieved that she was given to the tabernacle service before she was ever married. Probably most of the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle were older widows.

iii. By sending his unmarried, only daughter to the service of the tabernacle for the rest of her life, it shows how seriously both Jephthah and his daughter took his promise to God.

iv. Many commentators object and see no other option than to say that Jephthah horribly fulfilled his vow by the human sacrifice of his own daughter. “The attempt to commute the sentence of death to one of perpetual virginity cannot be sustained.” (Cundall)

v. Yet her committal to be one of the women who assembled at the tabernacle still seems like the best explanation because Jephthah is listed as a hero of the faith (Hebrews 11:32). It is hard to think of him as doing something so contrary to God’s ways as offering his daughter as a human sacrifice and still being mentioned as a man of faith in Hebrews 11.

When we study the word of God we need to chew on it and ask ourselves would the Lord allow human sacrifice? I am reminded by this scripture:

Genesis 22: 9When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood. 10Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

11Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

The Lord tested Abraham and did not allow human sacrifice! So I agree with Cundall’s commentary “The attempt to commute the sentence of death to one of perpetual virginity cannot be sustained.”

As with Abraham I believe the Lord would have stopped Jephthah from making a human sacrifice and he wouldn’t have been hailed as a man of faith!

Hebrews 11: 32And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

That’s a lot to take in with five verses isn’t it?

Blessings 

Judges 11:34-35 Vow’s

 34And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.

35As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”

“He had made a rash vow, and such things are much better broken than kept. If a man makes a vow to commit a crime his vow to do so is in itself a sin, and the carrying out of his vow will be doubly sinful. If a man’s vowing to do a thing made it necessary and right for him to do it, then the whole moral law might be suspended by the mere act of vowing, for a man might vow to steal, to commit adultery, or to murder, and then say, ‘I was right in all those acts, because I vowed to do them.’ This is self-evidently absurd, and to admit such a principle would be to destroy all morality.” (Spurgeon)

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 (NKJV)

- 1 Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. 2 Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God [is] in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 (NKJV)

- 4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For [He has] no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed-- 5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. 6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger [of God] that it [was] an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse* and destroy the work of your hands?

“This passage makes it clear that it is better to not make vows at all than to make foolish vows. This does not mean that vows are bad - they can be good. It means we must take them seriously. Christians need to take seriously the sin of broken vows, and when we see them we must either repent and keep them or repent of the foolishness in ever making the vow, and seek God’s release from the vow.” (Guzik)

“I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it: At the same time, on the sake of principle only, there was something wonderful about the spirit of Jephthah’s willingness to keep his vows, even when it cost him something. In the specific vow he was foolish and should not have kept it, but the tenacity of character that says, “I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it” is glorious and should be the word of every follower of Jesus Christ.” (Guzik)

The Christian Vow

“Beloved, many of us did, in effect, make a most solemn vow at the time of our baptism. We were buried with Christ in baptism unto death, and, unless we were greatly dissembling, we avowed that we were dead in Christ and buried with him; wherein, also, we professed that we were risen with him. Now, shall the world live in those who are dead to it, and shall Christ's life be absent from those who are risen with him? We gave ourselves up there and then, in that solemn act of mystic burial. Recall that scene, I pray you; and as you do it blush, and ask God that your vow may yet be performed, as Doddridge well expresses it:-

"Baptised into your Saviour's death
Your souls to sin must die;
With Christ your Lord ye live anew,
With Christ ascend on high."” (CH Spurgeon)

I remember the church we were baptized at, it was a Baptist church that Calvary of Tucson had borrowed for the occasion. On the center stage were the worship musicians singing and playing beautifully and above them at the back of the stage was a wall that opened that had a glass pool for baptisms behind it. Men walked up the left stairs and women up the right stairs. We were able to arrange that pastor Troy baptized us together! It was a beautiful ceremony and in essence “we avowed that we were dead in Christ and buried with him; wherein, also, we professed that we were risen with him.” and I’ll never forget it.

It wasn’t a rash vow!

The old man was buried and the new man rose in Christ!

Have you made the baptism vow?

Blessings 

https://www.gotquestions.org/baptism-John-3-5.html

Judges 11:32-33 Judgement

 32So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand. 33With a great blow he devastated twenty cities from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.

And the LORD delivered them into his hands: God won a great and important victory for Israel through Jephthah. He overcame bitterness and family rejection to meet a great need. Despite his difficult past, God still wonderfully used him. (Guzik)

Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel: This was another victory for Israel won under the leadership of a Spirit-filled judge. (Guzik)

Judgement 

One of the harsh lessons of the Bible is judgment. In the Old Testament we see it many times with the cycle in Judges.

I’m reminded of the judgement’s in the New Testament.

John 5: 22Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son,

Revelation 5: 5Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Revelation 6: 1Then I saw as the Lamb (Christ) broke one of the seven [a]seals [of the scroll initiating the judgments], and I heard one of the four living creatures call out as with a voice of thunder, “[b]Come.” 2I looked, and behold, a [c]white horse [of victory] whose rider carried a [d]bow; and a crown [of victory] was given to him, and he rode forth conquering and to conquer. AMP

2 Corinthians 5: 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.

Matthew 25: 31When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

41Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 

46And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The Bible instructs us to warn others of the coming judgment, but every person must decide for themselves to accept Christ’s sacrifice for their sinful life or, be considered a goat.

Blessings 

Judges 11:30-31 Oaths-Vows!

 30Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand, 31then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

Oaths-Vows!

“Though well intentioned, this was a foolish vow. Such vows can be attempts to manipulate God or put Him under obligation to ourselves. It is far more important to be on God’s side than to try and persuade Him to be on your side.

Even a Spirit-filled man can do foolish things. The Holy Spirit does not overwhelm and control us, He guides us - and that guidance can be resisted or ignored at smaller or greater points.” (Guzik)

“There is no need to bribe God’s help, as Jephthah did, by his rash promise. He will give gladly and freely out of His own heart of love the help and deliverance we need, if only our course is rightly ordered before Him.” (Meyer)

“The masculine gender could be translated ‘whatever comes out’ or ‘whoever comes out’ and ‘I will sacrifice it.’” (Wolf)

“Commentator Adam Clarke agreed that according to the most accurate Hebrew scholars, the best translation is I will consecrate it to the LORD, or I will offer it for a burnt-offering. As he wrote, “If it be a thing fit for a burnt-offering, it shall be made one; if fit for the service of God, it shall be consecrated to him.”

ii. Human sacrifice was strictly forbidden by the Mosaic Law in passages such as Leviticus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 12:31. It is almost certain that Jephthah was familiar with such passages because when he negotiated with the Ammonites he demonstrated that he knew God’s Word.” (Guzik)

I am reminded by this verse:

James 5: 12Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment.

Have you ever tried to bargain with God? Lord if You do this, I will do ________.

Blessings 

Judges 11:29 Source of Courage, Advance!

29Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites.

Source of Courage, Advance!

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah: This was the source of Jephthah’s courage and can be the source of courage for us as well. When we are beset by fears and anxieties, we need to fill our lives with Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Guzik)

He advanced toward the people of Ammon: The filling of the Spirit makes us advance. We go forward in the sense of spiritual progress and we go forward in the sense of confronting the enemies of God. (Guzik)

As I grow old I find that my fear of doing tasks increases, almost as if it’s a protective mechanism. The Lord gave me a great mechanical ability to fix things at an early age and if I didn’t know how to do something I would research and dive right in and complete the task. Now in my golden years, I research and question my ability to perform the task as if a fear sets in and I ask myself, can I do this? 

So I pray about it and lift up my fear to the Lord and ask Him to help me. 

He is my source of courage! The filling of the Spirit makes me advance! 

I may not be as fast as I was in my youth and my arthritis may slow me down but I still advance! Also I’m grateful for a younger brother who helps in my time of need and a loving wife who encourages me to move forward.

Is the Lord your source of courage? And…..

Have you experienced the filling of the Spirit?

Blessings 

https://www.gotquestions.org/Spirit-filled.html

Judges 11:14-28 Spiritual Battle

14Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites 15to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites. 16But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. 17Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

18Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.

19And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land into our own place.’ 20But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

21Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country, 22seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

23Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it? 24Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us. 25Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?

26For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time? 27I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by waging war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”

28But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him.

a. Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon: Jephthah’s written response to the King of the Ammonites carefully explained why Israel had a right to the land that the Ammonites claimed was theirs.

b. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country: Jephthah reminded the King of the Ammonites that the Amorites conquered the Ammonites and took control of their land. When Israel defeated the Amorites in battle, they justly took the land of the Amorites - which also happened to be the previous land of the Ammonites. The war against the Amorites was prompted by the vicious Amorite war against Israeli civilians.

c. And now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it: Jephthah argued that since God gave this land to Israel, the Ammonites had no claim over it.

d. Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess: Jephthah argued that the Ammonite god Chemosh must show himself worthy to conquer the land of Israel. Since Israel held this land for three hundred years, it demonstrated that Chemosh was not greater than the God of Israel. (Guzik)

“The three hundred years is remarkably close to the total of the various figures for the judges and the periods of oppression given up to this point. The exact figure is 319 years.” (Cundall)

“If your god is mighty enough to give you the land, then let him do it. Let us see who is stronger - Yahweh or Chemosh.”

“Jephthah did not see this battle as primarily between two armies, but between the God of Israel and the false god of Ammon. Jephthah showed true wisdom in seeing this as a spiritual battle first.” (Guzik)

“Jephthah’s logical, reasoned response was of no effect upon the King of Ammon. War was therefore inevitable.” (Guzik)

Spiritual Battle 

Ever have a day and it seems like the whole world is against you and nothing is going right?

Ephesians 6: 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

I remember attending a Bible study at church and at the beginning, nothing was going well. The leader said, we need to stop and pray for something is going on spiritually. We did and the problems and glitches cleared up and went away.

Have you ever recognized a spiritual battle was taking place, stopped and prayed?

Blessings