Year 1, Day 272: Judges 11

Arg!  Why does it happen that Judges 11 comes on a day I’m running behind and am looking for a nice easy “blog entry to write.”  Oh well, the Lord works in mysterious ways, maybe this is God’s way of telling me that I should’ve done my blog first today like I normally do.

Jephthah, a Troubled Soul

So, on to Judges 11.  Jephthah.  What a wonderfully horrible story, no? But there are some neat things that we can pick out of this.  First and foremost, Notice that Jephthah was an outcast.  He was the son of Gilead, but not a son of Gilead’s wife.  He was born of a sexual union between Gilead and a woman to whom Gilead was not married. 

Again we see God using outcasts to save His people.  What was it I said a few days ago – or perhaps a week ago?  God loves to use the unexpected and the outcast.  God loves to use the ones that we assume aren’t a part of God’s solution.  God loves to break down our human expectations and give us a savior, whether it is a literal savior from sin as in Jesus Christ or a savior of a much smaller “life issue” in the people around us.  God loves to do this in a way that is different than we would ever expect it.

Anyone care to guess why?  No, seriously, take a moment and guess.  Think about it for a second.  Why would God constantly go outside our human tradition and our human expectation to bring us salvation?

Now let me tell you why – or at least one reason why.  God loves to give us opportunities to humble ourselves.  We often get so arrogant about our positions and our traditions and how we put the focus on the wrong thing.  God like to come and give us opportunities to declare that maybe we were wrong, hasty, prideful, and not really looking at the world through God’s eyes. 

So it is with the people who reject Jephthah and then find themselves crawling back to him and becoming a subject underneath him.  They judged him through their humanity.  Then they needed him and had to come crawling back to him.  Notice that Jephthah accepts their humbleness – repentance, even!

Jephthah’s Character

The next thing we can learn from Jephthah is that he is an intellectual man.  Jephthah knows his history.  Jephthah knows the account of the exodus.  Jephthah is also a skilled diplomat.  Jephthah reminds the opposing king that the reason they are in a land dispute is because the opposing king’s ancestors didn’t let Jephthah’s ancestors pass through peacefully.  Jephthah reminds the king of the Ammonites that if his people would have let the Hebrews go about their business in peace then there would have never been war between them in the first place.  Furthermore, Jephthah adds that since there was war, and the Hebrew people won, why shouldn’t they lay a claim to the spoils that the God of the Hebrew people desired them to have?

It all makes a great amount of sense, when you think about it.  Because Jephthah knows his history, he can apply it well.  So it should be with us.  Ever see a person try to be religious in a conversation when they really don’t know God’s Word intimately?  They look foolish and uneducated.  They stake claim on shaky ground because they don’t really know the depth or breadth of God’s Word.  But the person who has a great grasp of the Word of God can use it like the double-edged sword that it is!  Jephthah shows us the value of knowing God’s Word, knowing our religious heritage, and being able to speak about it meaningfully!

Jephthah’s Folly

As much as Jephthah shows us how good he is as an academic, he also shows us that humanity – especially the intellectuals – often lack common sense.  Can I get an “Amen?”  Who makes an oath saying that he will slaughter whatever comes out of his house?  Seriously.  There are only so many answers to that oath, and most of them aren’t things you really want to end up slaughtering.

There is a point here beyond the senseless death of Jephthah’s daughter.  Let’s not miss it.  Take seriously what you say to the Lord.  Only vow to the Lord what you mean, because surely the Lord takes it seriously as well!  Only make vows that you are willing to fulfill!

At the risk of getting the “modern and enlightened folks” on my bad side, I am actually going to stand up for Jephthah and how he honors his vow.  Yes, it is a horrible end of the story.  Yes, it is a horribly tragic end to the life of Jephthah’s daughter.  But let’s also put it in a little perspective, shall we?

His daughter receives high praise for accepting the lot that has fallen to her.  She has an incredibly mature perspective.  She knows that to honor the vow will bring glory to God – as weird as that is to say.  By honoring the vow, she affirms that her life is nothing compared to the greatness of God.  Is that not what we as Christians assert?  Is that not what Christ Himself asserted on the cross?

Have you not heard me quote Galatians 2:20 enough to know that “I am crucified and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”  My life is nothing compared to giving glory and honor to God.  Jephthah’s daughter – as tragically as her life ends – embodies that very truth.  There is no doubt that although she died young, God honored her loyalty to her God.  As tragic as this story may be – and as foolish as Jephthah’s vow may have been, Jephthah’s daughter becomes a precursor to Jesus in demonstrating what a life submitted to God looks like.

I can only imagine the guilt that Jephthah lived with for the rest of his life.  But he honored God by honoring his vow.  It was a stupid vow.  It was a tragic vow.  But it was a commitment he made before God.

Please don’t hear me trying to excuse his vow.  It was silly, childish, and demonstrating a horrible lack of common sense.  For all the brilliance he displayed in his diplomacy and military conquest over the Ammonites he displays a horrible lack of common sense when he makes a vow.  I’m not excusing that.  But in the end, God is honored – even in the midst of great tragedy. 

I’ll probably get crucified for taking this stance, but in my understanding honoring God is worth more than my life.  So I stand by my support of Jephthah’s decision and Jephthah’s daughter’s willingness to be sacrificed.  It started with a foolish vow.  But I believe in the end God honored the act.

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