Jephthah

Intro: Perhaps you know Jephthah from Hebrews 11 or primarily as the man who made the vow that cost him his daughter. Like all of us, he was a complex person with a number of things in his life that shaped his decisions. What are some of the major factors that influenced his life?

National Factors – One of the great themes in Judges is the cost of living out patterns.

When we connect with Jephthah’s story, the Israelites are back in an unhealthy pattern : Judges 10:6-10-14 (once again, the Israelites abandon God.)

⁶ Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, ⁷ he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, ⁸ who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. ⁹ The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. ¹⁰ Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”

¹¹ The Lord replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites,the Philistines, ¹² the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites^[c]oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? ¹³ But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”

¹⁵ But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” ¹⁶ Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.

Israel become entrenched in a pattern of only drawing near to God after they had been oppressed. Once God raised up a deliverer, it was just a matter of time before they went back to idolatry.

This pattern is on the national level, but it affects Jephthah’s life directly. The Ammonites are camped in his home town of Gilead. Whether he’s contributed to the national cycle, He’s directly impacted by it.

It’s our nature to develop patterns – we don’t think too hard about certain things in our lives because they tend to follow the same patterns – work, some relationships, morning routines, etc…

That’s fine if the patterns are neutral or good, but what about the patterns in our lives that aren’t so good?

What kind of unhealthy patterns do you see in your own life?

• Perhaps your feelings are easily hurt – blow up/attack/ or withdraw from relationship instead of being vulnerable and addressing that hurt directly.
• Perhaps you serve a lot but aren’t comfortable sharing about your own needs. But you still find yourself getting resentful that people don’t help or encourage you intuitively.
• Perhaps when you get really stressed, you eat a lot of unhealthy food, drink too much, spend too much on things you don’t need.

There are consequences to living out patterns. Israel had gotten used to acting as if all they had to do was cry out to God when he punished them and they could expect him to respond quickly so that things woud go back to normal. (verse 14)

• This time God’s response is that he will not be used. God isn’t worried that they won’t put away their idols, he just knows that they will soon pick them up again. This cycle has occurred 6 other times already in the book of Judges. His response was, “I will no longer save you when you are in trouble.”

Unhealthy patterns are dangerous, because as time goes on, we can find ourselves in the same place as the Israelites in Judges 10.

• They are crying out for help, but not really seeking to change, no real significant movement away from the pattern , just wanted to have God meet their immediate need of deliverance.

Personal Factors: It’s here that Jephthah is introduced. (11:1-3)

11 Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead;his mother was a prostitute. ² Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.

Complicated past – Mighty warrior, son of a prostitute, hated and drove out by his brothers, no status, no land. Made a name for himself by fighting, and has surrounded himself by scoundrels.

Ask yourself – how did those things influence Jephthah? Major impact on his perspective, goals.

• As a son of a prostitute – would have no inheritance or family status. Would always be looked at as someone who was less because of his background.
• He’s in a society where you are measured in connection with your family. (So and so son of so and so) He’s a stain on his family just by being born. His brothers drive him out.
• Being driven out by his brothers doesn’t destroy him – he thrives, becomes resilient. BUT the men who follow him are scoundrels. What kind of life did Jephthah have to have for that to be the kind of men he attracts?

We all have complicated pasts –and many of us are affected by our family dynamics. If you are part of  the church that can affect you in a similar way because the church is our family too.

Jephthah is a mighty warrior, he’s overcome adversity in his life –  but he is a leader of thugs and unprincipled men.  These men are morally empty. David was able to take his band of discontented men and influence them because of his relationship with God. Jephthah could not change his men because he couldn’t give his men what he did not have.

What we want is a powerful driving factor in our lives. Everyone in this story wants something.

• As the story progresses, The Elders recruit Jephthah. They just want deliverance.

7 Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”

• (Note: these were the same elders that ruled on behalf of his brothers who kicked him out) They face oppression from ruthless men, so they look for someone more ruthless. (not spiritual men of character – opportunists) – no apologies; never seek God’s direction.  
  • (no real respect – First they only offered him commander not leading all of them) They don’t offer him what they offered a full citizen of Gilead.
• Jephthah wants recognition and vindication among the family that he lost because of his status as the son of a prostitute. Hated me, Kicked me out, rejected me – Now I will lead all of you!

 – it’s easy to lose sight because some of our battles are very personal. We can start fighting for respect, recognition, acceptance, etc… WE WON’T ALWAYS BE ABLE TO SEPARATE THOSE MOTIVES – BUT, WE Need to be honest with ourselves and others about all we want so we can deal with the parts of our hearts that aren’t as noble.

What do you want in this chapter of your life?

Bridge: Jephthah’s known for his faith (he’s specifically mentioned in Hebrews 11) but not character. One of the big challenges with Jephthah’s character is that although he has a great deal of confidence and faith, his knowledge of God is in serious error. He sends a logical and passionate argument with the Ammonite king, (Judges 11) but in some respects he is just way wrong.

• Starts off great. Ammonite king says – give us the land back and there will be peace.
  • Israel never took that land from the Ammonites. They took the land in question from the Amorites who attacked them without cause as they traveled. King Sihon had recently taken it from the Moabites.
• BUT, He presents God as though he is like the local gods (Baal, Chemosh, etc…) 11:24 (Your god will give you what you should take, likewise, our God will give us what we are to posess) – NO, NOT RIGHT – Deut. 2:19 says that God gave the Ammonites their land – and there is ONLY ONE GOD.

¹⁷ the Lord said to me, ¹⁸ “Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar. ¹⁹ When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”

• Likewise – Chemosh was not the god of the Ammonites, but the god of the Moabites.

²⁴ Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? (Judges 11:24)

You may say, big deal – but because Jephthah is ignorant about significant parts of God and his Word, his ignorance leads him to make more mistakes. His mistake here doesn’t mean much – the Ammonite King was going to fight either way, but the next mistake is much more costly.

Judges 11:29-31

²⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. ³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, ³¹ whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

• God decides to use Jephthah. The Spirit comes over him. The Spirit will help us overcome CHALLENGES IN OUR LIFE ,but we still have to make our own decisions Being overcome with the Spirit did not automatically impart spirituality. Jephthah still made his own choices.
• We saw Jephthah negotiating with the Elders – how shrewd he was. He attempts to do something similar here with God. “You give me what I want and I will do this for you”

This vow was completely unnecessary and rash

• Jephthah’s view of God is influenced by his dealings with people. God will want something, so I better keep him happy.
• Jephthah is trying to negotiate with God like he negotiated with the elders of Gilead
• Already had the assurance of the Spirit. God would have given the victory without the vow. God was rescuing Israel out of his love and compassion and grace – NOT Jephthah’s promises.
• Could have just said, I will offer a burnt offering to you out of gratitude. Why say, “whatever comes out of my door to meet me?”

Judges 11:32-40 – Now Jephthah’s lack of knowledge of God truly comes back to hurt him.

⁴ When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.”

• Comes away with a great victory for the nation but has a greater defeat than being driven out from his family years ago. His own rashness has taken away any personal joy from the victory.
• Lev. 27:1-8
• Had Jephthah only known God better he could have escaped his vow. Even though it was a sin to break a vow, God made provisions if you didn’t know the full ramifications of your vow. (could have rescued her with a monetary consecration) Jephthah loses his only daughter through ignorance, rashness and trying to manipulate God.

The sad thing is that Jephthah’s vow had nothing to do with his victory. The Spirit came on him BEFORE his vow. God certainly wanted nothing to do with human sacrifice.

        Jephthah’s stated ambition was to rescue Israel on behalf of the Lord. His secret ambition was to gain social status and long term inheritance in Israel.   As a result of trying to manipulate events and the Lord he gains his inheritance but loses his family line   – the irony is that Jephthah is seeking longevity, but it’s his daughter who is memorialized after her death – Not Jephthah. Hurts that we don’t deal with come back to impact our decision making        

Close: We can imitate Jephthah’s faith, but remember there is more to the story. We have to take into account the other things that influence us. We may want to do great things for God – but…what else do we want? Let’s deal with the things that influence us, how we deal with pressure, and lets make sure that we know God accurately – so we can truly glorify God. 

Jephthah – Began as a nobody, became a hero and ended as a despot, brutalizing his own countrymen. (Judges 12) In the end, he couldn’t escape the pattern of anger and desire for recognition and vindication that influenced his life.

      In Christ we can establish new patterns of faith, hope and love – so that we can escape wrong patterns