GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
JUDGES 11:29-33
Jephthah’s Vow and Sacrifice
29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah. He advanced through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead. From there he crossed over to the Ammonites.
This is the third time we have heard that the Spirit of the LORD came upon one of the Judges (we also saw this with Othniel in 3:10 and Gideon in 6:34). In each case, the Lord took a man who was already a daring and successful leader and gave him his Holy Spirit, so that God’s will would be worked through this man. This isn’t to say that such a man was now unable to sin. God works through us despite our sins. But God used this man’s leadership for his divine purpose, which was to save Israel from the Ammonites. This is how God had worked through Moses and Joshua, although on much more grand a scale. So the coming of the Spirit of the LORD involved at least these things and perhaps more:
1. God gave the judge special powers or abilities. In Samson’s case at least these were supernatural physical powers, but it may also have involved some of the other gifts of the Spirit (faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues or unlearned languages, 1 Cor. 12:9-10, administration, 1 Cor. 12:28, or others).
2. God granted success to the judge’s actions to subdue Israel’s enemies.
3. God used the judge to bring about repentance, spiritual reawakening and reformation to his people.
Even Moses did not accomplish everything he did without sinning (Deuteronomy 32:50-51). It shouldn’t surprise us at all that Jephthah also struggled with sinning through his rash vow.
30 Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If you give the Ammonites to me, 31 whatever comes out the doors of my house to greet me when I return safely from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
Jephthah certainly did not think his vow would mean the death of someone he loved. Some suggest that Jephthah had a house full of animals (2 Sam. 12:3) and that every time you opened the door they spilled out like people falling out of the Marx Brothers’ stateroom in Monkey Business. Bronze age houses were often built to accommodate both people and livestock, and this is at least a possibility. The participle “whatever comes out…” (הַיּוֹצֵא) is masculine, but could refer to a person or an animal (cp. Daniel 8:7).
Jephthah did not need to make this vow. He could have asked for a sign like Gideon, or he could simply have trusted God like Othniel. His vow broke the second commandment since it was done rashly and could have (and did) bind him to dire consequences. Under the second commandment, God wants us to use his name to his glory. “God’s name cannot be more grievously abused than for purposes of falsehood and deceit” (Luther, Large Catechism). We break it if we do any of the following:
1. If we curse someone in God’s name without his command (James 3:10-11).
2. If we take an oath (swear) falsely by God’s name (Leviticus 19:12).
3. If we lie in worldly business and in any matters involving money, property and honor, whether in a court or in the market or anywhere (Acts 5:3; Prov. 11:1; 20:23; Hos 12:7; Amos 8:5; Micah 6:11).
4. If we dabble in witchcraft, the occult, or other superstitions such as astrology (Leviticus 19:31, Deuteronomy 18:10-12, Galatians 5:20, etc.).
5. If we lie or deceive by God’s name (Matthew 15:7-9).
6. If we swear by anything other than God, which is idolatry (Matthew 5:36-37).
7. We also break this commandment along with the sixth and others by using obscene or profane language which mocks or belittles God’s gifts of sex or human life (1 Samuel 20:30; Mark 7:10).
Jesus said, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No;’ anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37; cp. James 5:12).
We use the second commandment correctly when we use God’s name to pray, praise and give thanks. This means that we should use God’s name often and always to proclaim Christ in our speech and prayers, so that people will not doubt our faith or fail to know that we trust in Christ. If we keep from peppering our speech with curses but salt our speech with Christ, we will please God and serve him in everything we do.
32 Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hands. 33 He struck twenty of their cities with a great destruction from Aroer all the way to the entrance of Minnith and to Abel Keramim. So the Israelites subdued the Ammonites.
We don’t know exactly where these places in Ammon were, but it doesn’t matter. The Lord was with Jephthah despite his rash and sinful oath. God used Jephthah to save Israel from the dangerous threat of her enemies.
When God works through us for his purposes, we should humbly thank him, and not be overly proud of ourselves. Instead, we should thank God for accomplishing his will despite us and our sinful weaknesses. And we can be amazed at how much God accomplishes with so little.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota