Judges 10-12: Jephthah

So last week, we covered Judges 9, which told the story of the anti-judge Abimelek that wrecked havoc on the Israelites. We got some warning signs of leaders that aren’t following God, we saw his antichrist spirit in action with fear, murder, pride. God’s leaders follow the opposite, they lead in faith, bring life, and are humble. For Israel, moral relativism, doing what’s right in their own eyes, appointing leaders that they want rather than the ones that God wants, is leaving many painful consequences. We keep seeing the same story play out through the book of Judges, and the same story continues today - people have seasons of peace, they get comfortable and fall into idolatry, the sin progresses and leads to worse and worse consequences. 

Today we’re going to cover the story of the judge named Jephthah. He is a man of wisdom and passion, but that zeal ends with him making foolish decision that brings pain to his family. There are several things that the Holy Spirit can remind us of and teach us through his story. All of us have strengths and weaknesses, and I'm sure you're aware of what yours are. Our strengths can become our weaknesses, and our weaknesses can be a source of God’s greatest power! All of our strengths have a dark side to them.

-Think of a time when your greatest strength got you in a lot of trouble.

Judges 10

At the beginning of this chapter, we get quick mentions of the judges Tola, son of Dodo, and Jair, who had 30 sons with 30 donkeys. Then…

-The same old story keeps repeating itself, Israel falls away to the worship of other gods, and this time the Ammonites are oppressing Israel.

-God rebukes Israel for their idolatry, then..

Judges 10:14-18

14 “Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.” 15 And the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.” 16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel. 17 Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah. 18 And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

-God tells them to cry out to their false gods to save them, and Israel responds with repentance. I don’t know about you, but that response from God would send chills down my spine. We never want God to hand us over to our fleshly desires.

-On the flip side, what a response of grace to their pain, ”he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.” What a wonderful and hopeful thought of God’s grace. Even though Israel is completely deserving of God’s anger, He is full of compassion when His people respond in humility and repentance.

Repentance brings breakthrough

-If you are stuck, wondering why you’re not advancing, having questions unanswered, knowing that things aren’t satisfying - you need a breakthrough. To get there, the Bible consistently teaches us that repentance is what leads to transformation. Stop blaming God, and take responsibility for the sin in your life. Taking that humbling stance before God, and you’ll see him bring life.

Application: God is working through the misery to raise up people for the Kingdom. God is sovereign an he never wastes any hurts, or even sins that are committed by us or against us.

-The Psalmist says that God is storing our tears in his bottle. What God is really working out here is the setting of the stage for Jephthah to lead Israel. There needed to be genuine repentance before God could breakthrough and save.

Judges 11:1-11

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. 4 It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. 5 And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.” 7 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in [a]distress?” 8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned[b] again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?” 10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.

Here, we’re introduced to Jephthah and we learn a few things about him.

1. He’s got a dysfunctional family

-Gilead is a territory just east of the Jordan, but coincidentally the name of Jephthah’s father. His mother was a prostitute. ( If you remember Abimelek’s story, people care about blood relatives way more than God) The Lord is about to use him greatly despite his dysfunctional upbringing.

2. He’s a natural leader

-Your not a leader if no one is following. Jephthah obviously had a following wherever he went. The word here for “scoundrels” is also interpreted as “empty” or “poor”. People that were directionless followed Jephthah.

3. He’s a wise negotiator

-We see this fact multiple times in his story. He is reasonable, logical, and actually full of faith. This “talk it through” mentality and negotiation tactic was his default, which has its benefits. Yet it winds up getting him in trouble later. He is realistic with how the elders treated him previously, but as we saw in chapter 10, God had been working in their hearts. 

Application: The Spirit of God is constantly moving and shaping people. Don’t let your observance of someone’s particular season change your whole view of that person. Jephthah’s wisdom allowed him to see that God had changed these people’s hearts.

(In summary of v12-28) Jephthah gets right to work after he is appointed commander, then uses his skill of negotiation with the enemy, explaining the history of Israel and how the land now belongs to them as he tries to travel through that territory of the Ammonites with his people. He proves that he knows God’s Word here, and knows that God has promised the land to the people of Israel. 

-The logic and reason doesn’t translate to the enemy that wants the land more than they do, so war is inevitable.

There are limits to reasoning with the world

-He asks, “why have you attacked my people?” (v12), he wants to reason and understand their position. There were a few back and forths of communication, but war eventually breaks out because of their different interests.

-People that are not of the Spirit can’t understand when you discuss spiritual things. Their eyes are not opened, their ears can’t hear. 

Application: perhaps there are people in your life that just can't hear the truth, they are constantly stuck. The battle is not against their logic, it is against their spiritual deception. Pray for them instead of reasoning with them. This will be more effective anyway!

Judges 11:28-33

28 However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him. 29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, 31 then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” 32 So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. 33 And he [e]defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith—twenty cities—and to [f]Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Notice that the Spirit came upon him and he advanced. There is a wise correlation here - God’s kingdom advances when the Spirit is directing our lives. Also, just because we have the Holy Spirit within us doesn’t mean that we’ll always make wise decisions.

-He made a vow/negotiated with God for a blessing in the battle. He wanted particular results, and made a rash promise that he wasn’t really ready to keep. You’ve never done such a thing have you? :-)

He’s full of zeal, which has its benefits, but also its pitfalls. He's been great at diplomacy, negotiation, and tactful strategy so far in his story, but now he is negotiating with God, and it doesn't work.

Let God make the promises, you just stay faithful

Even Spirit filled people can make rash vows, and be overzealous, misdirecting their passion.

-Jesus instructed his followers to not even make vows, because they usually just make us more guilty or lead to shame. Simple “yes” and “no” is what he requires. Avoid the temptation to make outlandish promises to God because they won’t change God’s answer to your prayer. Let him make the promises, he can’t break them.

Judges 11:34-40

34 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have [g]given my word to the Lord, and I cannot [h]go back on it.” 36 So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.” 37 Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and [i]bewail my virginity, my [j]friends and I.” 38 So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. 39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She [k]knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to [l]lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Now there is a decent amount of discussion/debate on whether or not he actually sacrificed his daughter’s life by killing her. I am of the opinion and interpretation that he designated his daughter to temple service as this “sacrifice”. Here are some reasons below.

-The original language may imply that burnt offering, or simply consecration.

-Jephthah clearly knew the history of Israel and Word of God, which means he would be aware of the pagan practices of child sacrifice, and God’s strict laws against it.

-There is a clear emphasis of the daughter’s virginity as the thing being sacrificed, that she will “die a virgin”, not just “die”.

-There were women that were consecrated to the service of the Temple (see Leviticus 27), but these were mostly widows. Samuel, the last judge, was born to a previously-barren woman named Hannah who devoted Samuel to the temple service as well. 

-The author doesn't have a problem being very graphic throughout the book, but it's curiously vague with that description. It doesn’t fit into the overall narrative of his story.

-All Scripture coincides and should be interpreted within itself. If Hebrews 11 marks Jephthah as an example of genuine faith, I believe it is inconsistent to say that Jephthah really committed child sacrifice in this way. Temple service consecration is the logical alternative that is also confirmed in other parts of Scripture.

Either way…. the point is - this vow was foolish. Making emotional conditional promises to God is not wise, and it ends up hurting people more than it does helping.

Don’t let your passion for God make you unwise

It is a tragedy that his daughter had to pay the consequences of his sin. Yet this is how important our words and behaviors are. They affect everyone around us. Jephthah could have also denied the vow and admitted his mistake, but he carried through with it regardless. This unswerving attitude is noble in a way, but is also very misdirected. There are many people that have this misguided zeal today, even Christians. They get so caught up on secondary crosses to die on, that they miss the point, and others have to suffer because of it.

We can learn from Jephthah’s mistake here, by following Jesus’ teaching to not make rash vows, to repent and apologize when we do, and to not box God into our agendas. Spiritual abuse is something that can stem from boxing God into our agenda, forming Him into our image. We can put unnecessary burdens on people, claiming to be speaking for God, when we are not. This is why we need to point people to Christ alone as described in the Bible, and why we need to interpret it through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

-We want to adapt to God’s design, we want to understand and adapt to Him, not the other way around! We do not control and manipulate Him, He is the one that leads us. 

Judges 12:1-7

Then the men of Ephraim [a]gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire!” 2 And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. 3 So when I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the people of Ammon; and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” 4 Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites.” 5 The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6 then they would say to him, “Then say, ‘Shibboleth’!”[b] And he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not [c]pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites. 7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.

In conclusion to Jephthah’s story, we get a little more drama from the tribe of Ephraim. They are definitely the tribe that likes to stir up controversy and gets offended easily, and we all know what happens when we deal with emotionally unstable and immoral people - chaos. They have the same reply for Jephthah that they had for Gideon - “Why didn’t you call us?” They keep repeating the same sins in their pride.

-Jephthah seemingly gave up on the diplomacy routine this time. War is inevitable without compromise or solutions. One side usually wins.

-Lot’s of drama and infighting developed because of this accusation. Now there was a civil war (one of many) that happened in Israel because they can’t set their egos aside. 40,000 people supposedly on the same team and in the same nation have killed one another. Another catastrophic result of what doing what’s right in our own eyes can lead to.

• What can we learn from this ending drama with Ephraim as the Church?

• What can we learn individually from Jephthah’s strengths and weaknesses?