Foreign with me.
Our lesson begins in Judges chapter 11, starting at verse 29.
In the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead. From Mizpah of Gilead, he passed on to the Ammonites. Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. He struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-Keramim, with a great blow. So, the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.
Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. As soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me, for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”
And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; due to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.”
So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me. Leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.”
So he said, “Go,” and he sent her away for two months. And she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man.
And it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Lord, sometimes what we read and hear in your scripture is troubling. It is difficult to understand; it is hard to hear. But still, it is your word, inspired for us, for our teaching, for our good, for our reproof, and for our benefit, teaching us how we should walk in your ways, in the ways of righteousness. Help us to hear your voice, speak to us, and to see the good that comes out of even the most troubling of passages. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
So, yes, the Bible contains many passages that are difficult and challenging for us to read. Sometimes it forces us to wrestle with its meaning or intention, and today’s passage contains one such significant challenge: Jephthah and his daughter.
However, the specific details of that situation, as tragic and lamentable as they are, are not the principal focus of the text. But being scripture, they still remain important for us to consider and understand. So, after Jephthah and the Ammonite king had concluded their correspondence, the prospect of battle and continuing conflict was assured.
Scripture informs us that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, demonstrating that God had both affirmed Gilead’s selection of him to lead Israel and also divinely equipped him for the deliverance of Israel. It is important for us to remember that during the Old Testament times, God’s people had a different relationship with the Holy Spirit than we do now.
After the day of Pentecost, scripture records the Holy Spirit’s work as only being upon specific individuals, usually for a particular and limited equipping, like Bezalel and Aholiab to craft the implements for the Tabernacle, or the confirming gift of prophecy given to King Saul. See, the Holy Spirit did not dwell within all of God’s faithful in those days even as he is still understood as the responsible agent for their circumcision of heart.
So, the importance of Jephthah’s spiritual ordination should not be understated because it means that the Lord did raise him up for the deliverance of Israel, just as God raised up the other judges. However, having the Spirit of the Lord in those days no more inured a person against their capacity to sin than it does today. All of God’s people, unfortunately, will still continue to sin, and some of us in terrible ways.
Although we will suffer divine and temporal discipline for it, even our occasional incidents of great sin will not negate the Lord’s sovereign election provided we are truly repentant and remorseful for our sinfulness. Christians, and everyone who has been given God’s Holy Spirit, are never given license or free reign to sin. That would be antinomianism. And sadly, we are each still very capable of grieving God’s Spirit. Yet we are assured that he will restore us to a state of grace, mercifully forgiving us if we repent in faith.
So, remember, the indwelling presence and equipping of the Holy Spirit does not signify or imply the Lord’s direct and immediate approval or participation in any or all of the free actions of human people. Just as Gideon was clothed by the Spirit of God and went on to sin against both his enemies and the Lord, so too would Jephthah.
After passing through all the territory of Manasseh, as Jephthah prepared to engage the Ammonites, he made a vow to the Lord saying, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
Returning again to our original problem and the key question that we’ve been examining throughout Jephthah’s whole story: Is it right to try and bargain with God? The answer that we will plainly find here is that we cannot, and we should not even try to.
Every other religion in human history is based upon the same simple practice and false assumption that humanity can influence and bargain with divinity. We erroneously presume that we may somehow obligate or command spiritual forces to obey our human wills. We see examples of this in Homer’s Iliad and the Norse Eddas, where sacrifices are made to gain the gods’ favor.
We find it in the doctrines of Islam, where Allah will not look favorably upon anyone unless they are first absolutely obedient and submissive to him, making humanity try to earn divine blessings without giving any assurance of success. We see it in the Hindu concepts of karma and reincarnation, suggesting that a person can influence their future fortunes and form by the way in which they now live.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead contains spells and incantations for the binding of and bending of spiritual entities to a person’s will. While the infamous Dr. Faust notably tried to bargain with the devil to get what he wanted, every humanly devised religion revolves around people trying to impose their will and desires upon the spiritual realm in the same manner that we do the physical world.
Christianity, faith, and trust in Jesus Christ alone is different because we know that we cannot force the sovereign creator of the universe to submit to our will. We believe that all creation belongs to the Lord by virtue of him creating it, that we possess nothing that he needs. However, we are often guilty of the same or similar acts of false religion. Whenever we pray something to be effective, “God, if you would only get me out of ABC or do XYZ for me, then I will do XYZ for you, or I will stop doing ABC, or I will give DEF to the church.”
See, our God is not a magical Sky Daddy who will give us everything that our sinful hearts desire. He is the Lord, and he always gives us what we need, even and especially when it is not always exactly what we want, because he alone knows what’s best for us.
Trying to bargain with God and believing that we can successfully do so is sinful and wrong. However, if you do make a promise to God, even from out of this manner, then you had better keep it, or you will be held accountable by him.
See, this all ties back to Exodus chapter 20, verse 7, the third commandment: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
See, contrary to popular assumption, the third commandment is not merely a prohibition against using swear words and cursing, although avoiding them remains a part of it. What the commandment is most concerned with is the taking and making of oaths and vows by invoking the Lord’s name.
What’s the difference between an oath and a vow, you might ask? An oath is an affirmation made concerning the truth, such as the truth of statements made by witnesses in court, or is made to ratify a binding agreement calling upon the divine to witness and enforce it to punish liars and covenant breakers.
Whereas a vow is a promise made to another person where the divine serves as the witness and enforcer of the vow’s fulfillment, like the vows we make with one another in marriage or the vows which a church congregation and a baby’s parents make to raise their child in the Christian way at the time of their baptism.
Vows might also be made directly to a divine person where violation risks directly offending the god themselves and thereby risks suffering greater divine retribution. So what the third commandment really expressly prohibits is our frivolous use of the Lord’s name, especially for sinful purposes, for deception, for cursing, or as cover for our own covenantal faithlessness.
Teaching that. Therefore, if you take an oath or make a vow in the Lord’s name or to the Lord, then you must keep it, because breaking your word to God may incur greater judgment and offense than other ordinary falsehoods told and promises broken to other people made without divine invocation.
But lest we forget that the Lord is omniscient, we must remember that even if we do not purposefully invoke his name in our promises, he is still a witness. So here we see Jephthah; he makes a vow to God. He made the Lord an offer of a sacrifice and offer contingent upon the Lord granting Jephthah success against the Ammonites.
Again, understand this idea and practice was normal to all the other nations; making vows to the Lord was also normal in Israel. The practice is prescribed in the law, and the fulfillment of these sorts of vows is commanded by the psalmist.
But there is a critical difference between pious, godly vows and the vow of Jephthah. Jephthah’s vow was offered more as a bribe to God in return for favors asked, whereas the psalmist commends a person’s fulfillment of divine vows as acts of thanksgiving.
The psalmist writes, “I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you, for you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”
Commending a vowel formula of “I will do ABC because you have done XYZ,” instead of “I will do ABC if you do XYZ.” See, it is a very subtle yet key difference. The difference is all about our attitude towards God.
Regardless, Jephthah vowed his vow, and the Lord did grant him success against Israel’s enemies. Despite being so consequential for Israel, the fact of the defeat of the Ammonites here is treated more as an afterthought than Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah.
But before we examine the tragic consequence of his vow, we should consider the specific language and intention of his vow.
“If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
Now, there are two key points to this vow: whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me and offer it up as a burnt offering.
Now, it’s very easy for us to want to read our own modern context and assumptions into the story, and we would like to think that who and what we have in our own homes were also in Jephthah’s home. We might envision him as having a pet, like a dog, which might be expected to come racing out the front door to greet him.
Or, if we have learned and know more about animal husbandry in the ancient world, we might consider that a household’s animals, like their livestock, chickens, sheep, or cows, were often kept inside the house for their own safety and warmth, depending on the season.
So one of those might be expected to come wandering out at that moment. So we, in our modern sensibilities, are very well shocked when we read here in the Bible that, “And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances.” Because we were probably expecting an animal to come out.
We expected something of little human value, relatively speaking, not a person, much less his young daughter. Excuse me. We forget, Lord, that it was a common practice in ancient times, a nearly universal cultural practice for the women of a household or a town and a nation to come out in celebration of a victorious hero’s return.
Still getting over that sinus infection after the Lord’s victory over Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea, Miriam danced and sang after David killed Goliath, and the Philistines were defeated. The women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.
So Jephthah’s daughter, at his return, is not at all unusual nor should it have been unexpected. The language of his vow “whatever comes out” might also be rendered from the Hebrew as “whoever comes out,” especially considering the qualifier of “to meet me,” a qualifier that signals intention, a human purpose to their coming out, and this creates the expectation that a person would be the first to come out to meet him.
Now, we don’t know the specific makeup of Jephthah’s household, so we do not know who else may have lived there, and the text does not try to suggest that he expected a random animal to come out and meet him.
Thank you, because he would have obviously then made that vow frivolously and rashly, considering what he might actually be offering and ignoring the fact that a sacrifice by its nature was costly or it makes his vow even more wicked and sinful, by him considering exactly just whom he might be offering in premeditation.
Then, considering the second point about the sacrifice being a burnt offering: this comes from the Hebrew word “olah” in the Greek that forms the verbal root and understanding of the English word “holocaust.”
Miles Van Pelt, one of my Hebrew professors in seminary, suggested the possibility by interpreting “olah” here as rather than sacrificing his daughter’s life, instead sacrificing her in quotes by dedicating her to a life of service at the Tabernacle, further using the text’s consideration of her virginity as a kind of social evidence, like sending a girl to a nunnery.
But he also admits that in doing so this would be the single soul and unique instance and example in scripture of the term being used figuratively rather than literally. So if that interpretation were correct, then it would significantly reduce the emotional impact of his rash and tragic vow upon Jephthah and absolve him of any sinful implications.
However, all the historical interpretation of this passage by both Christians and Jews is that Jephthah did commit a sinful abomination by sacrificing his daughter as a burnt offering in fulfillment of his vow, because human sacrifice for spiritual favors, especially the sacrifice of children, is something that is repeatedly prohibited and condemned within scripture, even as it was, and often enough, common enough sin in Israel and the nations that surrounded her.
And so that is the most plain and straightforward reading of the text as painful and as difficult as it is to read and hear. That’s why I reminded us earlier that the Lord is not culpable for or even a party to the hurt, unjust, and unrighteous death because the guilt of her death belongs solely to Jephthah.
See, the Lord had never appeared to Jephthah at any time during this narrative. The Lord has not demanded or required anything from Jephthah. The Lord did not strike a bargain with Jephthah, and scripture never shows God agreeing to the terms of Jephthah’s vow, because apart from his vain attempt at divine deal-making, the Lord had already decreed the victory.
Unlike in the case of Isaac, God did not command Jephthah to offer him a sacrifice, nor did he command Jephthah to make his vow. He did it freely. Jephthah could have lawfully and justly chosen to break his vow because the Lord cannot and will not require a person to sin, and he will not condemn them for breaking a vow by choosing to not sin.
Breaking his unlawful, unrighteous, frivolous, and tragic vow was within Jephthah’s capability and the power of his will, but he chose not to exercise that option. Therefore, all of the guilt from the consequences of his vow rests solely upon Jephthah because of his willingness and his choice to keep it.
Now Jephthah was clearly remorseful once he realized what the vow would actually cost him. It was apparent that he regretted the rashness and foolishness of his vow, because it was going to cost him his daughter and any hope for a lineage where it says, “She was his only child; besides her, he had neither son nor daughter.”
Obviously, he was pained and sorrowful since as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low and you have become the cause of great trouble to me.”
He surely felt great pain at the thought of this consequence to his sinful vow. But even still, he was willing to compound his sin because he was unwilling to sacrifice his pride and his honor by breaking his vow.
Scripture does not tell us who all knew the details of Jephthah’s vow; at a minimum, it was only himself and the Lord, for they were the only people who really mattered.
Therefore, scripture does not offer him the excuse of social pressure to keep his vow, leaving only the options of his pride and the fear of divine retribution to overcome his love for his daughter and his otherwise apparent desire to obey God’s law.
For he says, “For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.” But this was not a righteous fear of the Lord that drove his action; it was not a reverent fear of the Lord, of the Holy and omnipotent God.
It was his fear of the potential negative consequences that might come if he broke his voluntary vow to God that drove him to compound his sin by murdering his only child.
However, she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; due to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.”
Her acceptance, her willingness, and submission to her father in his folly does not lessen the tragedy; it actually enhances and expands. Because during that time culturally, she would not have been permitted to have any say in the situation; her agreement was not required.
Therefore, her response here speaks very positively about her and the love she had for her father as well as what she understood her duty to be. So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me. Leave me alone two months that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.”
She did not beg him for mercy, ask him to break his vow, or implore him to change his mind or seek some other alternative. Instead, after accepting his decision, she merely asked for the grace of a two-month reprieve in order to weep for her virginity.
Why? Why is her virginity the focus of her lamentation when she is faced with impending execution? Was it really more important to her than her life? This will also be surprising to our cultural moment, but yes, it was.
And it was worth lamenting because of all that a girl’s virginity meant and represented culturally. Virginity was important for her marriage prospects, ensuring the purity and sanctity of the marriage relationship.
So not only did her father’s vow negatively impact her marriage prospects and her personal honor, but his social position was impacted as well. He had recently returned from a social exile and had been given power and authority in the land.
So naturally, he would have wanted to arrange an advantageous marriage for her to create a political alliance and secure his own position. So she and her virginity were a significant bargaining chip for him.
Furthermore, by being executed as a virgin, by having the opportunity and hope of marriage stolen from her, she would never be able to give her father an heir or a lasting lineage. She wanted to lament her virginity because she was having the opportunity to perform her duty for her father taken away.
His tragic vow prevented her from advancing their household’s social status and prevented her from giving her father a generational legacy, both duties that were expected of daughters in the ancient Near East.
If she had been committed to serve the Tabernacle instead of being executed, her ability to have a family would have not necessarily been sacrificed. Although her options would have been limited to the Levites, and she would not have had cause to lament her virginity, Jephthah would have still had a daughter.
Therefore, the tragic triple consequence of Jephthah’s vow was that he chose to compel himself and obligate himself to perform a grievous sinful act: murder. He willfully murdered his child, his young daughter, because of his pride and his irrational fear that he would cause a greater offense against the Lord if he broke his rash vow than he would by breaking the sixth commandment.
And he willfully murdered his young virginal daughter, his only child, therefore not only making himself childless but also causing her to remain childless, stealing away all of her hopes for the future, thereby causing the total destruction of his family and making himself accursed in Israel because of this sin.
Jephthah and his daughter suffered because of his failure to appreciate God’s grace, his failure to trust the Lord’s freely made promises given to his chosen people, and Jephthah’s frivolous attempt to bargain with God.
The Lord had not required a vow from him; the Lord only required the same as he requires from every other person: to trust God and obey him in faith. So ultimately, Jephthah’s spiritual failings are showcased by his vow, his mistaken belief that he could make God do what he wanted.
So, unfortunately, although Jephthah did deliver Israel, he alone brought this tragedy onto himself and his family. But even still, Jesus is able to forgive him and even atone for those grievous sins.
But let’s turn to the Gospels and see how Jesus addressed this issue of oaths and vows. During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus publicly reinterpreted the law of Moses, interpreting it differently from the contemporary teachings of the Pharisees and priests, teaching with authority.
Here, Jesus rightly interpreted and taught with the Lord’s intent, his intent and the correct meaning of the law. His teachings here especially demonstrated our human inability to completely keep it.
And this is what Jesus teaches us concerning oaths and vows: “Saying again: You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’”
Jesus here appears to quote Moses in Numbers chapter 30, verse 2, which says, “If a man vows a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”
So that statement plainly carried great social and religious force in order to ensure a person’s honesty and fidelity to their agreements. And this is likely the force which exerted itself upon Jephthah, increasing his felt pressure that drove him to murder his daughter.
However, Jesus next says, “But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.”
But Jesus here does not actually say something new or different than what the law already commanded. I expect he may well have had Jephthah’s vow in mind.
Deuteronomy 23 says that if you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin.
You shall be careful to do what is past your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
So we can clearly see that both Jesus and Moses agree that it is better for a person to not take an oath or make a vow at all, or if you do, then you must do whatever is required quickly.
But Jesus does not prohibit all oath-taking or the making of vows. Elsewhere, scripture commends and commands their appropriate use. Swearing an oath in court to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God, remains an appropriate practice for a Christian.
Just as a husband vowing to love his wife as Christ loved the church and forsaking all others to keep himself only unto her as long as they both shall live and a wife vowing to love her husband, to comfort him, respect and submit to him, even as the church submits to Christ, forsaking all others to keep herself only unto him as long as they both shall live, also continues to be appropriate and very good.
What Jesus is really teaching us here is that although oaths and vows have their value, God’s people should not feel the need to swear by the Lord as a means to ensure our honesty and the fulfillment of our obligations.
Christians should naturally be honest people because of our regeneration and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Christians should happily do their duty without needing a fear of divine retribution.
People should expect us to always keep our word and do whatever we say that we will do because that is right, good, and Christ-honoring. This is why Jesus puts it so plainly: “Let what you say be simply yes or no; anything more than this comes from evil.”
So there is really no room to quibble about or misinterpret his teaching here. If a Christian says yes, then we should mean yes, and if a Christian says no, then we should mean no.
Going beyond that simplicity, going beyond such reliability and truth will only cause a person trouble, as it did Jephthah. Because when we add extra qualifiers and more parties become involved, then chaos and confusion reign, because people will then stop saying what they mean and stop meaning what they say.
And that’s why I believe Jesus might have had Jephthah in mind at that moment, and that is what the Holy Spirit intends for us to learn and remember from Jephthah’s tragic vow.
If he had refrained from making this unnecessary vow, then he would not have been guilty of sin against his daughter, against his family, and against the Lord. If he had trusted the Lord to keep his freely made promises rather than trying to make a deal and bribe God with unnecessary offerings, then the Ammonites would have still been defeated, Israel would have still been delivered, and Jephthah would have still had a legacy.
Thus, acting out of his own feeble human understanding instead of merely trusting God, the Lord’s purposes were still accomplished while Jephthah brought misfortune, tragedy, and sorrow upon himself. These consequences, therefore, became the judgment and discipline for his sins.
The great lesson for us here today is that we must be patient, trusting, and relying upon Christ and God’s good provision. We must believe and know that he is faithful, that he will keep all of his promises, and he will give us what we need instead of us trying to bargain with the almighty God.
We have nothing to offer him that he needs because all that we have is already his and has been given to us to use for his glory and his good purposes. It is our filial duty to do all that he commands.
It is better for us to not need to take oaths or make vows, making them only when required by the Lord and his lawful representatives or when they are freely made for God-honoring purposes.
Otherwise, we may swear frivolously and risk obligating ourselves to do things which go beyond the scope of our duty to Christ or what is lawful and right.
Fortunately, our God is gracious and merciful, and because he is good and just, he will never obligate us to perform oaths we might make to sin. Jesus will never obligate us or force us to sin.
So, if we repent and ask for forgiveness for our own rash and frivolous oaths and vows, then he is certain to give mercy to all of God’s children who humbly ask it of him.
So, never try to bargain with God to get what you want. Instead, trust that he will give you all that you need. And finally, always let what you say be simply yes or no, and allow your honesty and your dependability and fidelity to be a proclamation of your faithful Christian witness.
Amen.
Let us stand and say what we believe using the words of the Apostles’ Creed.