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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, "Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all those living in Gilead."
Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. 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." So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him.
Sometime later, when the Ammonites made war on Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. "Come," they said, "be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites."
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?"
The elders of Gilead said to him, "Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in Gilead."
Jephthah answered, "Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me - will I really be your head?"
The elders of Gilead replied, "The Lord is our witness; we will certainly do as you say." So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.
Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: "What do you have against us that you have attacked our country?"
The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers, "When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably."
Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, saying:
"This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the desert to the Red Sea and on to Kadesh. Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Give us permission to go through your country”, but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh’.
‘Next they traveled through the desert, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.’
‘Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, “Let us pass through your country to our own place.” Sihon, however, did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He mustered all his men and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.’
‘Then the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his men into Israel's hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.’
‘Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before His people Israel, what right have you to take it over? Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us, we will possess. Are you better than Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them? For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn't you retake them during that time? I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.’"
The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord : "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 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."
Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break."
"My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."
"You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.
From this comes the Israelite custom that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
Judges 10:17-18, 11
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
…the Israelites said to the Lord, "We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now." Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And He could bear Israel's misery no longer. Judges 10:15-16
These were the verses we ended up in yesterday’s message. You’ll recall that the people of Israel had done evil before God once again and as a result, found themselves in big trouble. They cried out to the Lord as they had done many times before but found that He was unwilling to save them this time. Instead, He told them to go to the false gods they had been worshiping and seek help from them, something that was never going to happen.
And so the Israelites sought to make amends with God through three key steps to seek reconciliation. You’ll remember that they first repented, then they submitted themselves to Him and His will, and finally they took action where action was needed to show the Lord that they were genuine in their commitment to Him.
Their return to giving God their devotion was effective for the scriptures told us that the Lord was unable to bear their misery any longer, willing to once again deliver them from their oppressors as we see in the remaining verses of chapter 10 and through chapter 11.
There, we read that those oppressors, the Ammonites, were “called to arms and camped in Gilead” while the Israelites “assembled and camped at Mizpah: and with a battle nearing, the “leaders of the people of Gilead” said this:
“Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all those living in Gilead."
Well, there obviously weren’t many volunteers because the scriptures tell us the “elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah”, asking him to be their commander when the “Ammonites made war”.
Jephthah was definitely qualified as we read how he was a “mighty warrior” but there was only one problem. For the very men who were now asking him (Jephthah) to lead them were the same ones who mistreated him and threatened to remove any right to his family’s inheritance. This was because Jephthah’s mother had been a prostitute, making him an illegitimate son in the eyes of his other brothers. They caused him to flee and settle “in the land of Tob” where “a group of adventurers gathered around” and “followed him”.
The people of Gilead were bitter with their elders for the way they had mistreated Jephthah and so they asked them to affirm that they would do what they said they would do…make Jephthah the head of Gilead if the Lord would deliver the Ammonites into their hands. In response to this demand, the elders replied:
“The Lord is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.”
And so Jephthah went with the “elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them”. Jephthah then “repeated all his words before the Lord in Mizpah” resulting in the Israelites once again having a judge to deliver them and as we see in our passage, Jephthah didn’t waste any time to address the problem at hand…the mighty, enemy Ammonites.
Things got started with Jephthah and the Ammonite king exchanging dialogue regarding the land under dispute, specifically over who had rights to it. And after Jephthah asked the Ammonite king why they had attacked Israel, we read where the king accused Israel of taking the land from the Ammonites after they had departed Egypt. A charge that brought an immediate rebuttal from the Israelite leader who set the record straight.
For the truth of the matter was that after the Israelites left Egypt, they had actually been rejected in their attempt to enter Moab and Edom by the kings of those lands. Eventually, this led to them battling King Sihon who had “mustered all his men and encamped at Jahaz” to fight Israel. During that battle, “the Lord…gave Sihon and all his men into Israel's hands” and “they defeated them”, taking over “all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country”. They land they took possession of ranged “from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan”.
In other words, the land they were on had been already given to the Israelites and the Ammonites were trespassing on it.
Jephthah goes on to mock the paganism of the Ammonite king saying this:
“Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before His people Israel, what right have you to take it over? Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you?”
Further, Jephthah questioned the Ammonite king as to why he would just decide to challenge the Israelites now when Israel had occupied the land for the last “three hundred years. Finally, Israel’s leader seals his sharp rebuke toward the king of Ammon with this:
“I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
Indeed the Lord would decide the matter, even if the “king of Ammon…paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him”.
So what happened next?
The scriptures tell us that a “Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah” as he “crossed Gilead and Manasseh”, before passing “through Mizpah of Gilead” and advancing “against the Ammonites”.
This is where this story of Jephthah takes a weird turn because for whatever reason, he decided to make a vow to the Lord, even though he already had the assurance the Lord would be with him in battle. And as we see, the vow had tragic consequences.
Here’s what Jephthah promised:
“If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 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."
And with that, he led the fight against the Ammonites with God giving them “into his hands”. Under his leadership, the Israelites devastated “twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim” before subduing Ammon. Victory was sweet for Jephthah and the people of Israel and after the war, he “returned to his home in Mizpah”.
We read that as he approached his home, out came his daughter…”his only child”…who was dancing to the sound of tambourines”, completely unaware of the promise that her father had made with the Lord. Well, we see where Jephthah was fully aware of what was happening as he immediately fell distraught, tearing his clothes and crying out:
“Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break."
Jephthah knew that he would now have to offer up his only daughter up as a burnt offering.
In the moment, we find Jephthah’s daughter showing exceptional grace and poise despite her fate being sealed, telling her father:
“…you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request…Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."
And so we find Jephthah honoring her request, letting her go for two months while “she and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry” and “after the two months” concluded, “she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed”. His daughter died a virgin.
This story of the judge Jephthah is a bittersweet one, for sure.
For while he had great success in his life, he also had great tragedy as well, culminating in the sacrifice of his own daughter as a tribute to the victory that the Lord had given.
I can’t help but see this account as a prelude for what was yet to come. For we will see how Israel will never seem to be able to break the endless cycle of doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, finding themselves disciplined for it and crying out for deliverance before gaining it and the associated restoration.
And then…they would do it all over again.
This perpetual falling in and out of sin would eventually lead to the complete destruction of all mankind unless something was done to stop it, something of divine power to do what man couldn’t do…save themselves.
And so God, unwilling to see anyone perish out of His deep love for them, sent His only Son Jesus from Heaven to earth to live and walk amongst His people to first show them how to live the holy, righteous life He expected before offering Him up as a living sacrifice to atone for the sins of all who would believe in Him, once and for all. Through the horrific suffering Jesus experienced on the cross of Calvary, we’re reminded that freedom, being delivered from the damnation of Hell to the glory of Heaven, wasn’t free. It rarely is as Jephthah learned in today’s passage.
And since Jesus surrendered everything for us, willingly laying down His life, we should feel inclined to lay it all down for Him as well. Indeed, He gave up His freedom for ours…He sacrificed everything so we might not have to…and then He gave us the instruction we need to follow His lead.
What did He tell us?
We find the answer through His words in Matthew, chapter 28:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Vv. 19-20
Through Jesus’ death and victory over the grave, we too have received the assurance through Him that we would not perish but have eternal life. In other words, through our belief and trust in Jesus as Savior, our future is already set. This sets us free to focus on those who may not have their eternal future in Heaven secured, those who are lost and have not yet placed their belief, faith, and hope in Christ Jesus.
Will doing that require sacrifice?
Yes.
Will doing that mean that we need to lay aside our desires for the desires of Jesus?
Absolutely.
Should we ever complain or feel belabored by what we’re called to do for the cause of Christ?
We had better not.
For as Christians, we have avowed ourselves to Jesus Christ…to live as He lived…to think as He thought…and to act as He acted which included Him totally sacrificing Himself out of love and compassion for others. Settling for anything else than our total sacrifice and dedication toward loving and seeking to help others know and trust in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior is falling short of the mark.
For Christ died to set us free to live as a people with the sure hope of Heaven, showing us that freedom isn’t free but comes with a cost. And so as we enjoy the freedom Jesus died to provide us, the least we can do is sacrifice our freedom to help others find theirs. As believers, we should want to do nothing less for our blessed Savior and the Father who gave Him up for us.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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