I'd like to invite you to interpret scripture so that we can apply it to our lives. Let's "work out our faith" together, as a community. Each Thursday I'm going to put something up and make sure it doesn't leave the front page until the following Thursday. It's okay to be wrong and it's okay to be right. I want this to be a safe space to throw out ideas and dig in together. There are no thoughts too simple, no questions too basic. You can even just ask your own questions. Feel free to post as often as you'd like, and anyone can comment, not just Blogger users. For more information, read this.We're going to start off with a story in Judges that really caught me off guard. I've been wrestling with it for the last week and I really want to hear the thoughts of my brothers and sisters.
Background Information
Israel occupied the land conquered under Joshua, but they did not name a king to lead them. They were under continuous peril, but they turned again and again to other gods. When they understood their sins, they cried out to God, who heard them and appointed someone (a "judge") to lead them. This leader would win the battle and free the Israelites from their oppression, but they ultimately deteriorated again and again into moral and spiritual depravity.
One of these stories is of Jephthah, the illegitimate son of an upper class member of Gilead. His half-brothers cast him out of the land and he wandered for years, along with a band of misfits and rebels.
At one point, Israel became desperate for a leader and decided that whoever would lead them in victory over their enemies would be appointed ruler over all of Gilead. It is said that years of wandering deepened his faith and God's spirit came on him. He first tried a peaceful solution against his enemies, the Ammonites, but went into battle and was victorious. That's where we'll begin this week.
(Other notable scriptures pertaining to this passage are Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 12:31, 2 Kings 3:27 and Numbers 30:2)
Judges 11:29-40 (NLT)
At that time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went throughout the land of Gilead and Manasseh, including Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he led an army against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory. He crushed the Ammonites, devastating about twenty towns from Aroer to an area near Minnith and as far away as Abel-keramim. In this way Israel defeated the Ammonites.
When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. She was his one and only child; he had no other sons or daughters. When he saw her, he tore his clothes in anguish. “Oh, my daughter!” he cried out. “You have completely destroyed me! You’ve brought disaster on me! For I have made a vow to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.”
And she said, “Father, if you have made a vow to the Lord, you must do to me what you have vowed, for the Lord has given you a great victory over your enemies, the Ammonites. But first let me do this one thing: Let me go up and roam in the hills and weep with my friends for two months, because I will die a virgin.”
“You may go,” Jephthah said. And he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children. When she returned home, her father kept the vow he had made, and she died a virgin.
So it has become a custom in Israel for young Israelite women to go away for four days each year to lament the fate of Jephthah’s daughter.
Some starter questions:
What reflections do you have about this story?
What does this story tell us about God? What does it tell us about Jephthah?
If Jephthah had been cast out, why is he so excited to rule the town that cast him out?
Was his vow rash? Why did he make it?
What ways can we apply this story into our own lives?
His vow forced him to make a decision between two laws (Lev. 18:21 & Deut. 12:31 vs. Numbers 30:2). What are your thoughts about that?
How could the story of Abraham & Isaac inform this story?
Does this story tell us anything about Jesus' sacrifice?
Remember, I don't know the answers to these questions - I want to discover them together. If any of us come up with other good questions in the comments, I'll post them here. I'll post my own thoughts in the comments section soon.
Thanks for being a part of this discussion!
Labels: Jesus
July 2005
August 2005
October 2005
November 2005
January 2006
February 2006
April 2006
June 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
June 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
March 2008
May 2008
June 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
December 2008
June 2009
From what I understand of Hebrew culture, child sacrifice was more common than we’d like to admit, but it was always strongly spoken against in the OT, and in this passage we don’t see G-d commending Jephthah for keeping his vow. I find comfort in that, and in knowing the outcome of the Abraham/Isaac story, I find it hard to believe that G-d really would want Jephthah to kill his daughter.
I get the impression that the Holy Spirit came on Jephthah, and that Jephthah was anointed as a leader at that point. There was no need for this vow. It's comforting that God's power isn't tied to "If then" statements. I do believe that it's easier for God to use someone who is walking in His Will, but that doesn't equate to these crazy kind of deals.
I think this whole story is very problematic - there are pat answers that I'm really hoping are right, because there's a lot going on here that I'm not sure what to do with. Did God cause his daughter to come out? Was it to teach this lesson to future generations? Didn't Jephthah recognize that it was possible his daughter would greet him?
When I read this I was hoping that God would come out in the end with another "Just Kidding" circa Abraham & Isaac, and when it didn't come I think the Spirit part really threw me through a loop.
Erwin McManus has Jephthah at the center of his "Barbarian Way", and so I went into this story expecting to find something really life-giving and eye-opening for my walk. And there's some of that - this bad decision doesn't change God using someone who was outcast and who befriended a bunch of "worthless thugs", but this story seems like it's telling us something about God and I can't put my finger on what exactly that is.