God's Faithfulness (Jephthah)

Good morning. We are back in the book of Judges. We finished Judges 1 through 9 through May, back in May. And now we've come back to Judges 10. We were in the I Am Sayings of John. And we're now going to be looking at Judges for some time. We'll be looking at Samson over the next two weeks. This morning we are looking at Jephthah. As we prepare and think about Jephthah and what's going on in the story, I want us to think about two parts of worship. We're really thinking about worship in every part of Scripture. But I want to talk about two different aspects of worship. Worship is approaching the right God in the right way. Worship is approaching the right God in the right way. Now we could see there's two problems in worship. Approaching the wrong God in the wrong way. First we can think about what it looks like to worship the wrong God. It's just too easy if we are honest with ourselves. It's too easy to go in and give a wholehearted devotion to pretty much anything not God. Think about it. Football season is coming upon us. The most enthusiastic worship services our nation has are about to start taking place during football season. the sincerity of heart, the love and affection and ups and downs of how people react depending on how their gods are doing on the field. It's easy. It's easy for us all to get wrapped up in all kinds of different gods. The gods that we easily pursue, money, power, pleasure, It's just so easy, as Romans 1 tells us, as Paul tells us in Romans 1, to exchange the glory of God for anything else. So that's what it looks like to worship the wrong God. Well, we could actually be looking at the right God, but worshiping Him in the wrong way. We might know Jesus Christ as God who died on the cross for our sins and rose again, but we don't look to Him for His instructions on how to come to Him. No, we follow what we think must be right. We go on our own way. Two ways we do this is we either think we need to earn His favor. That is not how God ever invites us into His presence. We do not need to earn His favor to come into His presence. The other one is when we're faced with a trouble to start making a deal with God. God, if you would only help me then, I'll do this for you. This problem is what Paul talks about in Romans 10. For the Israelites, they had zeal, but they didn't have understanding. They were very zealous to worship the right God, but they were very much doing it in the wrong way. This problem really brings us to our story today. We have Jephthah, who I believe is committed to believing in the right God. But I think we're going to see him approaching the right God in the wrong way. As we pull back from this story, I want to just remind us, God has spoken. We have his word. He tells us who he is, who we are, what he has done for us, and how to approach him in worship. He doesn't leave us to need to figure things out in a clever way or in a creative way. No, it's trust me and obey. Jephthah is a hard story. As we heard from Hebrews, he is a man of faith. But as we're gonna see later on, there's some difficult things in this story to wrestle with as to how he being a man of faith was also committed to some things that were We're ungodly as it appears. So let's turn to our story, Judges 10. We just heard just the introduction to the story. Because it's a large section of text, I wanted to make a few observations about the text for us. First, if you look at verses one to four, you see there two other judges presented, Tola and Jair. If you look at Chapter 12, it actually ends with three other judges, Ebzon, Epson, and Abdon. Now, these other five judges are not lesser judges. They're not minor judges. They're not less important judges. They just don't have any detail about them. you actually see some very significant things about them. God raised them up and God used them to save his people. They judged Israel. And it looks like the details of their story simply do not fall into the theme or the message that Judges, or the author of Judges is presenting to us. We see here that they're actually contrasted with Jephthah. Two judges have 30 sons over against Jephthah, who has one daughter. Jephthah has a very short reign as a judge, whereas these other judges have a long, seemingly blessed reign. The second observation is this. The story of Jephthah opens with a significant and startling dialogue between God and Israel. That's what Patty just read for us. Israel cries out to God after they've gone and worshiped every possible God they could find in the land, other than God. And when they cry out, they're crying out for repentance. And look at verse 14. We're gonna think about this quite a bit in a moment. Yahweh responds to them, go and cry out to the gods whom you've chosen. Let them save you at the time of distress. That is frightening. That is a great, powerful judgment of God. If you're going to go worship those other gods, you call out to them to help you when the oppressor comes. Now, weeks ago, we looked at Gideon. Months ago, the same thing happened there. And the people respond with what looks like repentance. And then God declares he's impatient over their miseries. He's impatient with them trying to truthfully repent enough to please him. And so he acts. But we see this introduction shows us who we're dealing with. The third observation is this. God is only mentioned twice as actively engaging in this problem. In Jephthah, rather. In chapter 10, we see him actually raising up the oppressor and discussing, but once Jephthah is introduced, there's only two times God is clearly active. 1129, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon Jephthah. And then 1132, the Lord gave them into his hand. The Spirit empowers Jephthah, the Lord empowers Jephthah, and then the Lord gives the victory to Jephthah. The fourth observation. Jephthah has a very unusual rise to power. It never says God raised up Jephthah. Instead, he and the elders of Israel, or Gilead, go back and forth in a manipulation bartering to see if they can manipulate one another into getting what they want. Fifth, this story has to be interpreted according to the divine interpretation. That is Hebrews 11. Jephthah's sitting there with David, Samson, Samuel. He's listed as a man of faith, and this is very important because whatever we're going to say about Jephthah, we have to see it in light of Hebrews 11, which is God telling us how to read the story. Here it is necessary to have this interpretation because he looks like quite a character. He's an outcast, a manipulator, what looks to be a practicing pagan, but ultimately he serves God by faith and God gives him victory. Finally, the last observation, this long story, chapters 10, 6 to 12, 6, can be broken down into five different conflicts. And this is for your future Bible study. If you'll look at the story later in more detail, there are five conflicts that arrange this entire story. The first conflict is between Yahweh and Israel. Again, that's what you just heard. Chapter 10, verses 6 to 16. The first conflict is between Yahweh and Israel. The next conflict is in chapters 10, 17, through 11, 11. 10, 17, through 11, 11. That's Jephthah and Gilead. This is the going back and forth as to if Jephthah will be the judge who saves them and then will he become the head of the people. 1017 through 1111. The next conflict is very interesting and that is Jephthah versus the king of Ammonites. There's a history distinction. There's a history argument over what actually happened. That's 1112 through 28. Jephthah and the Ammonites, 11, 12 through 28. We then see a very painful and difficult conflict, and that is between Jephthah and his daughter, chapter 11, 29 through 40. Jephthah and his daughter. And then finally, it concludes with a conflict between Jephthah and Ephraim. That's 12, one to six. So Yahweh and Israel, Jephthah and Gilead, Jephthah and the Ammonites, Jephthah and his daughter, and then Jephthah and Ephraim. Our summary is our structure on those five conflicts. I want us to first look at the warning that the passage begins with, though. Warning against idolatry. I want us to consider the warning against idolatry, and this is chapter 10, six to 16. If we've been with us in Judges, or if you're new with us, rather, you know there's been a constant cycle. Israel sins God Disciplines them in love and he raises up an oppressor then Israel cries out God sends a judge they're delivered and then they return to their sin eventually and we just keep repeating this cycle There's a warning about how easy it is for Israel to keep going back into this cycle They have forsaken the one true God and if you heard it just read They worship every other God but God. The Baals, the Asherah, the God of Syria, the God of Sinai, the God of Moab, the God of Ammonites, the God of the Philistines. Any and every God they could possibly find they're going to worship except for the one true God who would actually save them. There's also something important here we need to remember, that if you're living in this time period, in this place, the pagans, the other nations, they had a religious concept that every region had a local deity, and the ideal situation is to have the right god over the right place and the right people. You see this in chapter 11, verse 24. where Jephthah is telling the Ammonites, you have your god Chemosh, and he's your god in your place, and he's blessed you with your land. This is different for Israel, though, because it's the one God who created everything and all peoples, and he conquers all the time, no matter where he is. He is the one God of all peoples and nations. Israel's blessed to know this one true God, and yet they continue to forsake him. this language of idolatry being evil, that should shake us. You know, we usually think of things as evil as kind of like what happened last year on August 12th. Someone was murdered. Someone died because of just ridiculous hatred. Well, we usually think of things as evil as to what we do against one another, but here, notice, it is evil to forsake worshiping the one true God. God calls it evil. To turn against Him who's made the faithful promises to keep you, to love you, to preserve you, to save you. In other parts of Judges, we saw that He likened it to adultery. Forsaking the one true faithful God of love and turning to those things that do not love. If you look at verse seven, because they forsook the Lord, verse six, they forsook the Lord and they did not serve Him, they did not worship Him and honor Him. Verse seven, the proper response, so the anger of the Lord was kindled. And he sold them into the hands of the Philistines. And this is the normal pattern. God is disciplining those he loves. In his righteous anger, he sends an oppressor. And after 18 years, verse 8, look at verse 10. And the people of Israel, they cried out to the Lord. This looks like the normal pattern. Lord, we have sinned against you because we have forsaken our God and we've served other gods, the Baals. And then God responds with this very difficult declaration. Did I not save you? I hear you saying you're going after the balls, but did I not save you from the Egyptians? The Egyptians are the key salvation deliverance of the Old Testament, where God took Israel out of slavery in Egypt and destroyed that nation to save them, crossed the Red Sea, destroyed the army, all to make sure that everyone understood He is the one true glorious God. Did I not save you from the Egyptians? Did I not save you from the Amorites? Did I not save you from the Ammonites and the Philistines, the Sidonians? Verse 13. Yet you've forsaken me. Did I not save you, yet you have forsaken me and served these other gods? He's building up a clear argument. I have saved you over and over again, and all you do in response is take a nosedive right back into the sin from which I saved you. As parents, we kind of get this frustration. How many times can you correct a child? How many times have we been corrected over the same sin? They continue, like a dog returning to their vomit, to go after these other guys, and God's clearly stating a frustration. I've saved you over and over again, and yet you continue to forsake me. And then here's this very hard word to swallow, church. Halfway through verse 13. You have forsaken Me and served other gods, therefore... Therefore. Now, oftentimes in Scripture, we see the word but. B-U-T. And what that does is we're heading straight into our destruction. We're heading straight into God's judgment because of our sin. But God changes our course. But is a word of grace. Therefore, is a word that gives us over to the consequences of our sins. He gives us what we deserve with a therefore. Therefore, I will save you no more. I've saved you, I've saved you, I've saved you. You continue to forsake, you continue to abandon, you continue to serve other gods. Therefore, I will save you no more. You go and cry out to those gods whom you've chosen. This is terrifying. This is God giving his people over to their sin. It is him saying, you're going to have to now suffer the consequences of your continued sin. Let them save you in your time of distress. I wanna say this is both a judgment and a grace. He's trying to help his people. You've got to stop this pattern. You've got to stop going after these other gods every time after I save you, and you start having peace again. If you love these gods and they love you, let them save you. Notice the people's response. Verse 15. This looks like a good response. We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day. There's a confession. There's not an argument. Notice they don't try to disagree with God. There's not an argument. We've sinned. There's a trust. Do whatever seems good to you. There's a supplication. But please, deliver us today. And then it's followed with what a good confession of sin actually has, action. So they actually put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. Now this last phrase in verse 15 really is interesting. And God became impatient over the misery of Israel. And this has had quite a bit of difficulty in interpretation. It seems like what the best interpretation is is that he became pained by watching their constant repentance trying to earn back his favor. It was painful for him to see his people constantly repenting, and as a loving father, wanting to care for them and help them. This passage needs to be a warning for us. Because the heart and soul of this passage is the constant going back into idols. It's a warning against that going back every time we get lazy. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. I believe this will be a helpful passage for us to think about. That's on page 957 of your Pew Bible. 1 Corinthians 10. Paul has just cited the golden calf, and I'm gonna pick up in verse six of 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Now these things, and I believe he's warning them of all the different ways in which Israel failed to actually worship the one true God in the right way. Notice what he says. These things took place as examples for us. Everything Israel did, everything they went through, they're actually examples. They're instructive examples for us. That we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters. as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat, drink, and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happen to them as an example. But they were written down for our instruction. On whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. We need to be careful in looking at 1 Corinthians 10, and we need to be careful as we look at that to look back at Judges 10 and look down upon these Israelites as if we're not like them. Paul's saying they're an example, they're an instruction, they're a warning that our hearts are actually bent towards being just like them. We need to take heed. in a pride that thinks we're better than them somehow, lest we fall? We need to realize that we ourselves are prone to idolatry. Look at 4, verses 14 of 1 Corinthians 10. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? He's referring here to the Lord's Supper. What's right before me? What we're, Lord, willing to be taking here in just a few moments? Is us not partaking of that bread and that cup, participating in the very salvation given to us by God? There's a real personal intimate connection between us and Christ because of what we participate in together. Because there's one bread, We are many, or one body, for we're all partakers of one bread. Consider the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices participating in the altar. What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything other than an idol in itself? No, I imply what pagan sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. He then goes on to give a charge. You cannot participate in the cup of demons, in the cup of Christ. We need to flee from idolatry. We need to realize how God has single-heartedly and single-focused sent His Son so that He would love us. We need to come to worship Him, not casually, but also not with guilt, but by looking at the cross, by looking at what Christ has accomplished for us so that our sin has been paid for by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, so that we now come with Thanksgiving, that we get to participate in the death and the life of Christ. That means as we come, we consider who am I worshiping? How am I worshiping? If we're honest with ourselves, there's constantly idols tempting us. The cup draws us in to have gratitude for the grace of God. When we walk in our sin, we're typically grumbling. If you wanna know what your idols are, and this is already convicting for me as I meditated on the sermon, whatever I grumble about, that's typically the idol that's most influencing my heart. My grumbling, what I constantly grumble about, like the Israelites, that's the idol that God is pinpointing. to say repent, trust me, come to me by grace, in my grace. As we come to this cup this morning and the bread, I pray we will meditate upon a gratitude that leads us to rejoice fully in Christ. That is the introduction to our story of Jephthah. Let us now get into Jephthah. And I want us to see our second point. Our first point is a warning against idolatry. Our second is this. We must place our trust in the God who saves. Place your trust in the God who saves. Jethro's story really begins in chapter 10, verse 17. The chapter breakdowns are not inspired. Sometimes they miss verses like this one here. Chapter 11 really should start at verse 17 of chapter 10. God raised up the Ammonites. They were called to arms. They encamped at Gilead. And the people of Israel came together. They were encamped at Mizpah. And the people, the leaders of Gilead said to one another, who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? Who shall be head over the inhabitants of Gilead? So they've come. They've gathered. They're ready to fight. They're ready to take on their oppressors. Yet there's no one there to take charge. The Ammonites are people that Israel had connected with on their way out of Egypt. They live on the other side of the Jordan. They're a pagan people. Chapter 11, verse 1. It tells us some important things about our key character. Jephthah was a Gileadite. He's one of the people. He was a mighty warrior. He's starting to look qualified. to answer the question, who's going to lead us into battle? All right, here we have a man who's of the people and he's a mighty warrior, but he was a son of a prostitute. Gilead was a father of Jephthah. Gilead's wife bore him many sons, but here we see this man who's born of a prostitute. He's an outcast. Keep reading in verse 2. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, you shall not have any inheritance in our father's house, for you're the son of another woman. Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. And worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him. So he's been abandoned by his family. A prostitute may have been a temple prostitute. Usually they have no standing in society. So he's now basically orphaned. He's driven out by his only biological family. He's abandoned, and as he goes out, he is collecting around him worthless fellows. That would be men and women without character. So he's introduced as the answer to the question, who's going to go before us? Look at verse four. After a time, the Ammonites made war against Israel. When the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. And they said to Jephthah, come and be our leader, that we might fight against the Ammonites. But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress? And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, That is why we've turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, if you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head. And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, the Lord be witness between us if we do not do as you say. So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his word before the Lord at Mizpah. So the Lord is involved here, but as someone they're swearing by. Someone they're giving their oath to. What we see here is a man who's an outcast. The elders of that city, they come to him. They're in despair and they humbly say, if he'll come, you can be our head. And we see Jephthah being somewhat of a manipulator. If I come and I have victory, I'm going to be your head. Notice the accusation too. You yourself, you hated me and drove me out. He's putting an accusation against the elders. Now, they could have stopped his brothers from doing this. They themselves are culpable. Something I think is interesting is that it appears that the people of Israel are treating Jephthah the same way they've treated God. They want him from a distance until they need him to deliver them. It appears they're treating Jephthah in the same way they've treated God, that they've cast him out, but until they need him, they ask him to come back. We see very, very fickle people. They've hated Jephthah, they've not cared for him, but then they say, well, you come and help us. Next is the conflict between Jephthah and the Ammonites. And I'm not going to read this section, but if you go back, it's fascinating. Jephthah is a real student of the word. The Ammonites present a wrong history, and Jephthah corrects them with a very clear articulated, well articulated declaration of what actually happened between God, Israel, and the Ammonites. He's a scribe, he's a man of the word. Now the Ammonites, they're not convinced, so they go to war. But what's amazing here is you see this man of a prostitute, He actually does manipulate his way to become head of Israel, even though they've asked him. He then gets into an engagement and fails to convince the people of the Ammonites. It's quite a character. But I want us to focus in here that we need to trust the God who saves, even through men like Jephthah. Look at verse 29. The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah. God blessed him. God came down and anointed him to be the instrument by which God would save his people. We see the power of on high shadowing now Jephthah. Okay? We're going to skip 31 and 32. Go down to verse 32. So Jephthah crossed over the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. These are the two declarations of what God did, and it's very clear God saved his people. When we step back and look at all of the Bible, it's amazing the kind of characters that God uses to bring about salvation. The one consistent thing is that it is Almighty God, the God of grace, who saves His people. The kind of characters God usually uses are the kind of people who lack character. Now that doesn't mean they lacked faith. It simply means there was always something troubling about them. We could go back to David. David's a murderer and an adulterer, but yet God used him mightily. The main emphasis here is the action of God. He came upon this man and he saved his people. God does not leave his people alone. God always brings about the salvation He desires. The sinfulness or the failure of His own people do not affect His faithfulness to His promise. We can trust in God. Our failure does not affect the faithfulness of God. He can be trusted. That's the one thing I want us to see in verse 29 and 32. The one, the two places where God is mentioned. He does what He desires to do, and what He desires to do is save His people. And nothing, no matter how great an enemy, or how odd a leader, His people have. God saves those whom He chooses to save. Now let's get to another warning, our third point of the sermon. I believe we see here a warning against vows. Oaths. Verse 30 and 31. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out of 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. It's very interesting that this particular declaration is sandwiched right between, right after the Spirit of the Lord coming upon Jephthah and right before the Lord giving him into his hand. There's been three main speeches by Jephthah. The first is he convinces the elders of Gilead to make them head. The second, he does not convince the Ammonites to not go to war. And third, this speech he gives to God that is met with absolute silence. Let's look at this very clearly. If you give me victory and take me home safely, I will then give you, Lord, whatever comes through my door, it will be To you, the Lord, it will be a burnt offering. This is an odd way of approaching God based upon everything in scripture. There's no prescription or even a prayer described that is blessed by God that encourages us to approach God this way. God, if you'll do something for me, then here's what I'll do for you. There's no indication of God ever inviting us to make this kind of prayer. And we need to be very clear about something. Just because something happens in Scripture doesn't mean God is condoning it. If you read the Old Testament, a lot of men have a lot of wives. Just because that's happening in scripture doesn't mean God ever prescribed it or ever condoned it, especially when it makes it very clear in other parts of scripture, no, he condemns that activity. Just because something is doing something in scripture that God uses doesn't mean he's actually blessing it. Jephthah appears to be trusting the one true God, Yahweh, but he seems to be approaching him as if he's like a pagan god. who needs something, who needs to be satisfied, who needs to be convinced. If you'll help me, I'll help you. No, God is not like that. Let's back out and ask a few questions. First, what was he expecting to sacrifice to the Lord? Right, so he makes the promise, whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me. Maybe an animal, maybe a servant, maybe his own child. The language, whatever comes out to meet me, that's usually a human being. And so here we are faced with a troubling situation where Jephthah seems to be making a promise of a burnt offering of a human being based upon the language he's using. God does not ever condone that. Rather, in Deuteronomy 12.31, He clearly condemns it as something that's pagan. God speaks against human sacrifice. A man who knows the law as well as Jephthah does, based upon his discussion with the Ammonites, he should have known this was completely out of bounds. So why did he feel the need to make this vow? The Holy Spirit has come upon him in verse 29. He knew God was powerful to save his people based upon the history lesson he's just taught. I offer two possibilities. One, God in his sovereignty is using this to go ahead and point forward to the rash vow of Saul in 1 Samuel 24. One of the main themes and theses of Judges is that there is no king in Israel. Judges is supposed to be setting up the need that God's people need to be ruled by a king, and he needs to be the right king, and I believe Judges could be here alluding to that rash vow of Saul to make it very clear for like the 50th time in Judges, Saul's not the king you want. Rather, actually, that's not true. Saul is the king you want, it's not the king God wants. It could be pointing forward to that. Another key focus in Judges, another more likely possibility of why this vow is here and what he's doing, it appears a theme of Judges or a lesson of Judges is that Israel continues to become more and more like Canaan. They don't become more and more holy unto the Lord their God who saved them. They become more and more like the nations. They act more and more like pagans. And just to be very clear, this story is awkward. Judges only gets more awkward and worse. There's a constant decline of Israel towards pagan practices. And so here, it looks like Jephthah actually is approaching God as if he's just like another God. You see, the pagan gods, they're very much like us. They're made after our image. They're not givers of all things that are good and perfect. No, they're selfish. They need to be manipulated. They actually want to be bartered and manipulated. The gods of the nations, they have to be convinced. They have appetites. They need to be satisfied so they'll give good things. The one true God is not like that. So Jephthah appears to be making a vow with the right God in the wrong way. God does not invite us to approach him this way. As we think about this, I want us to consider one of the key commands of Scripture. To obey is better than sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrifice. God did not need the sacrifice that Jephthah was going to offer him to be with him and give him the victory. The Spirit of the Lord has already come upon him. He is going to be used by God to bring the victory. This sacrifice he's promising is not necessary. No. But God doesn't, God doesn't want the sacrifice. God wants obedience. Here today, believer, that, that God doesn't want us to think, all right, in the middle of trouble, when I've been disobedient, what can I sacrifice to please God? No. God calls you to trust Him. To obey Him. Stop trying to appeal to God by demonstrating some kind of weird thing I'm going to sacrifice to make Him happy. No. God is faithful. He simply calls us to obedience. At the same time, while I'm being fairly hard on Jephthah, we do need a reminder that in Hebrews he is declared to be a model of faith. I believe you see him being a man of faith in two ways. He ultimately does trust God to save Israel. He does trust God to save Israel. He just thinks he needs to change or do something to convince God he needs to save Israel. There is no doubt in his mind that God can save Israel. The second way in which I believe he is a man of faith, he does not take his vow lightly. He knows he has to obey his vow. He's a man of faith that knows he must keep his word. As God keeps his promise, he must keep his promise. Let's read verses 30, beginning of verse 34. 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. The repetition there makes it very weighty. She's come out rejoicing to see her papa, the only child, no son or daughter. She comes out and 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 for me, for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow." She said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out from your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Amorites. So she said to her father, let this thing be done to me. Let me alone two months, that I may go down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions. So he said, go. Then he sent her away for two months. 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 Gilead died four days in the year. There's an emphasis here in verse 35, I cannot take back my vow. The young lady says, do according to what has gone out of your mouth. And then we see verse 39, he did according with her to his vow. There's two main interpretations as to how he actually fulfills this vow. The first is that he made a vow to commit his child, his only child, as a burnt offering and he kept that vow and he offered her life. She died in response to this vow. That's troubling. We know that's evil to commit human sacrifice. We know God condemns it from Deuteronomy 12. We see that there's a great dilemma going on in Jephthah. Do I break my command, the command of God, or do I break the promise of God? I wrestle with, and then again this may not be helpful speculation, but there's no praying to God here. He made a vow to God, but there's no seeking God. Maybe Genesis 22 would be a helpful way of approaching God. What would happen if he approached God and said, just as you provided a sacrifice for Isaac, would you provide a sacrifice for my daughter? Or a substitute for my daughter? It's troubling, but we see here a man who has made a vow to God. He would keep it. That's the main interpretation. That is the majority interpretation of how he fulfills this command. There's another interpretation. It's the minority position. But they see, the minority position sees the vow as promising to give to God whatever comes to the door. And this is an important technicality here. When he says in verse 31, let me read it. Then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be to the Lord and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. The second position actually, instead of interpreting that as an and, interprets it as an or. Whatever comes out of my door shall be the Lord's or a burnt offering. It gives some wiggle room that maybe this isn't technically necessarily a burnt offering. The second minority position believes that she was given over to serve in the temple the rest of her life. given over to serve the Lord, not marrying, not having children, that's why the emphasis is on her virginity. Like Hannah commits Samuel, so she is committed to the temple, never to marry. Now, I think the former is the most likely interpretation. The latter is the one I like more. It's hard to swallow. Again, we need to remember, God did not instruct this. God's warned against it. God didn't need it. He did not require it. He didn't ask for it. What we see here is a great God of grace, who's not approached properly by Jephthah, either in the vow or after the vow, to seek wisdom. If you're not a Christian here, please hear this. God's people do not always represent God well. I don't think this story, as the way Jephthah actually acts it out, is representing God well. Because he actually breaks a very clear command that God has given. You don't trust God because of how good God's people are. No, you trust God because of how good He always is. Even while we were sinners, He sent His Son to die for us and rise again. That's the one message you need to hear. There's all kinds of problems in every church and all kinds of God's people that profess Christ as Savior. But let our confession of our sin and turning to Jesus be a model for you. Not how much we sin as a deterrent and an obstacle for you coming to Christ. Recognize you sin just like all of us. and recognize that God is a holy and righteous God who must punish all sin. And if your sin is not punished on Christ, you will be punished for it. Jesus Christ is the only way you can be saved. Let's think about vows just a little bit more because I do believe they're important. Deuteronomy 23 says this about making promises. If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay in fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you. And you'll be guilty of sin, but if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth. That's Deuteronomy 23, 21. A very clear declaration, and I believe probably the motivation between why Jephthah says, I must fill it. God has said, if you make a vow, you must keep it. Let's hear what our Lord says about making oaths. Matthew 5, verse 33. Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the duty you have sworn. 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 the footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your own head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil. Now notice he didn't say, don't give your word. He didn't say, don't make promises. He didn't say, don't, don't, don't keep your word. No, he's saying, don't attach your word to something you have no control over that's greater than you. Don't, don't promise by heaven. Don't, don't promise on, on a grave. Don't promise even on your own head. Oh, let your yes be yes and your no, no. Notice what James says, but above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by other oaths. Let your yes be yes and your no, no. We're supposed to be a people who keep our word because we are saved by the God who has made promises and kept those promises. We're supposed to be a people dependable and trustworthy because we trust in the one God who gives his word and keeps it. Finally, as we conclude, let's look at chapter 12. We're to worship the one true God who is faithful. For sake of time, I won't read this story, but what happens here is another tribe, Ephraim, they actually come up against Jephthah. Jephthah defeats him in battle, and then he creates a system by which he kills his own kinsmen, the Ephraimites. His rule ends with cruelty. His judging only lasted six years. We then see Ebzon, Elon, Abdon. One of the things I want us to see here is that each king, judge, ruler of Israel, most of them, we all know, had some kind of major problem. They've all sinned. Every one of them dies and then goes on to the next judge. This is why we need to make it very clear why we believe in Jesus Christ. There was no replacement for Jesus. He came. He died. He rose again. He is now seated, ascended to the right hand of the Father. When we look at these men, as we look at the failures, as we look at the models of faith, as we look at instructions to warn us against idolatry, as we look at how over and over again men died and had to be replaced We look to Jesus, the perfect author of our faith. The perfect king, the perfect priest, the perfect prophet, the one true leader who has no shortcomings, who's never failed, who's never been cruel, who is perfectly righteous in every way. His rule never ends. That's why we believe in him. Yeah, it's discouraging when Christian leaders fall and fail. It's painful when our friends, our fellow church members, and Christians discourage us and fail. This is why we constantly go to Christ. In Him, there's nothing discouraging. He is perfect. He is the one true God who invites us to worship Him in the one true way. That is by faith, seeking to be obedient. That's why this morning we leave. I pray you'll be challenged. What kind of idols are in my life? What am I grumbling about? How can I trust the one God to save me rather than trying to figure out how I can manipulate Him with silly oaths or deals that I make to God? How can I be more faithful and obedient to trust Him? And how can I look up to the one Christ The One who died for my sin to make a perfect atonement. The One who's risen again. The One who is at the right hand of the Father with all authority. How can I trust Him? Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You, Lord, for Your kindness. We thank You, Lord, that we can know You. We can trust You. We thank You, Jesus, that You are not like all the other men of Scripture, and especially You are not like us. And that You You have no sin. We thank You that You're perfect. We thank You, Lord, that Your sacrifice was perfect, that You paid the penalty for our sin, that You've risen to give us new life. Now help us, Lord, to rejoice greatly in that life. In Your name we pray. Amen.