Today I was reading in Judges chapter 11 (Judges is a great book by the way) and in that, there is a leader named Jephthah and he goes to fight the Ammonites and he makes this vow to the Lord that if he defeats them and returns home safe then he will offer up the first thing that comes out of his home to greet him up to the Lord as a burnt sacrifice- ok I don't know what he was thinking when he said that, maybe he was desperate for the Lord to help him, or maybe he thought that like, an animal would come out of the house first or something...I don't know, but I can't believe he said that- so, the story goes on and he goes and fights and the Lord brings him out on top, he goes home and his daughter, his ONLY daughter come out first, she came out singing, and he cries out to God out of sadness. -once again, I don't know why he would have said that he would sacrifice the first thing that came and greeted him but he did- so, he tells his daughter and she says that he should do what he said he would do, and she goes away to mourn and then in the end he ends up offering her up as a sacrifice to the Lord.
I read that, and I was so shocked. I couldn't believe he really did it! I was waiting for something to happen like it did with Abraham and Isaac, but, hey kept his word to the Lord. I was amazed. I read the verses a few times over (Judges 11:29-38). I think of how he kept his word, and then I can't even keep my word when I make something so small to the Lord. how sad is that.
I desire to be like Jephthah in that I keep my word when I make it, not matter how much it kills me. we should all be like that, even in the small things. we should be people of our word.
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6 comments:
I do not believe God would have allowed that to happen... at least not the way it is recorded.
A. Jones
There are several things to be learned here. I think the most important one, rather than the lesson of keeping one's word, is the lesson of being loathe to give it in the first place. I think the brutal nature of this passage accentuates the fact that Jephthath shouldn't have opened his stupid mouth. Even if his willingness to keep his word in this situation is commendable, I think it is undeniable that the sacrifice itself was not.
... Also, there is some disagreement over the true meaning of this passage: some scholars hold that Jephthath's sacrifice entailed the giving over of his daughter to God, for her to remain a virgin in His service until her death. Most of this argument hinges on the sematics of verse 39 and its supposed implications. Textual evidence for this argument, however, is a bit weak. Nonetheless, I encourage you to study it a bit further.
--johnlakemoss
Moreover, had Jephthath been a real man, he would have taken responsibility for his misplaced words and paid for the vow with his own life. Perhaps that act would have doubled as foreshadowing of the sacrifice Christ made to fulfill God's vow, the curse of death upon mankind.
yes well, as a matter of fact, when I finished reading that verse I got on the computer and started reading what other people were saying about the verse. some people said it was a true sacrifice (burn offering) and others said that it was a him committing his daughter to the Lord as a virgin forever. whether it was truly one or the other wasn't completely the point. the point was that he stuck to his word.
Cool. Yeah, this is one of the more interesting stories in the Bible. The most acceptable explanation of the text is that he offered her as a burnt offering, in which case I still say he should have payed for the vow with his own blood. And again, I think an equally important lesson to be learned from this story is that one should keep a tight reign on his tongue.
If some sacrifice was involved it was the poor daughter who paid the price. This kuncklehead made a vow that someone else had to pay. I don't think God would hold the daughter accountable in this situation. If this fellow did make the daughter honor the scarifice, whatever the sacrifice may have been, it might have been out of his own pride rather than something noble. Upon reaching heaven this matter needs to be addressed.
A. Jones
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