Our Judge this morning, Jepthah, made the hall of faith in Hebrews 11:32, And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets." What overtakes this passage is a vow that Jepthah makes to God.
Jephthah’s vow and its outcome. The coming of the Spirit on Jephthah. It leads predictably to the decisive victory in v 33. But that sequence is interrupted in this case by a vow (30–31), and once made it dominates the whole episode. The battle receives only cursory treatment, its chief interest being that it creates the conditions in which Jephthah will have to fulfil his vow.
Vows, as such, were not unusual (e.g. Nu. 30; Ps. 22:25; Ec. 5:4–5). But this was no ordinary vow. It explicitly pledged a burnt offering (31b) but did not specify the victim, only the means by which it would be identified: ‘whatever [or whoever] comes out … ’ (31a). The wording was ambiguous, and put all the inhabitants of Jephthah’s house at risk. To our horror, and his, it was his virgin daughter, his only child, who became the victim (34–35), and the real tragedy is that such a vow was totally unnecessary (as previous episodes have shown). In context it can be seen as nothing other than a mistaken attempt to bargain with God. Jephthah the master negotiator overplayed his hand and paid a tragic price. The second half of this episode reads like a grim inversion of Gn. 22, the story of another father and another only child. But Jephthah was no Abraham, and in his case there was no voice from heaven, only a punishing silence. We can only conclude that the Lord was as angry with Jephthah’s vow as he was with Israel’s ‘repentance’. Cf. the action of the king of Moab in 2 Ki. 3:26–27. It is worth considering how often modern prayers contain elements of bargaining with God. Jephthah’s example makes it clear that God is not to be bargained with in this way. Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition. Rev. ed. of: The new Bible commentary. 3rd ed. / edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970. (4th ed.) (Jdg 11:29). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.
There are commentators that attempt to explain that Jepthah's daughter was not sacrificed as a burnt offering, but that she remained a virgin and served at the temple all her life. If this is the case, as we would all hope for, then verse 40 really does not make sense when we read "that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite."
Regardless, be careful of the vows you make to people and especially to God. Jesus HIMSELF warns us about our words in Matt 12:36, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment." OUR WORDS MEAN SOMETHING DON'T THEY! Our Words contain power! Please don't take what I just said out of context, I am not a name it and claim it or believe it and receive it...faith in faith follower) God IS THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN NAME IT AND CLAIM IT! God spoke in decrees at the creation...you and I cannot do that. If I want light in a dark room I still have to flip a switch:) God's Words are all powerful! God simply spoke the Universe into existence, repeatedly in Genesis we see the words "God said" and it happened!
Gen 1:3--Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Gen 1:6--Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
Gen 1:9--Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
Gen 1:11--Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
Gen 1:14--Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;
Gen 1:20--Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”
Gen 1:24--Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
Gen 1:26--Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Paul talking about the Word of God to save sinners refers to Gen 1:3, we see this in 2 Cor. 4:6 where he teaches "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
It is astonishing when you consider how many ways God has labored to communicate with HIS children...it is mind blowing! We know that the heavens declare the glory of God from Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. So God communicates to us through HIS creation. We have the Written Word that God placed in the hands of HIS children. We learn from the author of Hebrews writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that, (Heb:1-4) God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
The culmination of God the Fathers desire to communicate HIS glory and love to HIS creatures, those created in HIS image, reached its apex in the sending of HIS only begotten Son. This is what we witness in the opening verses of the gospel of John...the Word made flesh. God the Son dwells among HIS people, Immanuel, God with us.
Sometimes the Bible refers to the Son of God as “the Word of God.” In Revelation 19:13, John sees the risen Lord Jesus in heaven and says, “The name by which he is called is The Word of God.” Similarly, in the beginning of John’s gospel we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). It is clear that John is speaking of the Son of God here, because in verse 14 he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” These verses (and perhaps 1 John 1:1) are the only instances where the Bible refers to God the Son as “the Word” or “the Word of God,” so this usage is not common. But it does indicate that among the members of the Trinity it is especially God the Son who in his person as well as in his words has the role of communicating the character of God to us and of expressing the will of God for us. Grudem, W. A. (1994). Systematic theology : An introduction to biblical doctrine (47). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.
Jesus faithfully and beautifully communicates the love of God to the World...and implores us to have eyes to see and ears to hear. How tragic for those Jesus came to and comes to every day that reject HIM as we see in John 1:10-13 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
The beautiful news is that "as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Jesus is God, has always been God, will always be God...JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY, THE ONLY WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE.
This is going to sound harsh...ALL ROADS DO LEAD TO GOD, ONLY ONE ROAD LEADS TO HIM AS ABBA, FATHER AND ETERNAL LIFE...EVERY OTHER ROAD TO HIM LEADS TO HIS WRATH AND ETERNAL FALMES AND TORMENT.
Mark that is a hard teaching...maybe...REMEMBER THE EXTENT GOD THE FATHER HAS GONE TO TO COMMUNICATE HIS WILL TO US, TO THE POINT OF TAKING UP RESIDENCE IN HIS CHILDREN IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Some will say if God is a loving God, how can HE send anyone to hell? The real question is if God is a Holy God, and HE is, how is it possible for a sinner like me to enter HIS presence? It is possible only through the blood of HIS only begotten Son, Immanuel, God with us!
Father in heaven,
enable me to live in a manner worth of the calling, enable me to walk and live in a manner that is pleasing to YOU and YOU alone!
love,
m