Day 22: Jephthah
Judges 11:1 - 12:7
- Jephthah was a mighty warrior. However, his mother was a prostitute and his half brothers kicked him out of the family because of this.
- sometime later, the Ammonites went to war with Israel and the elders of Gilead (Gilead was his father) came to him asking for his help.
- Jephthah's response was typical, "You guys kicked me out and now you want me to help you? Isn't there something wrong with this picture?"
- basically, they offered to make him the head of the Gilead family if he went to fight with them as their commander (he must have been some warrior).
- so Jephthah agreed and contacted the Ammonite king. He wanted the territory back that he had before the Israelites came out of Egypt and conquered for themselves. But Jephthah explained that they didn't conquer the land. They only wanted to pass through but were attacked by the Amorites and as a result, God handed them over to the Israelites as well as their land. On top of that, they had occupied it for like 300 years so he didn't see why the Ammorites would suddenly be interested now.
- But the king ignored his message.
- So it says that the "Spirit of the LORD" came upon Jephthah (like the Holy Spirit?) and he made a vow that if the Lord gave him victory over the Ammorites, he would offer the first thing that came out of his house upon his return as a sacrifice to God.
- God gave him victory and when he returned home, his only daughter was the first one out to greet him. He was devestated but what is surprising is how well his daughter took it. She knew that her father made a promise to God and that was more important than anything: including her life.
- after a period of two months, during which she wept because she would never marry, she was sacrificed to God.
- the men of Ephraim were jealous of Jephthah's victory and wanted to cause trouble because they were not able to take part in the defeat of the Ammonites. Apparently, Jephthah did call them but they didn't answer so he went on without them. So the Gileadites and Ephraimites fought and 42,000 Ephraimites were killed. In order for them to determine if they were Ephraimites, they would ask them to say "Shibboleth" because they could not pronounce the silent 'h' and instead would say "Sibboleth".
- Jephthah led Israel for six years.
A couple interesting things about this passage. Often times I say things to God like, "If you help me get through this difficult time, I'll do whatever you ask of me." Many times I've said to God, "If you help me get into medicine, I promise to do as much medical missions work as possible and to live very simply and give my money to people I know who need the support." In Jephthah's case, I guess the lesson is to be careful what you promise God because He will hold you to it.
Jephthah's daughter is also an inspiring story. I don't think I would have been as willing as she was to die for her father. I mean, I would have been angry. "Why would you make such a stupid promise dad? Did you think a calf or lamb was going to walk through our front door? What did you think was going to happen?" But she went along with it because of what the Lord had done for them.
Another interesting note is that Jephthah is mentioned in the faith chapter of Hebrews along with others like Barak, Gideon, David, Samuel and Samson.
- Jephthah was a mighty warrior. However, his mother was a prostitute and his half brothers kicked him out of the family because of this.
- sometime later, the Ammonites went to war with Israel and the elders of Gilead (Gilead was his father) came to him asking for his help.
- Jephthah's response was typical, "You guys kicked me out and now you want me to help you? Isn't there something wrong with this picture?"
- basically, they offered to make him the head of the Gilead family if he went to fight with them as their commander (he must have been some warrior).
- so Jephthah agreed and contacted the Ammonite king. He wanted the territory back that he had before the Israelites came out of Egypt and conquered for themselves. But Jephthah explained that they didn't conquer the land. They only wanted to pass through but were attacked by the Amorites and as a result, God handed them over to the Israelites as well as their land. On top of that, they had occupied it for like 300 years so he didn't see why the Ammorites would suddenly be interested now.
- But the king ignored his message.
- So it says that the "Spirit of the LORD" came upon Jephthah (like the Holy Spirit?) and he made a vow that if the Lord gave him victory over the Ammorites, he would offer the first thing that came out of his house upon his return as a sacrifice to God.
- God gave him victory and when he returned home, his only daughter was the first one out to greet him. He was devestated but what is surprising is how well his daughter took it. She knew that her father made a promise to God and that was more important than anything: including her life.
- after a period of two months, during which she wept because she would never marry, she was sacrificed to God.
- the men of Ephraim were jealous of Jephthah's victory and wanted to cause trouble because they were not able to take part in the defeat of the Ammonites. Apparently, Jephthah did call them but they didn't answer so he went on without them. So the Gileadites and Ephraimites fought and 42,000 Ephraimites were killed. In order for them to determine if they were Ephraimites, they would ask them to say "Shibboleth" because they could not pronounce the silent 'h' and instead would say "Sibboleth".
- Jephthah led Israel for six years.
A couple interesting things about this passage. Often times I say things to God like, "If you help me get through this difficult time, I'll do whatever you ask of me." Many times I've said to God, "If you help me get into medicine, I promise to do as much medical missions work as possible and to live very simply and give my money to people I know who need the support." In Jephthah's case, I guess the lesson is to be careful what you promise God because He will hold you to it.
Jephthah's daughter is also an inspiring story. I don't think I would have been as willing as she was to die for her father. I mean, I would have been angry. "Why would you make such a stupid promise dad? Did you think a calf or lamb was going to walk through our front door? What did you think was going to happen?" But she went along with it because of what the Lord had done for them.
Another interesting note is that Jephthah is mentioned in the faith chapter of Hebrews along with others like Barak, Gideon, David, Samuel and Samson.
Labels: Bible Characters
posted by Matt at 11:35 PM
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