The story of Jephthah just might be a cautionary tale to the overzealous.
To a father of a daughter, this is one of the saddest passages in scripture:
"And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin." Judges 11:38-39
The story of Jephthah and his daughter is one of those that haunts me. Yet, another story that doesn't make the flannel board. How would we explain it to the kiddies? I'm sure it would put an end to those who ran out to greet their daddy when he came home from work.
Jephthah is rejected by his own family and then remembered and called up when they're in desperate need. He is made the leader on condition that he gets them out of the trouble they're in. It's the story of Israel and the Lord in microcosm.
But then, in what I take to be Jephthah's zeal to be victorious and honor god, he makes a vow that if the Lord gives him victory, then he will sacrifice the first thing that comes out the door to meet him when he returns home after battle.
His daughter welcomes him. His one and only child.
First of all, what curious promise to offer up on Jephthah's part. Second, if he was doing this to honor God, why didn't God have something or someone less precious run out to greet him? I vote for the family cat. The mother-in-law? A bill collector who just happened to be in the neighborhood and was knocking on Jephthan's door. But, no, it's his daughter. Is this a test or a punishment? What was in his heart?
Let's compare the story of Jepthah and his daughter to Abraham and Isaac. Jephthah makes a rash, rather odd oath that results in the sacrifice of his one and only child. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Both father's are willing to do it. In the case of the two children, Jephthah's daughter actually knows she is to be sacrificed and willingly yields. Based on the question he asks his father, you wonder how much Isaac actually knows what is about to happen. But the most significant difference between the two stories is that Jephthah actually kills his daughter. The Lord stops Abraham and offers a means of escape. So, tell me, who has the greater faith here? The one who follows through? Why wasn't Jephthah and his daughter offered a means of escape?
Some make the case that the sacrifice of his daughter was all Jephthah's doing. Jephthah made the rash vow and he honored it. Did God require him to honor it? Or was the death of his daughter just the work of an overzealous follower? Isn't killing your daughter a greater sin than breaking the vow would have been?
My answer, my comfort, my confidence in all of this is I have not read the conclusion to all of this. God is still writing His story. What I read here leaves too much out. The final word will be read in the next life. We shall see clearly then. The 67th book of the Bible will be handed out in heaven and we will all say "Ahhhhhhh, now I get it. Thank you, God. I had no idea."
Now, for a bit of comic relief, or as much comic relief as the death of 42,000 can privide, look at the story that the NIV humorously titles "Shibboleth or Sibboleth." [Judges 12:4-6] The scene soulds like a Monty Python skit. What emerges from this battle is a victory for Gilead...and a case for really good diction.
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