Our introduction to
Jephthah in scripture is he was a mighty man of valour, but this fact is
largely overlooked. He was a son of a
harlot, and for a season was cast out of his family but later asked to return. Like the elders of his hometown, it is high
time for the church to receive Jephthah back again as the man of faith he was. It seems most references to him in sermons are
negative, and he is touted as the poster boy of rashness, a power-hungry or even
ignorant man whose folly outweighs any virtue.
It is ironic God does not say one negative thing about Jephthah in the
Bible. In fact, the exact opposite is
true. After discussing the faith of
Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Rahab, the writer of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews
11:32-34: “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:
33 who through faith subdued
kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the violence of fire,
escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant
in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”
Of all the righteous
men and women who could have been listed in what is often called the “Hall of
Faith,” Jephthah was one selected by the Holy Spirit. We human beings tend to focus on outward faults,
but God looks upon the heart of faith in God which is accounted by Him as
righteousness. There is much to be learned
from the mistakes of others, but to relegate Jephthah to a byword when God
provides him as a prime example of faith is a massive error. Through Jephthah and especially his daughter
we are blessed with a foreshadowing of Jesus which greatly challenges and
enriches us, all for the glory of God.
Jephthah was a man of
Gilead called by men to be their captain.
He came to terms with the elders who sought his leadership and Judges
11:11 reads, “Then
Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and
commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.” Whatever Jephthah said, he spoke in the
hearing of the LORD. Regardless of what
men may contrive of Jephthah’s motives – for who among us knows fully his own
heart and it is not written – the Spirit of God came upon Jephthah (Judges 11:29). Judges 11:30-31 says, “And
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, "If You will indeed deliver the
people of Ammon into my hands, 31 then
it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I
return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I
will offer it up as a burnt offering." The verse begins with a connecting word which
continues the thought. The Spirit came
upon Jephthah, and he made a vow. There
was a clear connection between the two. It
was common for people to keep their prized animals in their homes, so this was
not as strange as you might think.
Was Jephthah rash to
make such a vow? I don’t know. But what happened after God did grant
Jephthah the victory is the part everyone remembers. After he returned from the slaughter of the enemy,
his one and only child – his precious daughter - came out to greet him celebrating
and dancing with her tambourine. When he
saw her, he immediately tore his clothes and cried out in anguish: “Alas my daughter! I have given God my word and I cannot go back
on it!” The daughter of Jephthah (her
name is not provided us in scripture) did not scold Jephthah or charge him with
wrong. Judges 11:36-38 says, “So she
said to him, "My father, if
you have given your word to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out
of your mouth, because the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the people of
Ammon." 37 Then she said to
her father, "Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months,
that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends
and I." 38 So he said,
"Go." And he sent her away for
two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the
mountains.”
Before the LORD Jephthah promised
to offer up the first thing which came out of his house as a burnt offering to
the LORD, never expecting it to be his only child whom I suspect was in her
teen years. She said, “If you have given
your word to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth.” God had fulfilled His part in the matter, and
she urged her father to do to her according to his promise. There are tears in my eyes as I consider the
faith and love of this young woman. It
is one thing to say such a thing, but the revelations in the next verse blows
me away. Judges 11:39-40 says, “And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father,
and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it
became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went
four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.”
Jephthah’s daughter came
back. Let that sink into your soul. She could have run, knowing what awaited her. Even as Isaac was bound by Abraham on the
altar on Mt. Moriah, and Abraham took up the killing knife, her father would do
to her. But this time there would be no
voice from heaven, no ram caught in the thicket. Two months earlier she said, “Do to me according to what has gone out of
your mouth.” Did you see the
difference in verse 39? After she returned, “he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed.” Dear friends, they did it together. He did not do anything “to” her; Jephthah
kept his vow before the LORD “with” her.
I wept many tears when I understood this. I see the man sobbing, weeping at his loss as
she waited bound. Perhaps as his resolve
faltered at the prospect of offering his only daughter as a sacrifice, she with
gleaming eyes guided the knife to the spot.
He had given his word to God, and it must be finished. God had not commanded human sacrifice, and
the death of any human being is not God’s will.
But this picture has been included for a divine purpose. Such a display of reverence and faith is not
easily swept aside, for it points directly to Jesus Christ.
Even as Jephthah’s daughter
returned with the knowledge she would be offered as a sacrifice, so Jesus
Christ came as the Lamb of God to be a sacrifice for sin. Jephthah’s virgin daughter bewailed her
virginity two months with her friends, and Jesus wept knowing what awaited Him
on Calvary. Hebrews 5:7-9 says of Jesus, “…who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and
supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him
from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the
author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…” Jesus was God the Father’s only begotten Son,
the One in whom He was well pleased. God
had promised a Saviour, a Messiah, and kept His word. Jephthah’s daughter was remembered four days
in Israel every year, and we remember the death of Jesus Christ when we obey
Him in celebrating Communion together.
We do not fault Abraham for binding Isaac to the
altar and picking up a knife with the intent to slay his only son in obedience to God: should we fault the faithful Jephthah for
doing the same? God doesn’t. The context makes it clear Jephthah followed
the leading of the Holy Spirit upon him in this very singular event in history which points to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. I cannot fault Jephthah with wrong before his
God before Whom he spoke and stands to this day. It appears the people at the time did not fault this man who willing to pay such a high price to keep his word to the LORD, for he remained a judge until his death. Jephthah was a valiant man, a man of
faith. When I read of his precious
daughter I see a picture of my willing Saviour, and I feel unworthy to read the
words – because I am. We all are. Who among us would demonstrate the faith of
Jephthah, his daughter, or my Saviour?
