Jephthah: The Bad

1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father. 2 Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when they grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will have no inheritance in our father’s family, because you are the son of another woman.” 3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Then some worthless men joined Jephthah and went on raids with him.

He was the son of a fairly prominent man name Gilead and a prostitute, but he was also a valiant warrior.

Because his mom was a prostitute, we are told he had no claim to inheritance and was forced out of the family by his brothers.

Year later though, the people of God again turned their back on God and the Ammonites started a war against them.

So the elders of Israel came to Jephthah, knowing his capabilities as a warrior, and asked him to lead them in battle.

He makes a deal with them, and takes over as the leader/Judge.

On paper, he was the perfect judge. Strong, intelligent, clever, and well-spoken.

There was only one problem: he was not very close to God.

As a matter of fact, He didn't know much about the true God at all.

His religious confusion is evident when we see his story unfold.

When the Ammonites threatened the Israelites, Jephthah tried diplomacy first.

Being a gifted communicator, he wrote up a treaty for the king of the Ammonites (Judges 11:12-20).

The king rejected his plea and declared war (Judges 11:27).

So, Israel found itself fighting another senseless battle against a stacked army.

Jephthah proved to be an astounding military leader.

He courageously marched into the battle of a lifetime.

But the the Amorite army was powerful and victory seemed impossible.

Israel realized they were overwhelmed and understaffed. In the heat of pending defeat, Jephthah swore something stupid.

Judges 11:30–31 CSB

30 Jephthah made this vow to the Lord: “If you in fact hand over the Ammonites to me, 31 whoever comes out the doors of my house to greet me when I return safely from the Ammonites will belong to the Lord, and I will offer that person as a burnt offering.”

Jephthah swore to God that whatever walked out if his door when he returned home he would sacrifice it to the Lord.

Jephthah was the son of a prostitute and as such had no chance of social significance in Israel.

He thought like everyone in the culture around him thought; that by offering a costly sacrifice to God He would help him win against the Ammonites, and then he would become powerful and influential.

But his plan backfires in an unintended way.

Judges 11:34–35 CSB

34 When Jephthah went to his home in Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no other son or daughter besides her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have devastated me! You have brought great misery on me. I have given my word to the Lord and cannot take it back.”

His only child comes dancing out the door.

If he is going to stay true to his promise, he was going to have to sacrifice her to the Lord.

There is some question to what happens next. It doesn’t specifically say Jephthah killed his daughter, but he she was given over in some way and Jephthah’s family line stopped with her.

What is also interesting about the passage is that God remains silent about the whole vow.

I don’t think God honored Jephthah’s vow and I don’t think God required him to go through with it.

Ultimately, Jephthah did not know God and so did not know the way God worked and what God valued.

Two Lessons to Learn

1) His understanding of God was shaped by his culture, not God’s word.

Sacrificing children to get things out of God was not something God EVER requires and actually CLEARLY speaks against it in earlier texts.

Deuteronomy 18:10 CSB

10 No one among you is to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire, practice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery,

But Jephthah doesn’t know this. He instead got the idea from the gods of the people. The cultural practices of the people.

He was reading the social media posts of the cultural influencers of the day.

He was following the trends and what seemed to be “working” for other people.

He was looking to the movie stars, musicians, and athletes of his day for answers to his issues.

Much like Jephthah, we are products of our culture more than we even realize.

Our culture glamorizes things that God hates.

Our culture celebrates the things that break the heart of God.

And we look at those posts without even knowing what God says about them.

Just this week I have seen people repost things about the abortion debate going on in our country.

I don’t mean this politically, but God is very clear in the bible about the value of all of life and when it begins.

I know there are nuances to the discussion, but are we giving God’s a say in the decisions we make and the things we believe, or are we letting culture decide what is true and right?

2) He didn’t know the true character of God and his grace.

He seemed to think that God needed to be manipulated just like the many other gods of his culture.

He did not know that God had already laid out in a straight forward way how to gain God’s protection and blessing: simply follow His Covenant – not by killing your own family members.

God’s silence is so important here because Jephthah is making deals with God that God never requires.

We do this too:

When something bad happens do you ever think that it happened because God was upset with you or paying you back for something you did wrong?

But God does not "pay us back" for our sins. Psalm 103:10 says, "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities."

"If I pray harder, maybe God will bless me bigger."

“If I fast for weeks, maybe God will give me what I want."

"If I promise to stop cheating, God will turn my D into an A."

"If I tithe, maybe I will win the lottery."

You don't need to earn God's favor. God is not manipulated by sacrifice, offerings, or vows.

God is pleased by faith in Jesus alone.

If he had pursued God and learned about Him, Jephthah would have found that God is full of mercy and grace.

There was no need to negotiate with Him or try to coax Him into blessing His people.

Closing Questions

Jephthah’s misunderstandings raise some key questions for us to consider.

1) How would your life be different if your understanding of God was shaped more by his word than by your culture?

2) Do you know God’s grace and mercy?

Or do you think you have to perform in order to make Him happy?

If we really understood God’s character of love and grace – we’d run as fast as we could to him. Just like Peter when he saw Jesus on the shore and jumped out of the boat to get to Jesus as fast as he could.

Forgiveness lies in the person and work of Jesus, whom we know through the revealed truth of His Word.

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