Jephthah and His Vow
Judges 10:6-18; 11:1-40
INTRODUCTION: This is the fifth oppression and deliverance in the book of Judges and things keep getting worse.
q Now Israel is serving all the gods of the surrounding people but not their own God (10:6)
q This time the Lord initially refuses to send help, telling them to get help from the gods they serve (10:13-14)
q The deliverer is not of noble birth (as Othniel) or even the least of his family (as Gideon). The deliverer is the son of an harlot who has been rejected by his own family (11:1-3)
q The victory over the Ammonites is tainted by the offering of Jephthah’s daughter (11:31, 39)
q Jephthah judges Israel for only six years (12:7). Compare this to the forty years of Gideon (Judges 8:28).
Time is definitely running short (compare 2 Kings 10:32). The personal application is evident. How long can a person play games with God and get by with it? He is very gracious, but at some point His grace runs short.
I. THE OPPRESSION OF THE AMMONITES (10:6-18)
A. The Disobedience of the Israelites (v.6-9)
1. Serving everyone’s god but their own (v.6)
2. Inciting the Lord to anger against them (v.7)
3. Bringing Gilead into 18 years of Ammonite oppression (v.8) – Gilead is the land on the east side of the Jordan roughly parallel to the land of Galilee on the west side of Jordan.
4. Facing an army of Ammonites crossing the Jordan (v.9)
B. The Lord’s Initial Answer to Israel (v.10-14)
1. Israel cries unto the Lord (v.10)
2. The Lord recalls previous deliverances (v.11-12)
3. The Lord refuses to offer help this time (v.13-14)
4. NOTE: It is a dangerous thing to play games with God. We may be able to always return unto the Lord, but that does not mean the return will be as easy. Continued rejection of God’s grace will result in a more difficult return to the place of peace and blessing.
C. The Continued Cry of the Israelites (v.15-18)
1. They continue to seek the Lord (v.15-16)
a. They further confess their sins (v.15)
b. They submit to God’s judgment (v.15)
c. They put away their strange gods (v.16)
d. They return to serve the Lord (v.16)
e. God’s soul was grieved for their misery (v.16)
2. They prepare for battle with Ammon (v.17)
3. They seek one to lead their army (v.18)
D. NOTE: The Ammonites: Descendants of Ammon, the son of Lot and his youngest daughter. Closely related to the Moabites, the descendants of Lot’s eldest daughter. Located east of the Jordan, north and east of Moab, between the Arnon and Jabbok Rivers. Worshipped Molech. Capital city was Rabbah. Rehoboam’s mother (Solomon’s wife) was an Ammonite. Israelites of the Return sinned in marrying Ammonites (Nehemiah 13:23-27). The doom of Ammon was prophesied (Ezekiel 25:5, 10; Zephaniah 2:9).
II. THE CHOICE OF JEPHTHAH (11:1-11)
A. The Early Life of Jephthah (v.1-3)
1. The son of an harlot (v.1)
2. A mighty man of valor (v.1)
3. An outcast from his father’s house (v.2)
4. A leader of a band of vain men (v.3)
B. The Elders of Gilead Call for Jephthah (v.4-8)
1. They seek out Jephthah to be their captain (v.4-6)
2. They answer Jephthah’s complaint with promises (v.7-8)
C. Gilead Promises Rulership to Jephthah (v.9-11)
III. JEPHTHAH’S MESSAGE TO AMMON (11:12-28)
A. An Argument Concerning Land (v.12-13); NOTE: It is still an argument over who owns the land
B. A History of the Conquest (v.14-22) – Jephthah’s Argument
1. Israel did not take the land (v.14-15)
2. Israel bypassed Edom and Moab to keep peace (v.16-18)
3. Israel made the same offer to Ammon (v.19)
4. Sihon of the Ammonites chose to fight Israel (v.20)
5. But the Lord delivered Ammon to Israel (v.21-22)
C. The Right of Possession (v.23-26)
1. What God has given will not be surrendered (v.23)
2. The children of Ammon would do the same (v.24)
3. Others have failed and you will too (v.25)
4. Why wait three hundred years to make your claim? (v.26)
D. The War Goes On (v.27-28)
1. Jephthah leaves it to God to be Judge (v.27)
2. The king of Ammon refused to listen (v.28)
IV. JEPHTHAH’S VOW AND VICTORY (11:29-33)
A. Jephthah Goes to Battle (v.29)
1. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him
2. He goes out to meet the children of Ammon
B. Jephthah Makes a Foolish Vow (v.30-31)
1. The vow to be fulfilled upon Israel’s deliverance (v.30)
2. The first to meet him to be made a burnt offering (v.31)
3. A vow was a solemn oath. One of the worse things any Israelite could do was to break a vow. (Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Joshua 9:18-19; Ecclesiastes 5:4-5)
C. Jephthah Defeats the Ammonites (v.32-33)
V. THE OFFERING OF JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER (11:34-40)
A. Jephthah’s Daughter Meets Her Father (v.34-35)
1. She meets him with timbrels and dances (v.34)
2. She is his only child (v.34)
3. Her father repents that he made such a vow (v.35)
B. Jephthah’s Daughter Bewails Her Virginity (v.36-38)
1. His daughter encourages him to keep his vow (v.36)
2. His daughter requests a time to mourn her virginity (v.37)
3. She spends two months in the mountains (v.38)
C. Jephthah Fulfills His Vow (v.39-40)
1. Jephthah did to his daughter as he had vowed (v.39)
2. The daughters of Israel yearly lament his daughter (v.40)
3. NOTE: We are revolted by the thought that an Israelite would offer his daughter in a human sacrifice to fulfill a vow to the Lord. Many have tried to find another way – making Jephthah’s daughter a perpetual virgin. However, the text only allows for an actual sacrifice. His vow is that he will offer whatever greeted him first for a “burnt offering” (v.31). He probably assumed he would be greeted by a pet animal. He did not count on his daughter being the first out of the door. So, how could he offer his daughter? This is another illustration (of which there are many in Judges) which shows what happens when every man does that which is right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The next judge (Samson) will be another example of this principle.
CONCLUSION: Our words and actions often have far-reaching results. How many times can we rebel against the Lord? What are the limits of His patience with us? What word will get us into the deepest trouble with Him and others? We must walk soberly, as in the day and not in the night.
MEMORY VERSES:
q James 4:7 – Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
q Judges 21:25 – In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
q Ecclesiastes 5:5 – Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
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Antioch Baptist Church Knoxville, Tennessee