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Willing to Sacrifice What? - Judges 10:17-11:40

Sermon Series: In Need of a Greater Rescue

Last week we worked our way through Judges 10:6-16. In those verses we saw the expected pattern of the OT book of Judges picking back up after the Abimelech narrative: the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of Lord (10:6), God gave the Israelites into the hands of their enemies (10:7), and the Israelites cried out to God as a result of their oppression and distress (10:10,15). The next part of the pattern that we begin to anticipate is God responding in compassion and mercy and raising up a deliverer for the Israelites to rescue them out of the hands of their oppressors - but in this week's narrative this isn't exactly what we find! In fact we discovered some unexpected answers and responses from God in last week’s text. In 10:11-14 God responded to Israel’s initial cry for help this way, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” God reminded the Israelites that He had acted compassionately and mercifully in the past, but they had not responded to His compassion and mercy with their own faithfulness. Instead, Israel used their seasons of freedom and good fortune to turn their backs on God and to worship the gods of the surrounding nations. So God told Israel that He wasn’t going to save them any longer. The Israelites cried out to God again and this time added to their cry the act of putting away their foreign gods and returning to “serve” Yahweh once again. Then the text ended with that difficult last phrase in verse 16, “and He [God] became impatient over the efforts [or ‘misery’] of Israel.” We spent some time discussing the different translations of the Hebrew word that was used, which could either be translated “misery” (as it is in most English texts) or “efforts.” Many of the editors of English Bibles have chosen the word “misery,” most likely because this verse immediately precedes the narrative of another judge/deliverer. But I argued that based on context I thought “efforts” was a better translation. One reason was that God had not accepted their words of confession as sincere and genuine. It appeared that the Israelites’ confession was a means of attempting to manipulate God, and God saw through their selfish motives and intentions. A second reason was that God just stated that He would save Israel no more. For the author and narrator to then turn around and say that God became impatient over Israel’s misery seems to be inconsistent. So I argued that when the Israelites were putting away their foreign gods and returning to serve Yahweh that their actions and efforts were not genuine and sincere, but rather additional attempts to manipulate God and get Him to respond favorably to their requests. The Israelites’ insincere efforts to manipulate Him was what He was probably growing impatient with and was more consistent with the context of the text.

I would argue that we have even more evidence to support “efforts” as the better translation moving forward with our examination of the book of Judges this week. Let’s put ourselves in the mindset of the expected pattern of the book of Judges once again. The Israelites do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, God gives the Israelites into the hands of their enemies, Israel cries out to God as a result of their distress – and then what do we typically see? God raising up and appointing a deliverer/judge to lead the Israelites out of their oppression and distress. The next part of the pattern in the book of Judges is that God takes the initiative and is active in raising up and appointing a deliverer. But when we turn our attention to the Jephthah narrative we are going to discover that this important element is completely missing. God hasn’t grown impatient with their “misery” and raised up a deliverer/judge, God has grown impatient with their empty efforts and has refused to raise up and appoint a deliverer/judge. “Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah. And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, ‘Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead’” (10:17-18). When God doesn’t raise up a deliverer/judge for the Israelites, the Israelites take the responsibility into their own hands and seek to appoint one. And this absence and silence of God at the end of chapter 10 sets the expectation that He is going to be largely absent from and silent in the narrative of Jephthah in chapter 11.

In 11:1-3 we are introduced to a new character by the name of Jephthah. In those verses we learn several things about him. He was a mighty warrior; He was a Gileadite man based on his father’s lineage (who was also named Gilead), but he wasn’t fully accepted as a part of his father’s family because his mother was a prostitute (not his father’s wife). His father, Gilead was married and his wife had given birth to several sons, who were half-brothers to Jephthah. When those half-brothers grew up and got older they drove Jephthah out of their city to the land of Tob so that they would not have to share their inheritance with him, and there Jephthah associated with and apparently led a band of criminal type men.

In 11:4-11 we get the impression that Jephthah is a skilled communicator. We learn that the Ammonites had made war against Israel, and that the elders of Gilead had remained unsuccessful in finding an individual to lead them against the Ammonites. So the author and narrator tells us that the elders of Gilead went to Tob in order to recruit Jephthah as their military commander. “. . . the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. And they said to Jephthah, ‘Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites’” (11:5-6). A subtle change has taken place in this portion of the text that often goes undetected. The promise of the Gileadite leaders had changed. In 10:18 they had promised that whoever led them against the Ammonites would be “head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” The Hebrew word suggests a role like a king, or president. In 11:6 the Gileadites offered to make Jephthah their ‘leader’ if he would come and lead them against the Ammonites. The Hebrew word here suggests a lesser role than a king – more like a military commander. Jephthah, however, perceived their desperation and reminded them of the way they drove him out of his father’s house. Then he changed the terms of the agreement on them, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head” (11:9). Jephthah bargained for more than a role as a military commander. He told them that if he agreed to their pleas and if he returned and had success over the Ammonites, that he wanted to be put in a kingly position. Then in verse 10 the elders of Gilead consented and Jephthah returned with them to face the Ammonites.

According to the text it doesn’t appear that Jephthah wasted any time getting to business. Building off his successful negotiations with the elders of Gilead the author and narrator tells us that Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to begin negotiations with him. Jephthah began by asking the king of the Ammonites a question, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” (11:12). The king of the Ammonites responded to Jephthah’s question saying, “Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably” (11:13). [This accusation is completely false however. The Ammonites had never been in possession of this particular portion of land. It is more likely that this king was wanting to take possession of more land and establish more concrete boundaries, which these rivers would have provided. As one commentator suggested, “The Ammonite’s claim is based more on wishful thinking than on historical reality.”] So this appears to be the basis for the confrontation that is taking place between the Ammonites and the Gileadites. The present king of Ammon believes that when the Israelites fled from Egypt during the Exodus that they took possession of land that belonged to the Ammonites and now the Ammonites had come to reclaim it from the Gileadite clan which was inhabiting that particular area of land. In the verses that follow Jephthah lays out a very logical, multi-faceted, sophisticated argument refuting the Ammonite king’s claim.

Jephthah begins his negotiations with a “historical argument” in 11:15-22. He tells the king of the Ammonites that when the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt and came to the wilderness they sought permission to pass through the lands belonging to Edom and Moab, but neither king granted them permission. So rather than passing through their lands they traveled around their lands, and while they encamped near the particular portion of land currently under dispute they had not actually set up camp in that land. At the time the particular porition of land under dispute was in the possession of the Amorites. So Israel sought permission from the king of the Amorites (king Sihon) to pass through the Amorite land so that they might enter into the Promise Land. King Sihon did not trust the Israelites though, so he refused to let the Israelites pass through their land and instead gathered the Amorites together to go to war with Israel. Jephthah then tells the Ammonite king that God chose to give Sihon and the Amorites into the hands of the Israelites and that it was at that time that the land came into Israel’s possession. So from Jephthah’s perspective, the Ammonites had never historically held possession of that land. Israel had acquired possession of that portion of land from the Amorites, not the Ammonites. Therefore the king of the Ammonites could not make the claim that Israel had taken the land from them.

Jephthah followed this “historical argument” with a “theological argument” in 11:23-24. Jephthah made the argument in these verses that the land rightfully belonged to Israel because God had dispossessed the Amorites and had given the land to the Israelites. God had been the One who determined who the land should belong to and He had chosen Israel. To try to take Israelite land was to go against the determined will of God. Jephthah also suggested that the Ammonites should have chosen to be content possessing the land which their god had allotted to them.

After his “theological argument” Jephthah made a quick “personal argument” in 11:25. Jephthah asked the question of the king of the Ammonites, “Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them?” The point of Jephthah’s question here is that Balak, the king of Moab, had never attempted to go to war with Israel so that the Moabites might take their land away from them. And if Balak, the king of Moab, had never attempted something so bold, who exactly did the king of the Ammonites think he was? If he was no greater than Balak he certainly had no business attempting to take their land.

The last argument that Jephthah made was a “timing argument” in 11:26. In this verse Jephthah declares that Israel has been living in this portion of land for the past 300 years. So he asked the king of the Ammonites (if the Israelites had indeed taken the land from them) why had it taken 300 years for the Ammonites to respond and seek to take the land back - that seemed like an excessive amount of time to wait. Jephthah then concluded his argument in verse 27 summarizing the implications of his arguments – the impending battle wasn’t the result of the Israelites’ sin against the Ammonites, but the result of the Ammonites wrongly pursuing and engaging the Israelites in battle.

In 11:4-11 we got the impression that Jephthah was a skilled communicator because he successfully negotiated terms with the elders of Gilead and got what he was hoping to acquire – he was brought back into Gilead and was given a position over all the people. In 11:12-27 Jephthah continues to impress the reader by using a very logical, multi-faceted, and sophisticated argument with the king of the Ammonites. He presents five very sound arguments that seem difficult to refute. But unfortunately Jephthah didn’t experience the success that he had earlier experienced with the elders of Gilead. The author and narrator tells us in verse 28, “But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.” Jephthah got a response, but this time it wasn’t a positive response like he had gotten from the elders of Gilead, this time it was a negative response.

Although God had been both silent and absent from the narrative up to this point in the text, He makes a surprising appearance in 11:29, “Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah . . .” It appears that God was re-engaging in the events that were transpiring to empower Jephthah (even though his position of leadership seems to have been established on his own) so that He could accomplish His own plans. Following his empowerment, Jephthah made his way through a few small portions of Israel recruiting men to go to battle with him. Then, having assembled an army, the author and narrator confronts the reader in the next two verses (11:30-31) with an unprecedented vow. “And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If You will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.’” This is the only place in the narrative that Jephthah talked directly to God and when he did, just like in his dialogues with the elders of Gilead and the king of the Ammonites, he attempted to negotiate. Jephthah wanted assurance from God that He would give the Ammonites into his hands so that he might deliver and rescue God’s people. If God would do this for Jephthah then Jephthah would, in return, offer to God as a burnt offering the first thing that came out of the doors of his home when he returned from battle.

We need to camp out here for just a little while in order to fully explain what was transpiring and what exactly Jephthah was committing to. Jephthah’s portion of the vow was to offer up to God a burnt offering – an act which required killing an animal upon an altar and then completely and fully burning it. In the OT it was always intended to be a nonhuman sacrifice (as the OT abhors the idea of human sacrifice). However, the idea that an animal would come out of the doors of Jephthah’s home to greet him upon his safe return was pretty ridiculous. So had Jephthah misspoken; or had he simply spoken to quickly? The answer is ‘no.’ What we discover in this part of the text is that Jephthah was a pagan who made a vow to the God of Israel that was highly influenced by the pagan religions of the surrounding nations. Remember what the author and narrator of the book of Judges had written in 10:6, “The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the god of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines.” Some of these nations (particularly the Moabites – see 2 Kings 3:26-27) involved themselves in the practice of child sacrifice. So what the reader sees Jephthah doing is mixing into his vow with Yahweh a pagan practice that he thought would bring pleasure to God and assure his victory over the Ammonites. Jephthah was so intent on achieving victory, on delivering the Israelites, and on maintaining his position of power and authority that he was willing to sacrifice his own child. Instead of offering his child as a sacrifice to God (for which there is no OT precedent), it may have been more appropriate for him to offer the inhabitants of the cities which he conquered. (We find a text in Numbers 21:2-3 which says, “And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.’ And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction.”) Be sure to note that immediately following Jephthah’s vow God is silent. God didn’t give Jephthah a positive or a negative response – He gave no response at all. So it’s important to notice that Jephthah’s negotiating skills seem to just get worse and worse. The elders of Gilead responded to his negotiations positively, the king of the Ammonites responded to his negotiations negatively, and when it comes to his negotiations with God, God didn’t respond at all.

With no response from God Jephthah proceeded anyway to engage the Ammonites in battle. And amazingly the author and narrator tells us that “the Lord gave them into his hand. And He [God] struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel” (11:32-33). When it came to delivering the Israelites, God had compassionately and mercifully stepped into the narrative to deliver His people. But be sure to note this – for the remainder of chapter 11, which deals with the carrying out of the vow made by Jephthah, God was both silent and uninvolved. God did not play a part in a vow that He abhorred. The author and narrator of Judges tells us that Jephthah returned home and that his one and only child, his daughter, was the first to come out of the doors of his home, dancing in celebration. Jephthah immediately realized what this meant, but he showed no concern at all for his daughter – only for himself. “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me” (11:35). Jephthah had three options at this point. He could have backed out of his vow with God. In doing so he would have brought a curse upon himself, but he would have at least spared his innocent daughter. A second option for him would have been for him to carry out the instructions in Leviticus 27:1-8. In those verses we find that an individual could make a monetary offering to the priest that corresponded to the value of an individual’s life. The monetary gift would be received in exchange for the person. And the third option for Jephthah was to carry out his vow as he had originally declared it. To have broken the vow would have meant a curse on him and to have carried out the instructions of Leviticus would have resulted in monetary loss – both of which would have affected him. But to fulfill the vow as he had declared would not effect him – only his daughter. And this seems to be the direction Jephthah intended to go. In stark contrast to her father’s extreme self-centeredness, his daughter responded not looking to her own self interest (like her father had continually done), but encouraged him to act in integrity and to carry out his vow. The only thing Jephthah’s daughter asked of him was for him to give her two months for her to go with her friends into the mountains that they might weep for her virginity. The reason she asked this request is unclear to modern readers. We know that dying without children was considered a terrible fate, so this was probably the greatest reason for her sadness. But what was clear were two things. First, it was the daughter’s friends who mourned with and for her, while Jephthah only seemed to mourn for himself. And second, the author gave no account of any memorials that were put in place to remember Jephthah as judge and deliverer, while there was one established for his daughter.

For this deliverer, everything was about his own power, his own glory, and his own self-interest. It stands out in his negotiations with the elders of Gilead and with the king of the Ammonites. But the climax of this narrative and where Jephthah’s own self-interest stands out above everything else is in the verses that recount the vow that Jephthah made. He wanted God to use him to deliver Israel, he wanted God to assure the victory, and he wanted God to bring him back safely so that he could continue to rule and reign. But he was unwilling to surrender himself, to sacrifice himself, or to pledge his own life for the good of those he was trying to save. Instead he offered the life of another – his one and only daughter. Hearing this vow makes us cringe. How could this man be so willing to offer up the life of his only daughter? This isn’t the behavior of a hero, it’s the behavior of an incredibly selfish person. Could it really be true that his position, his power, his rule, his authority, his name, and his fame were more important to him than his very own daughter? This can’t really define what a deliverer is like can it? And the answer is “absolutely not!” God wanted the Israelites (just as He wants us to see) to see Jephthah’s shortcomings and failures and to understand that they needed more. They needed a Deliverer whose life would serve a greater purpose than simply setting us free and securing his own greatness. God had promised them such a Deliverer. And the incredible news of the gospel is that this is who we have in Jesus! When Jesus came to be the ultimate deliverer, He wasn’t concerned about His own power, His own glory, or His own self-interest. And when Jesus came to be the ultimate deliverer He didn’t put someone else’s life on the line – He put His own on the line. Jesus pledged and sacrificed His own life to rescue and deliver His people so that God’s promise would be fulfilled, so that God’s plan of redemption and reconciliation would be carried out, and so that God’s name would become great and glorious. It’s amazing because death was a certain part of God’s plan. The Bible teaches that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), so death could not be left out in God’s rescue plan. Our sin left us deserving physical death in this present life and spiritual death for all eternity as we would have to remain eternally separated from our perfectly righteous and holy God. Death could not be avoided. But by God’s amazing plan He sent His Son Jesus to be our Rescuer – and what that meant was that in order to rescue us from the death that we deserved Jesus was going to have to become our substitute. He couldn’t preserve and secure His own life – He was going to have to sacrifice it in order to save ours. And that’s what Jesus did. As the Deliverer sent by God to rescue us from our greatest enemy and captor, Jesus didn’t offer up another person's life, but gave His own. And God is calling on us to recognize the uniqueness of Jesus' sacrifice and death on our behalf as His means for our salvation. You and I aren’t perfectly righteous and holy people – we have messed up and acted in disobedience to God. We have loved and treasured other things more than we have God. The Bible calls those things sin and it tells us that we are both helpless and hopeless to do anything to rescue ourselves from sin’s consequences. And now God is asking us to do a couple of things. First He asks us to acknowledge that we are sinners. Then He asks us to recognize our need for rescue and deliverance from that sin. He then asks us to believe that Jesus is the only One who can rescue us and that He did all that was required to rescue us when He died on the cross and rose again. And then He asks us to turn from our sinful desires and behavior and to fully surrender our lives to Jesus by following after Him. The promise of God to us when we do these things is that He will not longer look on us as sinners separated from Him, but that He sees our sin penalty as paid in full and sees us in the same light that He sees His own Son. This is what it means to trust in Christ and have the assurance of God’s salvation. And this is what God is calling us to.

What about those who have already trusted in Christ as Savior and Lord, what application does this text have for us? This text teaches us an incredible lesson concerning service and leadership. We are all called to serve God and all have opportunities to serve God. So we have to look at Jephthah’s life and ask God to protect us from some of the common pitfalls he fell into. We have to understand that serving (and positions of leadership) aren’t for our own selfish desires. We don’t serve to make our own names great. We don’t serve or lead with the motivation of protecting and securing our position. And we don’t serve only when it’s not costly to us – while we wait for others to do the costly service. Serving God is about carrying out His plans and making His name great. Sometimes that’s going to be costly. Sometimes that’s going to be messy. But even when that’s the case our commitment is to Him and His glory – not our own comfort, ease, or our own glory. Men this is incredibly true for all of us who are husbands and fathers in particular. Our headship within our own families is all about sacrificing our personal advantage for the well-being of others. This doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing yourself to give them more material things and making their lives more comfortable. Often times it means sacrificing yourself and your own self interests in order to help them grow in Christ and in their own sanctification. God has called us to God-honoring, God-glorifying, God-centered service – can you describe your service this way?  And what are you willing to sacrifice?

Connection Point Questions for Discussion:

1. Have you ever experienced a time when you felt like someone sacrificed your name, career, position, etc. in order to help himself benefit or advance?  Or can you remember a time when perhaps you sacrificed someone else's name, career, position, etc. in order to help yourself benefit or advance?  Would you be willing to share with us a little bit about that experience?

2. Give some examples of ways individuals hurt others in order to promote and/or advance themselves.  What might be some reasons that people in our culture would be so prone to do these things?  

3. Is sacrificing ourself for the sake of others difficult, and if so, why?  What are some ways that we sacrifice ourselves for others and how do they benefit from that?  Do we ever sacrifice ourselves for the sake of helping others grow in their relationship with Christ and in their sanctification?  What are some ways that we can do this?

4. Why is the self-sacrifice of Jesus on behalf such good and encouraging news?  How can we begin to look for opportunities in the news and current events to share this good news with others?

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