OASIS – Spring 2024 – April 16-17, 2024 - JUDGES: part 3 of 4 –
“Jephthah: Danger of Strong Faith with Weak Theology” – Judges 10-11
• Week 1: Overview of Judges and the account of Deborah, Judges 1-5.
• Week 2: Gideon and his struggle with DOUBT, Judges 6-8.
The book of Judges uncovers what is known as the Judges Cycle:
Cycle step 1: SIN
Cycle step 2: OPPRESSION
Cycle step 3: REPENTANCE
Cycle step 4: DELIVERANCE
Two things from last week and Gideon:
• Question about The Gideon’s – does their name come from Judges 6-7? YES!
• Question about the Ephod of Gold in Judges 8 that became a snare for Gideon:
An ephod is used as a holy garment associated with the priesthood some of the time. David wore a linen ephod when he danced before the Lord with all his might in 2 Samuel 6. But at other times in the Bible, the term is used as a pagan object of worship to other gods or is associate with idols. We see this in Judge 17:5 and Judges 18:14 and 18:17. The context of this passage would seem to be declaring Gideon's golden ephod as an idol of worship separate from the Law
Today: Jephthah: The danger of strong FAITH but weak THEOLOGY, Judges 10-11.
#1: The people of God continue to create spiritual and literal CHAOS for themselves!
Judges 10:6-10: 6 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him, 7 he became angry with them He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, 8 who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. 9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. 10 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”
• We see the first three steps of the Judges Cycle:
• Notice all the different gods the people were serving! SYNCRETISM in action!
• The period of OPPRESSION is 18 years!
#2: The Lord begins the process of DELIVERANCE, only after REPETANCE in both WORD and DEED.
Judges 10:11-18: 11 The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites (Midianites?) oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? 13 But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”
15 But the Israelites said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” 16 Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.
17 When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. 18 The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead.”
• The LORD gives another HISTORY lesson to the Israelites.
• The LORD appears to draw a line in the sand! Two phrases: “I will no longer save you;” and “Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen.”
• The LORD changes course when they both SAY and DO the right thing!
#3: Jephthah, a most unlikely leader/judge, is introduced and his resume in underwhelming at best!
Judges 11:1-3: Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. 2 Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” 3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.
• Jephthah, through no fault of his own, finds himself in a TERRIBLE life circumstance.
• Rejected by his family, Jephthah finds meaningful relationships in a less than ideal context.
o “a gang of scoundrels” = appears repeatedly in the Hebrew Scriptures (Judges 9:4; 1 Samuel 22:1-2; 2 Samuel 15:1; 1 Kings 1:5; 1 Kings
11:23-24, and 2 Chronicles 13:6-7), and usally refers to MERCENARIES for hire.
• Land of Tob = the Hebrew name means “the good land,” a common way to refer to the Promised Land in Deuteronomy. The men of Tob will eventually align with the Ammonites against David in 2 Samuel 10:6-8.
#4: Jephthah becomes LEADER/JUDGE of God’s people, but only after a time of negotiation with the elders of Gilead.
Judges 11:4-11: 4 Sometime later, when the Ammonites were fighting against Israel, 5 the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 “Come,” they said, “be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites.” 7 Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?” 8 The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head over all of us who live in Gilead.” 9 Jephthah answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me—will I really be your head?” 10 The elders of Gilead replied, “The LORD is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.” 11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.
• Who is NOT a participant in this recruitment campaign?
• What is missing from the words of these leaders?
#5: Judge Jephthah begins the process of NEGOTIATING with the Ammonite king. Judges 11:12-13: 12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?”
13 The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”
• Jephthah asks for and receives the reason for the OPPRESSION:
o “Israel took away my land and I want it back!” When Israel approached Canaan, this land was ruled by then Amorite king Sihon, who had taken it from the Moabites (Numbers 21:21-29). The Ammonites were now dominant over Moab and claimed rights to all previous Moabite territory.
• Jephthah then writes a letter to the Ammonite King in Judges 11:14-28, responding to the previous demand. His response is three-fold:
#1: Israel took this land from Amorite King Sihon, not from the Ammonites
#2: The Lord gave this land to Israel, God’s chosen people.
#3: Israel has long possessed this land.
• Jephthah adds this: “I have not wronged you, but you are doing wrong by waging war against me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide the dispute!”
#6: Jephthah rises up and leads Israel into battle, but his METHOD is flawed!
Judges 11:29-31: 29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
• Finally, we read about the LORD being actively engaged, 29 verses in!
• Jephthah makes a VOW to the LORD.
o VOW’s were a common practice in the Old Testament. Genesis 28:20 (Jacob); 1 Samuel 1:11 (Hannah); 2 Samuel 15:8 (Absalom).
o This VOW is not only FOOLISH, but it might also become EVIL!
#7: Once again, the LORD provides VICTORY for His people!
Judges 11:32-33: 32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
• A constant throughout the book of Judges, the LORD gives them victory!
#8: Jephthah’s foolish vow leads to DEVASTATING consequences!
Judges 11:34-40: 34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break.” 36 “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.” 38 “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her
as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite tradition 40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
Question: Did Jephthah actually need to keep that vow and sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering?
Here’s the point - ** Jephthah had Faith, but needed theology to help his faith grow
• Jephthah was man of great faith, but what he really needed was good theology as well, the knowledge of the word of God. This tragic human sacrifice was not needed. This vow that he had made did NOT have to be honored.
Because the Law of the Lord repeatedly condemned human sacrifice!
• Leviticus 18:21: “Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech (the god of the Ammonites), for you must not profane the name of your God.”
• Leviticus 20:2: “Any Israelite or alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death.” (And in the verses that follow, the Lord says those who sit by and watch will face serious consequences as well.)
• Deuteronomy 12:29-31: “The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
• Deuteronomy 18:9-10: “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire . . .”
The word of God in Leviticus and Deuteronomy should have gotten Jephthah off the hook from the crazy vow he made. But guess what: he didn’t know the Law! He didn’t know God’s word. And the price he paid was incredible!
Summary of the Jephthah narrative: “Theological Ignorance and Error leads to Devastating Results.”
Don’t miss this: Guess who makes his way into the FAITH Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11? Hebrews 11:32 mentions JEPHTHAH! Yep! JEPHTHAH! What does STRONG FAITH and STRONG THEOLOGY look like?
1. When I insist on STRONG Faith and Theology, the Word of God becomes alive and active
Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any doubleedged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints, and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
When you grow in your faith, the word of God will speak to you. But we must be willing to “be still and know that He is God.” (silence and solitude with scripture)
2. When I insist on STRONG Faith and Theology, I’m better prepared to defend Christianity (apologetics).
1 Peter 3:15: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
Another reason why we should grow involves being able to answer or explain your faith. If you are living the life, you will probably be asked to give an answer.
3. When I insist on STRONG Faith and Theology, I’m ready for battle
1 Peter 1:13: “Prepare your minds for action.” KJV – “gird up the loins of your mind.”
The phrase Peter uses here is a term used in battle. During the first century, if someone was going into battle, they would have to “gird up their loins.” They would take their freeflowing robe, tuck it in, so they were free to move and fight.
4. When I insist on STRONG Faith and Theology, I resist the dead-end trap that is complacency
Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
Answer this question: What is primarily DWELLING within you day in and day out?
5. When I insist on STRONG Faith and Theology, others will be impacted and influenced for Jesus Christ
Colossians 4:5-6: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
Next week: Final week in Judges, Tracy Thomas leading, looking at Samson