Transforming Wounds into Blessings

Judges 11:29-40

Jephthah Offers His Daughter as a Burnt Sacrifice

Judges narrates the history when Israelites came out of Egypt and settled in the Promised Land Canaan for some 410 years without a king to rule them. God raised up leaders of the tribes, as "judges" to judge the internal affairs and also liberate the people from gentile oppression.

In this period, Israelite history was dominated by apostasy, moral degeneration and social disintegration. They were assimilated to Canaanite beliefs and values, resulting in disastrous outcomes.

Judges’ narrative follows a basic framework, namely a circle of "Israelites betray God – God put them into Gentile’s oppression – Israelites cry out to the Lord – The Lord will raise up a deliverer for his people", and this cycle spirals downward, indicating moral and spiritual deterioration over time.

This time, Judges Chapter 11 tells us, Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord when they worshipped a series of idols served by the Canaanites, e.g. Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines (10:6).

The Lord flared up in His anger, and He delivered them into the hands of Philistines and Ammonites. Thus, Israelites were oppressed by these people for 18 years. Then they cried out to the Lord, confessing their sins of abandoning their Lord to worship Baal instead (10:10).

Were they truly repenting? Or did they say that to the LORD solely to seek His help to deliver them from the enemies ‘oppression? A true repentance should bring about a feeling of remorse and guilt for the wrong things done against God, not merely seeking for immediate relieve.

Like a wounded lover, the Lord rebuked His people and turned down their request for rescue. Instead, He urged them to plead from those idols whom they worshipped. The Lord refused to be fooled by them anymore!

Nevertheless, Israelites’ repented by removing their idols and then invoked God’s mercy to deliver them. The Lord was anxious because of the suffering Israelites went through. He was more than willing to suffer together with His people (10:16).

God finally decided to deliver the Israelites by raising Jephthah. Jephthah was from the tribe of Manasseh. He, Jephthah was an illegitimate child. His father was Gilead and his mother was a prostitute.

He came from a humble upbringing and was banished by his own family members, depriving him of his share in their family inheritance. He then, went to stay in Tob (means good) and there, some gangsters gathered themselves to follow him. They were bandits.

How would a man of such background be a judge, a husband and a father?

By then, the Ammonites had invaded the Israelites and encamped at Gilead. Gilead faced a strong enemy and none of its people dared to step out to fight! The elders had no choice but sought help from Jephthah. They implored Jephthah to be commander of their army, for they knew he was a mighty warrior.

They came to Tob (a good land) to look for Jephthah whom they considered “no good”, to be their leader.

Jephthah ridiculed the elders who sought his help for he had suffered rejection from them all these years. Jephthah hungered after power and position. He sought not merely to be recognized by the elders as their military commander, but as the leader to rule over all Israelites before the Lord (v9, 11).

He invited the Lord to be his witness in the agreement he made with the elders. Only then would he be willing to fight against the Ammonites.

The elders did not seek the Lord in choosing for themselves a suitable leader. Both the elders and Jephthah reached their agreement with an ungodly intention of making use of each other. When men do not honor God and choose their leader in a hasty manner, they definitely will reap bad consequences!

Following Jephthah’s appointment as the leader over Israelites, he proceeded with a diplomatic negotiation with the Ammonites. There was a common thought in the world of the ancient near east that “land” could be taken over by force through some gods who endowed it to their respective adherents.

So Jephthah argued that the plain of Jordan River was given by the Lord when He aided Israelites in defeating the Amorites, their adversary (v23). The land originally belonged to the Amorites and not Ammonites. Therefore, the Ammonites were to retreat themselves and return the land to Israel in peace.

Jephthah became a man of might and intelligence instantly. Though he failed to persuade the Ammonites in withdrawing their army, he had nevertheless, successfully exhibited his leadership quality as leader over Israelites.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. (v29). In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would rest upon certain leaders and anoint them to accomplish certain tasks assigned to them.

Jephthah went to Mizpah in Gilead, and mustered his army for battle. Instead of charging forth directly to the battlefield, he made an unnecessary vow to the Lord, “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 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.”

The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah even before he made his vow (v29), indicating that his victory was guaranteed by God beforehand. He was not aware that God could not be bribed, and the human sacrifices practiced by the Canaanites were forbidden by God in the laws of Moses (Leviticus 18:21).

The vow taken by Jephthah was a reflection of his unbelief. He desired to gain more of God’s favor in order to guarantee his victory. This indeed was an expression of doubt instead of faith towards God. It showed his ambition to want to control God. What he did would never be considered as a courageous undertaking.

Since Jephthah was anointed by the Spirit of God, he was supposed to rely on God fully. Besides, he ought to offer himself as a living sacrifice instead of making others sacrifice to God! Besides, he should be aware of the ancient practice where women would step out to welcome their returned soldiers with songs and dances.

Jephthah was a leader with ability but without true knowledge of God. Neither will God be bribed nor will He be controlled by anyone. Jephthah made a fool of himself and he brought tragedy both to himself and to others.

The war started and Jephthah defeated the Ammonites. He won the battle and while he returned home triumphantly, he saw his one and only daughter coming out with tambourine celebrating his victory.

Jephthah tore his clothes and cried out, “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.” (v35)

His daughter said to him, “My father, 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.” （v36-37）

Jephthah regretted his own ignorance, impetuousness and selfishness. But instead of blaming himself, he pointed his fingers at his daughter. Nevertheless, His daughter comforted him and offered herself willingly as a sacrifice.

Woman has become a sacrifice because of the foolishness of man! The innocent, wise, selfless and courageous virtues possessed by the daughter of Jephthah turned out to be a judgment for the religious fools in the age of darkness!

Conclusion

Jephthah was a judge of legend and tragedy. His failure was largely contributed by his own background and his character flaws. He was born with a lowly background and he was rejected by all. Therefore, he felt insecure.

And out of his sense of inferiority, he sought to climb the ladder of success in an unscrupulous manner, just to gain power and prove himself right.

His self-centredness caused damages to others. He exercised his leadership with self-serving purpose and making use of others. Besides, his heathen lifestyle tainted his faith, and produced within him spiritual foolishness. He felt insecure and as a result, he wanted to control God more and more, instead of just depending on God’s grace.

Application

First of all, we should learn to turn our wounds into blessings.

Jephthah came from a humble and hard-lived background, this up-bringing background could mould us to outshine others and should not be hindrances that prevent us from serving God effectively.

Have you been feeling downcast and rejected? Are you bothered by your unpleasant past? Do you still carry a pessimistic spirit with bitterness hidden in your heart?

What happened in the past shaped you along the way and finally, you become who you are today. What you should do first is to humbly ask God for deliverance and restoration of your wound, and for Him to clear all your bitterness and bad practices.

God can cut off whatever generational curse that follows you. He wants to help you to walk out from past hurts and bondages. God wants to use you mightily. He can make you outstanding and grant you success to accomplish His purpose. God wants to turn your wounds into blessings!

Secondly, we need to take root in the Word of God and not conform to the popular practices or values of the world.

It seemed godly for Jephthah to make the vow and God was silent about the tragedy too. Yet, the act of bargaining with God or trying to control God was but a foolish attempt. He did not understand God’s principles and beliefs. In a way, Jephthah’s belief system was defective and it resulted in a defective ministry.

Today the form of idols worship is making “prosperity or money” god in people’s lives. When people worship “prosperity and money” as god, they will be enslaved. You will be in the bondage of what you worship. People of God must be very vigilant of this Satan’s snare lest they be trapped into it.

Paul said this in Romans 12:1-2: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and prefect.”

We have seen this day many foolish behaviours which seem to be spiritual superficially but they are indeed caused by human’s self-centredness. For instances, there are false teachings and practices of denial of burial for the dead and medical treatment for the sick, etc.

We should not question God for not stopping all these, but instead teach the believers in Christ to take root in the Word of God and in the Church’s traditions when we deal with such religious foolishness.

Once we grow deeper in the Word and in the Church’s traditions and disciplines, we are able to discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and prefect. So then there will be no room for religious and foolish behaviours.

Are you willing to take the trouble to study the Bible, church history and traditions?

Thirdly, we need to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice.

We could never ever earn God’s grace and salvation by offering our sacrifices, for He has granted us freely His grace. God allows no manipulation from human being. Only idols can be bought over and manipulated.

Romans 12:1 clearly gives us an instruction to offer our body as a living sacrifice. This means that let God become the Lord of our life, to guide and direct us to do His will in every aspect of our life. People may offer their loved ones or materials to God, but these could be self-deceiving act for there is nothing more precious than offering one’s own life to God!

God gave His Son Jesus to be crucified on the cross in order to redeem the world. This is the most precious gift we could ever receive. The best way for us to respond to God’s grace is not to make some empty promises to Him; not to do something to earn God’s favour in order to propel him to act accordingly; but rather to submit to Him through offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, right here and now.

We can do nothing to earn God’s grace and we don’t need to earn his grace, for his grace is freely given to us.  Don’t ever try to control God, bribe God and “play God”. Just place your trust in the truth that God indeed loves you, no matter who you are and how you perform, he would still love you, accept you and bless you.

Just surrender your life to God. God’s grace is sufficient for you as long as you live for him, making him the Lord of your life.