Tag: Jephthah

Power of Words

Judges 9-12

Key verse: Judges 11:36 

In the chapters for today’s devotion, we read about many stories of men who led Israel and those who opposed Israel. Nobody was perfect, some did notable things, and others did very little. One of the themes of the book of Judges according to Hill & Walton’s A Survey of the Old Testament is “The nature of charismatic leadership.” 

Recently, a few people who knew my dad had mentioned how charismatic he was. I, as his son, didn’t know whether or not they were pulling my leg. But as I talked with some of my friends and looked back on my life, I realized that my dad had a gift in charismatic leadership. Though there were times I knew he simply didn’t want to be in a position of leadership, he always found a healthy way to speak into other people’s lives without being pushy or bossy. I had always thought that every father/parent had a similar ability to do so, but I’m pretty sure I was wrong to believe that. Some people are not very good, or to be quite frank, terrible at positively influencing others. And I think we find that to be the case with Abimelek.

Abimelek, though outnumbered by a ratio of 1 to 70, secured a position of leadership by posing a simple question that “inclined” the leaders of Shechem to follow him. However, though he was charismatic, he was corrupt. He hired men to follow him and he killed almost all of his brothers (a classic example of another theme of Judges that “every man did what he thought was right in his own eyes”). Jotham, though not in a direct leadership role, spoke out against this corruption wonderfully through a parable, and God eventually dealt with Abimelek. However, before Abimelek is killed, we see Gaal son of Ebed speaking against Abimelek. 1 Peter 3:10 states, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.” Gaal either didn’t consider someone might be listening to him or maybe he didn’t care. Regardless, his words led to a battle (which might have scared some sense into him) that God used in order to repay the people for their wickedness.

Our words and actions can have powerful and large consequences! Later in Chapter 11 of our readings we find that this is most certainly the case with Jephthah and his daughter. Jephthah, a man heavily committed to the LORD, left the LORD to decide and judge the dispute between the Israelites and the Ammonites. However, the King of Ammon didn’t care much for that idea. Soon after, Jephthah was blessed with the Spirit of the LORD to go and fight the Ammonites. Yet, Jephthah vows to give whatever comes out of the door of his house when he returns home in exchange for triumph over the Ammonites. Unfortunately, this resulted in the dedication/sacrifice of his daughter in exchange for a mere victory (if you are interested in the different views of what happened to Jephthah’s daughter, I recommend looking at a few commentaries). In chapter 12, the Gileadites struck down the Ephraimites simply because of what they said and killed forty-two thousand. Be careful of what you say and how you say it. Proverbs 13:3 says, “Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.” 

-Jeffrey Seiders

REFLECTION Q’s

  1. When someone tells you to do something that doesn’t align with God, what do you do? Do you address them with grace and truth (as Jotham did)?
  2. When you speak, have you considered whether your words align with what God wants? How can you align the words you speak with God’s word?
  3. When you make a vow to the LORD, do you keep it? In what ways can you dedicate a part of your life to the LORD?
SGL.2025.MarchFullPageDownload
SGL.2025.CalendarBookletDownload

Why the Old Testament?

* Old Testament – Judges 11 & 12

Poetry – Psalm 112

New Testament – Luke 12

The last week of readings for Seek, Grow, Love has quickly taken us through the first half of the book of Judges, introducing new rulers of Israel, highlighting their good and bad actions, and then moving on to the next. The ultimate point and purpose of Judges is not always obvious; God clearly called up leaders of Israel and empowered those leaders through His holy spirit, but their track records may leave us asking, “Why did God want us to remember this person?” or, “How does this part of the O.T. relate to me as a Christian, 2000 years after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension?” We could ask the same questions about many parts of the Old Testament.

God has many purposes for the Old Testament, for both its original audience and for us as Christians today. Judges, in particular, is part of the narrative that establishes a cultural and national identity for Israel. Think back just a few weeks, when today’s Jews celebrated Passover: before its exodus from Egypt, Israel probably did not view itself as a nation on par with the surrounding tribes and kingdoms. The first Passover and subsequent Exodus firmly established Israel as separate from its neighbors, with a special relationship with God. It is both a spiritual and national ethnogenesis. The Book of Judges continues the historical and spiritual narrative that reinforces Israel’s identity. Every character and every judge adds another element to that identity.

Today’s reading in Judges takes us to Jephthah. Overall, Jephthah is completely consistent with the pattern established earlier: in a period of danger and spiritual decline, God calls an Israelite, of ordinary stock for the most part, to lead Israel through the present struggle. Through this, God demonstrates His continual love for Israel and preserves the nation. The narrative purpose of Judges is also captured in Jephthah’s letter to the Ammonites in 11:12-28; this is essentially a short-form summary of God’s actions in preserving Israel and bringing it into the promised land. Jephthah’s message to the Ammonite king is recorded for Israel to remember. Then, there is the record of the victory over the Ammonites – with the specific attribution, ‘the LORD handed them over to him’ (11:32). Yet again, God leaves a record of His care over Israel.

Another purpose of the Old Testament is to establish the context for the coming of Jesus and the patterns that prefigure him as God’s Messiah. One part of today’s reading from Judges 11 that stands out is the specific circumstances of Jephthah’s life. Jephthah was “the son of a harlot” (11:1) and later in life his half-brothers drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”’ (Judges 11:2b NASB). Despite this, Jephthah must have had a charismatic personality, with some natural leadership ability, because ‘worthless men gathered around Jephthah, and they went wherever he did.’ (11:3b NASB). Jephthah, due to the circumstances of his birth, was not naturally destined for leadership or respect. Yet, God uses this man to lead Israel in its struggle with and later victory over the Ammonites. In this manner, Jephthah is another pattern for who Jesus would be: of “questionable” birth (perspective matters, of course), with leadership abilities and purpose that did not fit the typical expectations of a man from an unimpressive town. God’s calling Jephthah to be leader over Israel is another instance of God selecting the unexpected, the cast-off, as the instrument of His purpose. It is entirely in congruence with the description of Jesus as

‘A stone which the builders rejected,

This has become the chief cornerstone;

This came about from the Lord,

And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

(Mark 12:10b-11 NASB; cf. Psalm 118)

Jephthah, rejected by his half brothers, and yet the leader that Israel needed, is an example that points us to Jesus as the one chosen by God to be king over His kingdom.

Whenever you read a portion of the Old Testament, consider the two purposes discussed here: remembrance and prefiguring. Look for the examples, the records, of God’s ongoing care for Israel as He promised; those examples give us confidence that his promises of the Age to Come, the Kingdom of God, will be fulfilled. Then, examine the text to see if you can find characters that prefigure Jesus, shadows of the Messiah (then) to come. You will find him in surprising places!

~Dan Siderius

Reflection Questions

  1. Judges can be a hard book to read. Why?
  2. How are you at remembering how God has cared for His people through all of history and also during your lifetime? What is the danger when we don’t remember? For what do you give God credit, thanks and praise?
  3. What similarities do you see between Jephthah and Jesus? What differences do you see?
  4. What can we learn about God and His plan of salvation through His Messiah Jesus throughout the Old Testament and more specifically in our Bible reading today?
sgl23bibleplanDownload

An Eternal Perspective

Thursday – Judges 10-12

Judges Devotions-4

Growing up, every evening my dad returned home from work I would run to him shouting, “Daddy!” I would jump into his arms, sometimes nearly knocking him over. Judges tells about another dad’s return home after a day of work, but what happens next is heart-breaking.

Jephthah, in a battle against the Ammonites, makes a deal with God, “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” (Judges 11:30 & 31).

God delivers and the Israelites triumph over the Ammonites. As Jephthah returns home from his day of work, his daughter, dancing, runs through the door to greet him. Knowing he must deliver on his promise, Jephthah tears his clothes, weeping. In a beautiful act of obedience, his daughter agrees, retreats to the wilderness to grieve, and dies.

The Bible only refers to this young lady as Jephthah’s daughter. Despite how little we know of her, she did have a name. She had a family. She had friends. She had talents. She had dreams… but she gave up everything.

This story really used to anger me. How could God require an innocent, young girl to die? When I considered just that moment, it was hard to really believe the essence of who God is: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The image of the loving God I had constructed in my head would never require Jephthah’s daughter to die. I looked for loopholes in the story and read commentary after commentary, but I was still unsatisfied—still devastated by how this story damaged my view of who God is.

Later, I had a realization; the story of Jephthah’s daughter didn’t end the day she died. While her story may be paused, it’s not finished. In fact, the climax of it all is still to come when God will raise her from the dead to spend eternity together. With an eternal perspective, it’s incredibly obvious that God really is love. The everything Jephthah’s daughter once had is nearly nothing in comparison to how abundantly God is going to bless her in His Kingdom.

The best part of this story is that we get to share in her reward. Like Jephthah’s daughter, God wants our everything, but He also wants to give us His everything.

You, me, and Jephthah’s daughter—we’re like kids with only a few dollars to our name, and God asks us to hand over everything in our piggy banks. As children, it can be painful to see those few dollars go because we can’t yet comprehend ever having more than that. However, I am confident that God’s return on our investment will surpass our greatest expectations.

With an eternal perspective in mind, what will you give up to God today? Would you be willing to die for Him? What does it look like to truly hand over your life to God? Remember, He wants your everything, and in return will give you His everything.

Mackenzie McClain

 

Today’s Bible reading can be read or listened to at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=judges+10-12&version=NIV

Tomorrow’s reading will be chapters 13-15 as we continue through Judges on our journey through our 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan.