Jephthah: The Unacceptable Sacrifice of Man

Sometimes broken people make rash decisions hoping it will make things better and often it only does the opposite…

Have you ever done that?

Cain = Abel

Abraham = Hagar

Esau = birthright

The 11 = Selling Joseph

Moses = kill Egyptian

King Saul = sacrifice

… etc

We try and get ourselves out of sticky situations instead of asking God to be the one to help us… We have bought into the saying “God helps those who help themselves”

4 things I see to help us this morning…

Judges 8 — Gideon’s Final Victories and Failures

Israel Offers Gideon Kingship (Jdg 8:22–23)

The Israelites ask Gideon to rule over them.

Gideon refuses, declaring: “The Lord will rule over you.”

Gideon’s Death and Israel’s Apostasy (Jdg 8:29–35)

Gideon dies; he had many wives and seventy sons.

His concubine in Shechem bears a son, Abimelech.

After Gideon’s death, Israel again turns to Baal-worship.

Judges 9 — Abimelech’s Tyranny

Abimelech’s Power Grab (Jdg 9:1–6)

Abimelech persuades his mother’s relatives in Shechem to support him.

He kills his seventy brothers, except the youngest, Jotham, who escapes.

Abimelech is crowned king at Shechem.

Jotham’s Parable and Prophetic Curse (Jdg 9:7–21)

Abimelech’s Reign and God’s Judgment (Jdg 9:22–57)

After three years, God sends an evil spirit between Abimelech and Shechem.

The Shechemites rebel; leaders plot against him.

Abimelech destroys Shechem, sows it with salt, and burns the tower, killing 1,000 people.

He attacks Thebez, but a woman drops a millstone on his head.

Mortally wounded, Abimelech orders his armor-bearer to kill him to avoid the shame of dying by a woman’s hand.

God repays Abimelech and the Shechemites for their wickedness.

Judges 10 — Tola and Jair; Israel’s Renewed Apostasy

Tola, the Judge (Jdg 10:1–2)

He judges Israel 23 years.

Jair, the Judge (Jdg 10:3–5)

He judges Israel 22 years.

Judges 10:6–18 ESV

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 gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. 7 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, 8 and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9 And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed. 10 And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.” 11 And the Lord said to the people of Israel, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? 12 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. 13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. 14 Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” 15 And the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.” 16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel. 17 Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah. 18 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.”

Big Idea:

Jephthah’s tragic vow shows that human attempts to earn God’s favor through sacrifice end in death, but God Himself provides the true and acceptable sacrifice that gives life.

A Broken People Seek Deliverance Their Own Way

Judges 11:1–11 ESV

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they 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.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him. 4 After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. 5 And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.” 7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” 8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.” 10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.” 11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.

Jephthah, an outcast and son of a prostitute, is called by desperate people to deliver them.

Israel’s pattern: they cry out when in trouble but don’t truly repent …

Judges 2:11 “11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.”

Judges 3:12 “12 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

Judges 4:1 “1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.”

Judges 8:33 “33 As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.”

Jephthah becomes a symbol of Israel’s self-made savior—flawed, prideful, and limited.

Key truth: We often seek salvation on our own terms instead of trusting God’s grace.

Proverbs 14:12 “12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

John 14:6 “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Illustration: Like a man in quicksand flailing harder, Israel’s self-effort only drags them deeper. Only when we stop striving and trust God’s provision can we be saved.

Matthew 11:28 “28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Jephthah wasted no time… He sent a letter to the king of the Ammonites… Pled his case

Jdg 11.12-28…

Argument from History = This was never your land

Egypt - Sihon = Amorites

Argument from Theology = Our God vs your god

Lord God / Chemosh

Argument from Precedent = Previous rulers did not bother…

Balak = King of Moab

Argument from Silence = Why bother us now?

300 years… now?

Where is our justification now? Where is our argument now? Let us remain silent before God…

Judges 11:27 ESV

27… The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.”

His Rash Promise Reveals his Misunderstanding of God

Judges 11:29–31 ESV

29 Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 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.”

“If You give the Ammonites into my hand, whatever comes out of my house... I will offer it up.”

Jephthah assumes victory must be bought with sacrifice.

He treats God like a pagan deity who must be bargained with.

Key truth: Religion without relationship always leads to a distorted worship.

How do you view God?

How do you view your relationship with Him?

Micah 6:6–8 “6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Psalm 51:16 “16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.”

Hebrews 10:6 “6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.”

Romans 3:23–24 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”

Quote: “God’s grace is not a prize for the worthy—it’s a gift to the undeserving.”

John 14:7 “7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.””

His Tragic Sacrifice Exposes the Death Our Efforts Bring

Judges 11:34–40 ESV

34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.” 36 And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” 37 So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” 38 So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. 39 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

His only child—his joy and legacy—runs out to greet him.

Jephthah’s vow brings death, not deliverance.

Our attempts to secure favor with God through our works or sacrifices always destroy what is most precious.

Key truth: Human sacrifice—literal or figurative—cannot produce life.

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Isaiah 64:6 “6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

Illustration: Like Cain’s offering rejected while Abel’s accepted, Jephthah’s sacrifice was of his own making, not God’s provision.

Abraham / Jephthah

Test the faith || Test the Father

Father of the promise called out of his home || son of a harlot cast out of his home

Saintly patriarch obedient to God || Paganized warrior independent of God

Agonizes over the fate of victim || grieves over his own loss

Isaac = Name given || nameless

Accompanied to the mountain || sent alone to the mountain

Interrupted by voice of God || fulfilled because of silence from God

Judges, Ruth (5) God’s Gift of Deliverance (11:12–40)

Confirmed the faith of the sacrificer

Confirmed the faithfulness and presence of God

Assured the future of the sacrificer and his victim

Judges, Ruth (5) God’s Gift of Deliverance (11:12–40)

Confirmed the faithlessness of the sacrificer

Confirmed the silence and withdrawal of God

Signaled the end of the sacrificer and his victim

Rejoice in the Life Procuring Sacrifice of Christ’s Death

Romans 8:3–4 ESV

3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Hebrews 10:10–14 ESV

10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Jephthah offered his child to gain victory, God offered His Son to give victory.

Jesus is the acceptable sacrifice—offered once for all.

His death doesn’t destroy life; it brings resurrection and eternal hope.

Key truth: What man tragically attempts through his own sacrifices, God has gloriously accomplished through His.

Romans 8:32 “32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

Hebrews 9:12 “12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”

John 10:10 “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Illustration: The knife that fell on Jephthah’s daughter shows sin’s tragedy; the cross that fell on Christ shows God’s mercy.

Conclusion / Application:

Don’t try to bargain with God—trust the sacrifice He’s already made.

Stop offering your own forms of “self-salvation” (religion, effort, morality).

Receive and Rejoice in the life that comes only from Christ’s perfect offering.

Like Jephthah, our vows and efforts end in death. But like Jesus, God’s offering ends in resurrection.

Cling to the cross, rejoice in the redeemer,

Closing Quote:

“Man’s altar ends in ashes. God’s altar ends in an empty tomb.”

Small Group Questions

What pattern do we see repeated again and again in Israel throughout the book of Judges? Why do you think people (including us) tend to return to old sins even after God delivers us?

Jephthah was an outcast who became Israel’s leader out of desperation. What does his story show us about Israel’s spiritual condition at this point in history?

The people wanted Jephthah to save them rather than seeking God. What are some “modern Jephthahs” we turn to when we want quick relief instead of true repentance?

Why do you think Jephthah made such a rash vow to God? How do we sometimes try to “bargain” with God—promising things to earn His favor or blessing?

What’s the difference between trying to please God through religious effort and walking in a real relationship with Him? How can we drift into “religion without relationship”?

Jephthah treated God like a pagan deity who demanded human sacrifice. What does this reveal about his understanding of God’s grace and nature?

What does Jephthah’s vow teach us about the danger of zeal without knowledge or worship without truth? (Read Micah 6:6–8 and Romans 10:2.)

Compare Jephthah’s sacrifice to Abraham’s in Genesis 22. What key difference reveals the heart of God and points us to the gospel?

How does Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross reverse the tragedy of Jephthah’s story? What does His death and resurrection tell us about the kind of God we serve?

What are some ways you’ve tried to earn God’s favor or prove your worth? How would it change your daily walk if you truly rested in the finished work of Christ?