Jephthah

Judges  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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We are looking at Jephthah. He was an incredibly gifted man, but failed to make a lasting impact because of his low view of God and others.

Notes
Transcript

Introduction:

**William James Sidis was born on April 1, 1898 in Boston Massachusetts
-It quickly became obvious to those who knew him that he was extraordinarily gifted
-By 18 months, William could read the New York Times
-By age 3, he was typing on a typewriter and had taught himself Latin
-By age 6, he had learned various parts of mathematics such as algebra and geometry
-By age 8, it is said that he was creating his own mathematical theorems and had taught himself eight languages, one of which he invented himself
-By age 11, he had been accepted into Harvard university, probably the youngest person to ever be accepted into Harvard, and graduated a few years later at the age of 16
-However, William died at age 46, having lived mainly in obscurity and anonymity
-He only held one prominent teaching position in his life, and held it for only a year since he grew to dislike teaching
-He deliberately chose to live close to home in New England and work menial jobs
-And while he did pursue various research and writing on his own time, he died in his mid-40’s having never made anywhere near the impact that many would have expected of someone with his level of intellectual gifting
-So while I don’t want to paint William as a failure due to his choice to live in obscurity, it is curious to see someone with so much talent fail to make much of a mark on the society and culture around him**
Have you ever met someone who was incredibly gifted and talented, but failed to make much of an impact?
-Perhaps you’ve played sports with someone who was incredibly talented, but never seemed to put in the work necessary to be great
-Perhaps you’ve known someone with incredibly charisma and leadership skills, but they don’t like having responsibility placed on them
-In our text today, we meet the 5th of the major judges, and his name is Jepthah
-And the Bible paints him as an incredibly gifted man
-In our text, the author shows that there are at least 4 ways in which Jephthah is incredibly gifted
-However, Jephthah largely failed to make much of an impact for God in Israel
-The story basically ends with Jephthah having killed his only child, having killed tens of thousands of his own people, only judging Israel for 6 years, and the text makes no mention of the land enjoying any length of peace
-So how does that happen?
-How do we get to such a shocking failure in this story
-Let me show you
First, let’s take a look at who this guy Jephthah is:

1. Jephthah: Incredibly Gifted

The Jephthah story begins in 10:6
-We learn that the Israelites have again given themselves over to idolatry and have abandoned God
-So God hands them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites
-In the Jephthah story, the Ammonites are the main bad guys who get the attention, whereas in the next few chapters, the Samson story, the Philistines are the ones who are the main bad guys
-So this oppression goes on for 18 years
-And the Israelites cry out to God, asking for deliverance
-But God essentially says, “you’ve been playing this game long enough. Go cry out to the gods you’ve chosen to serve.”
-But the Israelites persist in crying out to God, and even manage to put their idols away for a time

16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

So what happens next?

17 Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah. 18 And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Gilead is the name of the region that most of the Jephthah story centers around
-And right at this time of crisis, when the Ammonites are ready to come in and wreck everyone again, we meet Jephthah

11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor,

Notice here, that right off the bat, Jephthah is introduced as a warrior
-Other translations say things like “Jephthah was a mighty warrior” or a “valiant warrior”
-Jephthah, unlike Gideon from a few chapters ago who probably had no battle experience at all, is known for being a fighter
-Perhaps he was naturally stronger, quicker, and more athletic than others
-Perhaps he had natural instincts when it came to hand-to-hand combat
-Maybe, he always had a mind for battle strategy
-But regardless, Jephthah was an incredibly gifted warrior
Notice what else the text says about him:

but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob;

So through no fault of his own, Jephthah gets kicked out of town because of the immorality of his father
-his brothers and the people in the area don’t want him around, since he’s illegitimate, so they run him out of town
but look what the author notes next:

and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.

-Not only was Jephthah a gifted warrior, he was also a gifted leader
-Even as a young outcast, others who were outcasts as well attach themselves to Jephthah and want to follow him
**have you ever met someone who’s just a natural leader?
-Perhaps you want to try to get your friend group or your family to do something: maybe play a game, or go out to eat, or go do an activity
-And when you try to suggest, no one’s very interested
-But when that certain person in your group is the one who suggests it, everyone’s interested
-Do you know what I’m talking about?
-There are just some people who others are more willing to follow
-If they come up with an idea, you know that most others in the group will probably go along with it because of the person who suggested it**
-Jephthah seems to be that kind of person that people gravitate towards and want to follow
-And we can see that in what follows:

5 And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”

7 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from 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 again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

When the chips are down, and the people of Gilead are in trouble, they know who they want to be their leader
-So they go and essentially bribe Jephthah with leadership
“Hey, we know we kinda ran you outta town when you were younger and kinda hated you . . .
“But we’re really in trouble here, so we’re sorry, and we’ll make you our leader if you’ll just help us go fight against the Ammonites”
-And so Jephthah agrees, as long as he gets to be the leader if he wins
-And so Jephthah sends a message to the Ammonites:

12 saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?”

13 And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”

So the Ammonites respond to Jephthah by basically saying: “you all took our land when you came from Egypt.”
Now, if you look down at your Bible, you’ll see that the next 14 verses is Jephthah’s response to the Ammonites
-For time’s sake, we’re not going to read the whole thing
-But it’s a pretty eloquent, thoughtful, and forceful response
-He begins with a brief history, showing that the land the Ammonites are claiming has actually never been their land
-Next, he tells them that God is the One who’s given this land to Israel now, and so they have a right to it
-Then, he tells them that the Israelites have had this land for 300 years, so why do the Ammonites only care about it now?
He ends with:

27 Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the LORD, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’ ”

-All in all, it’s a pretty impressive speech
-And I’d say that it demonstrates that Jephthah is not only a gifted warrior and leader, but he’s also a pretty gifted speaker and thinker
-That’s pretty rare
-I’d say that most of the time, the people who are the most athletic and strong are not always the smartest or the best at public speaking
-But Jephthah is good at both
Finally, notice what the text says next:

29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.

Jephthah has the Spirit of the Lord come upon him
-Now, this is different than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we experience as Christians today
-But what it basically meant is that the Spirit was enabling him for the work that he was about to do
-God Himself was going to help him as he went out to fight the Ammonites
-So this is Jephthah!
-He’s a skilled warrior
-He’s a natural leader
-He’s a gifted speaker and thinker
-and He’s got the Spirit to help him with this task
He is an incredibly talented, gifted, skilled individual
-Brothers and sisters, there are many talented, gifted, skilled individuals in the body of Christ
-Many of you have wonderful gifts and talents that God has given you
-Some of you are natural leaders
-Some of you are gifted communicators
-Some of you are skilled in music or art
-Some of you are very good with people and relationships
-Some of you are very talented at organization and administration
-Some of you might be very good with teaching children
-Some of you might be very gifted in various areas of church ministry, or in your particular career
-Whenever God gives you gifts and talents, that’s a wonderful thing!
-That’s something you ought to praise God about!
However, as we’re going to find out with Jephthah, just because you are a talented or gifted individual, that does not mean that you’re bound to make a significant impact for God
-Because as we’re about to see, it’s entirely possible for talented, gifted people to squander their gifts through their own sin and selfishness
-Up to this point in Judges, Jephthah is probably the most gifted judge we’ve seen so far!
-But unfortunately, there are two fatal flaws that keep Jephthah from really being used in an impactful way

2. Jephthah: Fatally Flawed

-Notice what Jephthah does right before the battle:

30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, 31 then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

-Jephthah, wanting to assure victory, essentially tries to manipulate and bribe God into letting him win
“God, if you’ll just let me beat the Ammonites, whatever or whoever comes out of my house to greet me first, I’ll offer as a sacrifice!”
What on earth is he thinking??
-It’s very possible, as we’re going to find out, that a human may come out to greet him, and God hates human sacrifice
Why would he make this vow?
-We need to remember that one of the themes of Judges is “canaanization,” meaning that Israel progressively becomes more and more like the Canaanites as the book goes on
-And so, this is probably something that Jephthah picks up from the Canaanites
-He really wants this victory
-He really wants to be the leader over Gilead
-And so he’s willing to do whatever is necessary to manipulate God into giving him what he wants

32 So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hands. 33 And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith—twenty cities—and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

the text is short and sweet
-he wins
-he gets what he wants
But notice what comes next:

34 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it.”

When he gets home, his only daughter comes rushing out to greet him and celebrate with him
-At this point, Jephthah should have just repented from his rash vow
-He should have asked God for forgiveness and just moved on
-God hates human sacrifice
-But he stubbornly sticks to it, perhaps because he’s naively afraid of what might happen to him if he doesn’t keep his vow
-His daughter tells him that she’s willing to die in order for him to keep her vow, but she asks for 2 months to go and mourn the fact that she never got married

39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed.

That’s a pretty horrible ending to Jephthah’s victory over Ammon, isn’t it?
Now, you’re probably sitting here and saying, “I would never do that. That’s horrible.”
-And that’s true
-I don’t think anyone here would ever be tempted to offer God a human sacrifice
-However, sometimes we too can have a skewed view of God like Jephthah had
-You can view God as a means to an end to get what you really want
-You need to bribe or manipulate God to get something you want
-You might not think of it in those terms, but that’s certainly what you can fall into
-You try to be really disciplined about reading your Bible and going to church in hopes that God will help you with your financial troubles
-You work really hard to be a content, joyful disciple so that God will finally allow you to meet someone you can marry
-You try really hard to be a good witness in order that God would send someone to witness to your kids or grandkids
-You make an effort at being a better husband or wife in hopes that God will finally change your spouse and make them treat you better
-Brothers and sisters, these kinds of actions are good actions
-It’s good to read your Bible, go to church, be content, be a witness, and be a good spouse
-But it’s wrong when you do those things in order to get something from God
-It’s wrong when you treat God as a means to an end to get what you really want
**it’s like the child who really tries to be nicer the week before Christmas out of fear that Santa will put coal in his stocking
-He’s not being nice because it’s the right thing to do
-He’s being nice because he wants something**
-Brothers and sisters, God will not be manipulated
-He sees right through those little games
-Oftentimes, our wrong motives get exposed in moments of frustration and discouragement:
“Why would God do this to me? I’ve been reading my Bible and going to church and trying to be a good Christian, and yet God still won’t give me . . .” fill in the blank
-Brothers and sisters, you need to repent of using God in this way
-Of trying to manipulate Him
-He sent His Son to die for our sins
-He’s worthy of our love and devotion and service, regardless of whether He gives you that trinket you want
-Jephthah loves himself, so he tries to bribe and manipulate God into getting what he wants
But notice Jephthah’s second flaw:

Then the men of Ephraim gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire!”

-Here comes Ephraim again
-If you remember, they did this same thing when Gideon won his victory in Judges 8
-Ephraim is never content unless they’re the ones who get the glory
-Now, Ephraim is certainly wrong in what they’re doing
-But after exchanging some words with the Ephraimites, notice what happens:

4 Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites.”

-Instead of trying to defuse the situation like Gideon did, Jephthah gathers his men, and they defeat the men of Ephraim in an Israelite civil war
-But Jephthah doesn’t stop there

5 The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6 then they would say to him, “Then say, ‘Shibboleth’!” And he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.

-Instead of defusing the situation
-Or at least stopping after he’d won the victory, Jephthah takes control of all the waterways so that the Ephraimites can’t cross the river and return home without going through his men
-And they have a way to determine who’s an Ephraimite
-You see, the Ephraimites have an accent
-And their accent gives them away
-It would be like asking a deep southerner to say “Oil”
-Any deep southerner knows that it’s called “ole”
-And so whenever an Ephraimite asks for permission to cross the river, Jephthah’s guard ask him to say “Shibboleth”
-But the Ephraimites all say “Sibboleth”
-And so before the conflict ends, Jephthah has killed 42,000 of his own people
-You see, Jephthah not only had a skewed view of God
-He also had a skewed view of others
-Instead of viewing these Ephraimites, as sinful and annoying as they were, as fellow Israelites and image-bearers of God
-He treats them as disposable
-They insulted him
-So he’s going to snuff them out
-Brothers and sisters, I’m sure you’re not tempted to kill thousands of people in your anger
-But when other people are annoying and sinful, do you view them as fellow-image bearers, or maybe even fellow Christians?
-Or do you view them as annoyances that need to be put in their place?
-How do you treat that poor customer service representative on the line?
-How do you treat your spouse and children after a long day of work?
-How you treat your fellow Christian, even when they’re posting stuff on social media that you don’t like?
The way Jephthah treated God and the way he treated others were intertwined
-If you think God is a means to an end to get what you really want, then you’ll treat others in the same way
-If you’re #1, then you’ll try to manipulate God to get what you want, and you’ll lash out at others when they don’t treat you like you think you deserve

Conclusion:

-As we close, let’s think through what this text means for us today
-I think we can look at this text and learn something about God, and something about us
First, what can we learn about God from this passage?
-A question that comes to mind as I read this passage is this: why on earth would God use someone like Jephthah?
-He wasn’t a great guy
-Well you see, God pretty much always uses crooked sticks
Why?
Because it’s all He has
All of us are sinful and flawed, and yet God still uses sinful people to accomplish His purposes
Judges is all about God’s Compassionate Rescue of Ruined Sinners
-And He used Jephthah to deliver His people
-That’s just who God is
However, we also can learn something about us:
-You need to understand that just because you’re talented or gifted, it does not guarantee that you’re going to make much of an impact for God
Notice the last thing the text says about Jephthah:

7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.

-He only judges for 6 years
-He has no children to perpetuate his line
-42,000 Israelites are dead by his hands
-And there’s no mention of any lasting peace or spiritual reform because of him
-Brothers and sisters, there are many talented, gifted Christians who have been saved by faith in the finished work of Christ who fail to have as big an impact for God as they should
-And oftentimes, just like Jephthah, it’s because they’re more focused on themselves than on anything or anyone else
-It’s all about you, so you’ll manipulate God to get what you want
-It’s all about you, so you’ll lash out at others and mistreat them when you don’t get what you want
-Please take this warning to heart
-being gifted or talented is wonderful
-But you will fail to truly make an impact for God if you make life all about you instead of about God
-Pray that God uses your talents and gifts, but don’t rely on them
-Instead love Christ
-Remember what He has done for You on the cross
-Love Him and serve others so that you can truly be used of God in ways that please Him and bless others
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