Judges 10 6ff Jepthah 2007
Midweek Lenten Service
Judges 10 - 12
February 28, 2007
Judges, Justice, and the Cross – Jepthah: Man of Disgrace
When I am hungry and feel faint, I know that I need food. When I am thirsty I know it because my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth, all I can think about is getting a glass of water. When I am tired, and my eyes begin to droop, I know that I need sleep. When I am lonely, lost and hurting I know that I need love, affection and the embrace of a hug, someone to hold my hand. What about God though? When do we know that we need Him? We know that we need Him when we are hungry for more than just the satisfaction that food can give, when nothing seems to satisfy us in this life. We know that we need God when mere water cannot quench our thirst for inner peace. We know that we need God when we wake up after a long night’s rest and are still exhausted with the burdens of this life. We know that we need God when we desperately need love, unconditional love, and acceptance without requirements. But there is more. As we are confronted by our hunger, thirst, need for real rest and the need for real love, we find that the reason we have no satisfaction is because we have been separated from God because of sin. It permeates our lives. It destroys even those things that give us temporary satisfaction in this life. The Word of the Lord tells us, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are alone, lost, separated, hungry, tired and unloved because these are the consequences of sin. In the agony of our despair, God leads us to cry out to Him, confess our sin, and believe that God, through His Son Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, has redeemed and saved us, lost and condemned sinners. God tells us through His Word that because of Jesus Christ, nothing can separate us from God’s love. Though we suffer the consequences of sin in this life, we have hope. Before we can know this hope we must recognize our need. As we see how empty we are, we see that life, true life and satisfaction are found only in Jesus Christ. Recognizing our need and coming to God by faith is called repentance.
That’s what Lent is about. It’s a season that calls us to repentance. Martin Luther said, “The entire life of a Christian is to be one of repentance. That is because, as we recognize our need we cling all the more to the salvation we have been given through Christ’s cross.
Over time, God has continually called His people to repentance. This Lent we continue to see how God sent His Judges to turn His people from their sinful ways, recognize their need, and to come to Him in faith and rely on Him for their salvation. Ultimately we see that these judges foreshadowed the ultimate Judge of God, His Son Jesus Christ. He came with grace and truth to proclaim God’s law that always condemns, so that we might recognize our need and be turned to Him with repentant hearts that believe in Him as Lord and Savior.
In the book of judges, the cycle of creation, sin, condemnation and salvation continue again, just as they did after the world was created and even to our present day. God created Adam and Eve to be His holy people. They fell into sin and rebelled against God, and listened to the word of Satan rather than to the Word of God. Their sin condemned them and they hid from God, but God caused them to recognize their sin and promised to save them. In judges, we have the people of Israel, created, called and chosen by God to be His holy people, they sinned and followed the ways of the wicked people around them. For this they received God’s judgment and anger. God sent the judges to proclaim God’s law and His salvation for those who believe and trust in Him and His Word. Then God delivers and saves them. This cycle continues with the story of Jepthah. Tonight we shall consider Jepthah whom God raised up from disgrace and rejection, to be the Savior of the people. We will see that He too foreshadows the work of the greater judge to come in Jesus Christ. Her is the Word of the Lord, “6 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him, 7 he became angry with them…Israel was in great distress. 10 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We have sinned against you, forsaking our God…11 The LORD replied, "[all the nations] 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…18 The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, "Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all those living in Gilead." 11:1 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…4 Some time later, when the Ammonites made war on Israel,5 the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah…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 our head over all who live in Gilead…32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands.
Jepthah seems like an unlikely judge. He is the son of a prostitute. He was rejected by His brothers and family. He was considered a disgrace among the people of Israel, rejected and driven out. Yet this is the person that God chooses to save His people.
The Israelites lost sight of their unique identity as God’s people, chosen and called to be citizens of God’s emerging kingdom. Instead Israel attached herself to the people that they lived with and adopted their morals, gods, and religious and social beliefs.
Sin always brings bondage; though it comes to us deceptively. It comes to us, as with all people, through the ungodly cultures that surround us. Their ways of life, though far from God pleasing, appeal to us and our sinful flesh. Mindlessly we follow them. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death.”
We were created by God to be His holy people. Through the waters of holy baptism God washes away the stench and curse of sin. He has created us to be His holy people a nation of priests to serve Him. Yet how many times to we turn away from Him. In our insanity we would choose to be objects of His wrath and subjected to the curse of His condemnation. Over and over He calls to us, confronting us with His Law and judgment. When He does, by His spirit, He calls us again to repent and to believe in His Son Jesus Christ.
Who is this Jesus? Like Jepthah, people questioned His birth and who His parents were. Joseph, of whom Mary was betrothed to, silently prepared to divorce her because of her infidelity. It is not unreasonable to consider that there may have been lingering disgrace for her and her offspring, Jesus. Some of the people rejected Jesus as the Messiah, saying he was just a carpenter’s son. And they said, what good can come from Nazareth? Jesus, just like Jepthah was rejected by His own brothers as they refused to believe in Him, even considering Him to be out of His mind. Ultimately Jesus was rejected by the leaders of the people, to the point where they delivered him into the Pagan hands of Pontius Pilate, had him unfairly tried, sentenced and finally crucified. Through this whole process, even His own disciples abandoned Him. On the cross, Jesus Christ suffered the ultimate rejection and abandonment as God His father turns His face away and lets the judgment for all sin fall upon His Son’s back. Isaiah, speaking of God’s Son said, “Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all…By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken…10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer…11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”
While Judges is a book about sin and judgment it is also the book about deliverance and salvation. The book of Judges also depicts for us God’s grace by showing that it was through His mercy that Israel was not completely absorbed by the pagan nations around her. Individual Judges, as spiritual and political deliverers portray the role of Jesus as the Savior-King. The greatest judge was and is Jesus Christ, the Son of man and the Son of God. As the son of humans He could suffer and die for our sins. As the Son of God He could bear all our sins upon His shoulders, bear the weight of it all, and conquer death for us through His resurrection. Jesus is our Great Judge, and this is His decree, that we might have life and have it to its fullness in eternity.
It was Jesus judgment to go to Jerusalem and there to be crucified for us. At the cross He received the wrath and the judgment of God…all of it. On the cross he bore our sin and rebellion against God. Through His death we have received what we did not deserve, God’s grace and love. We know that when Jesus comes again to judge the quick and the dead, we who believe in Him as our Savior will be among the living. During this Lent we reflect upon our own sin…but not to much. Contemplating our own sinfulness does not make us right with God. During Lent we focus on our need for a Savior…but not too much. Knowing that we need a Savior does not make us right with God. Rather, during Lent we focus on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. We trust alone in Him and what He has done. And we remember that even as He is the righteous judge He comes to save. Jesus said, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned.” He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Your sins are forgiven for His sake, In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!