0945 Jdgs. 11.29-40 Jephthah's Foolish Vow - Escaping the Mentality of the World
Exploring Biblical Characters • Sermon • Submitted
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We’ve just come back from the Gold Coast & it was a reminder to me, again, of the culture of a place with many people deeply rooted in the world’s system
But particularly a place that seems to have it all
Beaches, mountains, good weather - usually - although, it rained a heap while we were there
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I was reminded of the Gold Coast’s affluent & powerful cultural influence upon it’s younger generation
The dress-wear, the affluence, the lifestyle, was very pervasive
The in-thing at the moment for younger women are crop tops & these tight, lycra pants that, one person in the Herald Sun has suggested, are leggings that are suppose to be worn under other clothes
But these lycra leggings show every curve & detail - of what normally would be regarded as highly inappropriate
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Some women, however, have neither the shape, nor the curve for these figure-revealing outfits & are virtually exploding out of them
My wife Ros cheekily says to me as they walked passed: “Don’t they look in the mirror before they go out”
Of course, If it’s wrong to be wearing clinging, revealing things like that, its wrong whether it achieves the right or wrong impression on the viewers
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My point is: the world influences us even to the point where we don’t realise it does
Q. Does it bother you that you might be unaware of its impact?
Q. What steps have you taken, if any, to make yourself aware of the impact of worldliness through our modern world culture?
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As we come to this, what I can only describe as, an horrendous passage of Scripture, we need to be aware of the forces at work that brought this about
The forces at work are the spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenly places
These are the very forces at work in the world where ideas & belief’s are put forward & where actions are taken on the basis of those ideas
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Q. Do you think, the mantra of the woman who believes in killing her baby through abortion with “my body, my choice” is inspired by God or by the demonic?
These ideas are taken & through the power of the many are reinforced & enforced
Nothing wrong with peer pressure leaning God’s way - more power to it
But in the west, the peer pressure is predominately on Satan’s side
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In the world, Satan has control over the unbeliever - we know that only through Christ, can Satan’s hold be loosed
That’s what the apostle John has said...
18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
Today’s passage is about a man who makes a rash & foolish vow, not based upon God’s word or God’s influence, but based upon the mantra of his culture - “the world”
1. An Ostracised Man
1. An Ostracised Man
Jephthah was a man who felt ostracised from his society
He was a man born to a harlot
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant warrior, but he was the son of a harlot. And Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife 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.”
Jephthah had a problem with being accepted by his family & community
He could well have been a lonely fellow & it seems he was, since he decided to live away from his family, community & clan
3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; and worthless fellows gathered themselves about Jephthah, and they went out with him.
Jephthah was a good fighter, a valiant warrior & good fighters have rascals - weaker ones - gather to them because they like to be around someone who’s tough
That was certainly evident to me from my high school days
The unsavoury type of fellows would hang around the big bad tough guy & they would be become the school bullies
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Jephthah, no doubt, found acceptance but, unfortunately, it was acceptance from what is described here as “worthless fellows”
“You are the company you keep” & Jephthah was not wise in keeping company with these guys
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.
2. God Uses the Shunned Man
2. God Uses the Shunned Man
Jephthah was a valiant warrior & you have to wonder whether warriors were as scarce as hens teeth in Israel since the Elders of Gilead come to Jephthah eating “humble pie”
Israel have been at war with the Ammonites who have encroached upon the territory of Israel
In desperation, the Elders in Gilead, go to the land of Tob to ask Jephthah to lead them in battle
7 Then Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me from my father’s house? So why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?”
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You can imagine Jephthah’s annoyance
Q. You disowned me & now, when you are in desperate need, you expect me to come to your aid?
Most people would probably tell them to take a hike
Certainly, as Christians, we are to be gracious & help all, even those who are ungrateful
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But they had a sweetener to offer Jephthah - “you can be our leader, our chief”
9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back to fight against the sons of Ammon and the Lord gives them up to me, will I become your head?” 10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord is witness between us; surely we will do as you have said.”
The ostracised son of a prostitute then becomes the leader of Israel against the Ammonites
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Now we need to go deeper into this here because it is not simply a matter of saying - “see, discrimination is wrong etc. etc.”
No, this is a matter of demonstrating that Israel cannot save themselves by their own strength & moral superiority
They end up getting saved by the son of a prostitute who qualify’s for zip - nothing for Israel here to brag about!
All that this is affirming here, is that God is using an outcast of Israel to bring about His purposes in saving Israel
Just like He gave Israel victory through using Rahab, the “Madam” of Jericho
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The Ammonites invaded the land because they believed it was theirs & that Israel shouldn’t be there
There are plenty of land disputes today, but the point I’d like to make here is the cultural understanding of land possession
Land was associated with the god who possessed it & ruled over that territory
To the Ammonites, Jephthah says...
24 ‘Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God has driven out before us, we will possess it.
Gods were thought to be territorial, except, Yahweh who was owner & maker of heaven & earth
That is what Israel understood
If a war was won between people of one territory or another, it was because one god was more powerful than the other - that’s why they won
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But a win was not automatic - the god had to fight for you - this was the cultural understanding
But how do you get your god to fight for you?
3. Jephthah’s Foolish Bargain
3. Jephthah’s Foolish Bargain
Q. How do ruthless people survive in the world?
Usually, by making underhanded bargains - or by bribing the person
Bribes work because people love a bribe
23 Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.
Men knew they could bribe their way to getting what they want - it all seemed legitimate
This still happens - I remember my brother-in-law telling me that the Chinese industry expected this when he was trying to get his dinner plates made
Bribes were regularly handed out down the chain of command
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But this was also projected on to the gods
This was the pagan cultural way & Jephthah was immersed in these ways
The ultimate form of bribery or manipulation was the giving of your child (always a male child) in sacrifice to the god because it was seen as your most precious possession
Living on in your children was seen as important to them as eternal life is to us, so to sacrifice your male child was risking everything to the person - there entire future
If the god did not do your bidding after this sacrifice, then there was nothing more you could do
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When Jericho was destroyed, Joshua made a prophetic curse upon the man who re-builds Jericho
The curse would be child sacrifice of the one who re-builds Jericho
26 Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates.”
That means that a paganised ruler would reconstruct Jericho giving his sons in sacrifice to the god
This happened during Ahab’s rule - the king that married the idolatrous woman, Jezebel who brought gross idolatry & unfaithfulness to Yahweh into Israel
33 Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.
These people did not think they were doing anything wrong
Certainly, they were estranged from Yahweh since He does not permit child sacrifice
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Isn’t this an interesting thing to note - all the other nations with all their so-called gods - not only allowed child sacrifice, but demanded it
Yet, the God of Israel - our God - the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is set apart from all the corrupt ways of man & forbids such a thing
Yes, God did tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac - in keeping with the context of his day - but then told him to stop
Bottom line is that no such child sacrifice was carried out
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But our God is uniquely different from all the others
Q. What does that tell us? It tells us that our God is truth
That we are created in His image & not the reverse - not the reverse
The reverse is that man has tried to make God into his image which is why we have all the so-called gods of history being like & living like the men & women of the world
The stories of the Greek gods play out like TV dramas & sagas - following the silly desires & inclinations of men & women
We have perverted the truth of Yahweh creator of heaven & earth & fashioned Him into a god that we can accept & who was like us
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Hence, Jephthah, thinks that in order to gain victory over the Ammonites, he has to offer something really special to Yahweh
Here you see a reflection of the world in which Jephthah lived
Here you see a man so immersed in the paganised world that he reflects or superimposes the belief he has of territorial gods on to the eternal God
30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, 31 then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
Perhaps, Jephthah was hoping that by leaving this open, that one of his servants may have come out of his house to greet him
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We think to ourselves: how terrible that a man could actually say such a thing - or be sucked into following the corrupted nonsense of his culture
But I would argue that we are not much better
For starters, if you lived during the 1940’s/50’s, who would have ever thought that our government would permit same-sex marriage
Who would have thought that a man could identify as a woman and be called she
Back then, if you ever suggested that, you would have been thought of as a nut case
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Who would have ever thought that a woman could say, “My body, my choice” & that a baby could be dismembered in the womb
Funny how people say, “Oh, how terrible that you could express it like that - dismembered” - but that is what happens - the truth is an irritating challenge that brings out the inhumanity of the abortion industry
We are no different from the paganised idolatry that occurred during the “unenlightened” times
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Society is totally at odds with itself
One the one hand, if a woman wants her child, if anyone does any harm to the child in her womb, criminal charges will follow
However, if a woman wants to kill her child, the state will step in to defend her &, in some cases, fund her to have it happen
In this sense, the little human being in the mothers womb is considered by our culture as merely property since the laws are framed totally around whether the woman wants her property or not
If we get to the position where the “fetus” is regarded as a human being, then the state is in big trouble, since it has sanctioned murder
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Jephthah gained his victory & when he came home his one & only child, a daughter, came out with singing & dancing since he won the war against the Ammonites
His oath was something that was binding & he was unable to break that oath he made to the Lord
His daughter was to be given as a sacrifice to the Lord
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Lots of things have been done in the name of the Lord to which God did not stop
This was one of those occasions where the Lord, did not intervene & stop this act
Interestingly, this event is well known as one of the most shocking stories in the Bible
What we do know from this is that the world has a powerful impact on what people think & the group think - the collective thinking of the culture - is even more powerful & blinds the believer into thinking that God approves of this or that because it seems right by the standards of what our world says & thinks
Group think, reinforced by the media, is something only discerning Christians understand
They have learned to distinguish between the ways of the world & the ways of God
They are like this because, for them, our Lord God means everything
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
That word “prove” has rightly been highlighted by other translations as “may discern”
That means judge, think wisely & discriminately, about what is being said amongst our culture & hold it up before the the word of God so that the will of God will be exercised - His will that is good, acceptable & perfect
Other translations use “test & approve” likening it, say, to the process of panning for gold where you pick out the precious gold & sift out the worthless stuff
Q. Is that what you are doing when you hear the news; when you see the group think & collective affirmations of our culture?
If you are not, how are you obeying that command of God to be transformed by the renewing of your mind?
Don’t just cordon off that which you don’t like; make sure you question everything, in light of God’s word
You may say that that will be an arduous task - yes it is - but what choice do you have
If you are going to be one who deeply loves the Lord, then you will want to be sure that His will is paramount
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We make oaths today - before a magistrate & even in casual acquaintance
To convince a person, someone might say, “I swear on my mother’s grave”… but not really meaning it as binding as the ancients did
Jephthah’s oath was binding & not the only foolish one we find in the Bible
You may recall that when Herod was drunk, that his conscience stricken wife took revenge on John the Baptist
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, 7 so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Having been prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.
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We remember how Peter used an oath to deny Jesus
He swore an oath which maintained that, if he was telling a porky, would bring down upon himself a curse
He was desperately trying to avoid being associated with Jesus & the oath was used to convince those accusing him, that what they were accusing him of, was untrue
Now, of course, Peter panicked & there was really no more extreme way to deny Jesus than that - he had really gone over to the other side with that sort of denial
Q. Why was he ready to die for Jesus, even taking out the sword & cutting the high priest’s servant’s ear off & yet, here, has distanced Himself to the extreme - like a big coward?
The answer, is in his concept of Jesus - this again feeds into what I was saying before about judging the thinking of the world
Remember what Jesus told Peter & what Peter replied...
21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Say what??? How is this possible? The mighty Messiah prophesied to not only rule Israel, but the whole world - No, suffering & death for You is not on my radar Lord
22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Q. Would Peter have thought that his mind was set on man’s interests?
Peter had his mind set on man’s interests & reasonings & unfortunately, Peter could not shake the “interests of man” that he had assumed from his culture & didn’t even perceive that it had influenced him
When Jesus did not resist arrest, Peter was still in the “interest’s of man” mode
He came to think that maybe he was following a false Messiah - so he was distancing himself big time from Jesus
Q. What changed it all for Peter? The resurrection of Jesus - that turned things right around & Peter came to see that what God was doing was not the same as man’s expectations
If Peter didn’t know he was influenced by the world, how do we know that we are not influenced by the world? Judge it by the word of our God - unlike Peter who heard but could not accept, hear the word & accept it
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Jesus understood the indoctrination of Peter’s day & was gracious to him & reinstated Peter with the 3 fold challenge: “Do you love Me more than these”…then ”feed My sheep”
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Jesus has changed the meaning of oaths in the New Covenant since hearts have been changed in the New Covenant
34 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.
Oaths are only applicable now in a court of law
As Christians, we do not go about in different circumstances using oaths to confirm that we are telling the truth
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The days of the Judges were terrible times & we bemoan the fact that terrible things that happened during this time
But we are reminded of this at the close of the book of Judges
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
I would hope that we, the people of Christ, would not be about following what is right in our culture’s eyes, but what is right in the eyes of our God