Careless Words

Read Judges 10-12
        
Judges 11:29-31 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from  there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 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.”
 
WHO is Jephthah? His name is among more well-known names you likely recognize in Hebrews 11:32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. Hebrews also describes Jephthah as one who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. (Hebrews 11:34e) Jephthah’s story includes an illicit birth, brothers’ rejection, active faith, fatal foolishness, misguided devotion and an apparent pagan-like sacrifice of his daughter in Judges 11:39. It seems God should condemn him rather than honor him.
   In need of a leader, Gilead’s elders granted him an army to defeat the Ammonites. It is apparent this was God’s doing. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah (Judges 11:29) as he began his campaign. Then comes his foolish, deadly vow. Judges 11:30-31 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, 31 I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” Why do we think God needs a big promise from  us  to achieve the LORD’s purpose? Do you think God’s grace and power requires you to promise him something? He only wants your worship.   
   Jephthah won the war. He lost his daughter. But what does sacrifice as a burnt offering actually mean? There is equal evidence in the original language to understand one of two things happened: Jephthah killed his daughter on an altar. Or Jephthah dedicated his daughter with a vow of celibacy to a lifetime of service to the Tabernacle. For a Hebrew woman to remain childless was as a death sentence. Two phrases give us hope it was the latter sacrifice. Judges 11:38-39 “You may go,” Jephthah said. And he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children. 39 When she returned home, her father kept the vow he had made, and she died a virgin. This can mean she lived a normal life of celibacy. Or it could mean she died at her father’s hands.  
   In either way, the father victimized the daughter. He changed her life with a foolish, even unfaithful vow.
   We must be very careful of what we allow into our minds and experiences. The vow could have come from  the influence of Jephthah’s pagan mother. We cannot mix the false gods with the true God. How careful we must be with our words and with our children!