what the words that come to mind when
you hear the name Jephthah
probably something like rash or murder
or cruel but even fool that's probably
because you think that he made a rash
vote when he promised the Lord that he
would offered up as a burnt sacrifice
the first thing that met him when he
came home from battle and probably
because you think that he fulfilled that
vote by offering up his daughter as a
burnt sacrifice well that's why I used
to think too until I studied the passage
I was studying it than with a view to
preaching a sermon on it and the more I
I i studied the passage and prayed over
at the more I realized I totally missed
the point Jeff is not a beacon of
warning but a hero of faith
he didn't sin when he made that vote but
rather it was a holy and well thought
out though and he didn't sinfully
fulfill that vow but he performed it in
a holy and righteous manner consistent
with how he intended it and that did not
involve the offering up of his daughter
as a burnt sacrifice you watch our or
listened to the sermon it will give you
a fuller treatment of this if you click
on the link at the end of this short
video but let me just give you a couple
of hints as to what changed my mind
and what I hope will change yours first
of all those Jephthah's previous
character he's portrayed right at the
beginning of chapter 11 as a mighty man
of Valor a hero hood
gathered around himself a group of men
and though he was an outcast from Israel
he was fighting battles fought is real
little skirmishes on the outskirts on
Israel's borders that's really what I
track
the elders of Israel to come to him
later and ask him to help them as they
faced an even greater battle and an even
greater enemy also as you read judges 11
a spacious you look at how a Jaffa
interacts with the king of arm and you
realize he's a man that a great
knowledge of Scripture a great knowledge
of Israel's history and as a man in new
Scripture he would know human sacrifice
was completely forbidden also you
noticed that just before he makes the
vow in verse 30 in verse 29 were told
the Spirit of the Lord came upon him so
you've got the Spirit of the Lord and
then he makes a vow he he makes the vote
filled with the spirit with a spirit
filled man make a sinful vow of ratio
and also if you look at the actual vow
as unfortunate translation of that vow
in a lot of the versions that we use in
the English language he says you know
the first thing that meets me when I
come home in peace from the children of
ammon shall surely be the Lord's and I
will offer it up for a burnt offering
that word and can legitimately be
translated or the same word in the
Hebrew can mean and or or notice the
difference when you've translator or and
that's in the marginal reading of the
authorized version the first thing I
meet when I come home shall surely be
the Lord's or I will offer it up for a
burnt offering you see what you're
seeing is saying basically if it's a
person I will give it to the Lord in
consecration if it's an animal I will
offer it to the Lord as a burnt
sacrifice then you think for example the
the woman at the the Tabernacle door we
read of them in Exodus 30 and then first
samuel there was an order of women who
specialized in
dedicating themselves to the service of
the Lord and that's what I believe
happened to AJ --this daughter she was
consecrated to the Lord server
she joined that group of women who
dedicated themselves to cleaning and
cooking and washing and repeating at the
door of the tabernacle notice also the
emphases in Scripture in verses 37 38
and 39 of Judges and 11 it's not that
she lost her life rather three times was
emphasized as she lost the opportunity
to have children and tamari so what's
being highlighted is not that she became
lifeless but childless and husbandless
there's another unfortunate translation
at the end of the chapter what it talks
about the daughters of Israel joining
the daughter of Jaffa to lament for days
every year that word lament the Hebrew
word is actually the word for rehearse
it's not translated lament anywhere else
the word means to to commemorate to
rehearse events by way of commemoration
so what the daughters of Israel are
doing here as every year they're going
to the tabernacle and they're joining
with Jephthah's daughter to rehearse the
remarkable sacrifice she made get giving
up her life to the service of the Lord
this was something that was to be
remembered in Israel also Jetha wasn't
punished do you think anyone did this
they would be punished for what they did
but no rather he was judged for another
six years and he's not condemned and
scripture in fact he's mentioned in to
other places First Samuel Hebrews 11
both times
as a hero of faith what then was
jephthah sore or why was he so sad when
he realized this was what he had to do
well it wasn't they had to offer his
daughter up as a burnt sacrifice but
rather the Lord was asking of them the
most cost
the possibility he had in mind when he
first made the vote which was that
giving of his daughter to the Lord
service so that she would have no
children and he would have no
descendants also there were two months
before the actual giving of the daughter
you'd think surely within two months of
this was wrong
Jacob would have repented of it others
would have common counsel demand pointed
out to him that for example Leviticus
five that is provision for repenting
from bravo's also in Leviticus 27 if
somebody has been vowed to the Lord they
can be bought back so for all these
reasons and others of you listen to the
sermon I think we've got to really work
at recovering the tarnished reputation
of Jeff though he was a man of great
personal integrity a man of God a hero
of faith