29 Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt offering.” 32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them; and the Lord gave them into his hand. 33 He inflicted a massive defeat on them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty towns, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.
34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and with dancing. She was his only child; he had no son or daughter except her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.” 36 She said to him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has given you vengeance against your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: Grant me two months, so that I may go and wander[b] on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I.”
This story serves as a warning to ancient Israel about being too quick to make vows before the LORD. It is a similar teaching to Jesus’ “count the cost”. And it is an illustration of just how desperate the nation had become in deal making with God amidst the anxieties of the era.
We know a thing or two about anxieties now. This story is a sobering warning to us of what it could cost us should we give in to bargaining with God. For note: it was Jephthah’s own worries which prompted his vow. The LORD says nothing in this story. This is Jephthah‘s doing, not God’s. And woe to those in this crisis now who mistake their own vows to God as God’s demand and continue to meet in person for church even at the risk of human life. Such so-called worship is not acceptable before the LORD.
Is there a silver lining in this story? Jephthah’s daughter, unnamed teaches another way to live. Her days are numbered. She knows that. She cannot change the fate of her circumstances. But instead of despair she chooses life. She chooses to live fully and completely as long as she possibly can. She will be sacrificed before the LORD. But it is not her death, but her life, which is the true offering to God — whatever she has left of it.
May we who must die go then and live likewise . . .
NOTE: We’re reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow’s Lesson will be from Judges chapters 13-15.
No comments:
Post a Comment