Read: Jephthah’s story in Judges 11:1-40 & 12:7-15 & 1 Samuel 12:11 & Hebrews 11:32.
The Ammonites came to attack Israel again and were camped in the land of Gilead, on the other side of organized and army, too, but they had no leader; they needed a general to tell them what to do.
One of the Israelis, named Jephthah, was great and brave soldier, but the men of Israel had been unkind to him, so he had moved away to another country. But when the people wanted a man to lead them against their enemies, they remembered Jephthah. The elders of Israel went to him in the land of Tob, and said, “Come and be the general of our army.”
Jephthah answered, “You hated me and sent me away. Why come to me now when you are in trouble?” But the elders promised before the Lord that they would make him their king if he won the war for them. So Jephthah went with them.
He sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, asking him why he had come to fight. The king answered that hundreds of years before, the Israelis had taken away his land when they came up out of Egypt. “Give me back my land,” he said.
But Jephthah sent messengers to say that the land they had taken was given to them by the Lord, and they were going to keep it. Then Jephthah and the men of Israel went out to fight the Ammonite army.
Before the battle, Jephthah made a promise that if the Lord would give him the victory, he would offer up as a burnt offering whatever came out of his door to meet him when he returned home from the battle. Jephthah did wrong in making such a promise, for he had no idea who or what might come to meet him.
When he led his troops against the Ammonites, the Lord gave him the victory, so the Israelis were free from their slavery again. When the battle was over. Jephthah returned to his home. His daughter, his only child, came running out to meet him, full of joy at seeing her father again.
Can you imagine how Jephthah felt? He tore his clothes in his sorrow and finally told her of his promise.
She said, “Father, if you have made a vow to the Lord, do to me as you have said.”
Jephthah should not have kept his wicked promise. God had commanded the Israelis to sacrifice oxen, goats, and lambs as burnt offerings. God had said never to sacrifice their children; this was what heathen nations did and were punished for doing.
Jephthah should have repented of his promise and asked God’s forgiveness but instead, he kept his evil promise.
Questions:
How did Jephthah get to be the leader of Israel?
What awful promise did Jephthah make to God?
What happened afterwards?
Rejection is not the end. With humility and trust in God, we can come back. We should never let our pride get in the way of serving God. Jephthah made a rash vow that God did not require, and it cost him dearly. Samuel, the last of the judges, later said, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
1 Samuel 15:22
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