DON’T MAKE PROMISES YOU’D RATHER NOT KEEP
Text: Judges 11:29-40
29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
1. Jephthah Bargains With God (vv. 29-31; cf. Dt 23:21-23)
v. 29 – The Spirit of Lord comes upon Jephthah. He is heading to war with the Ammonites. The outcome is certain, but Jephthah is not certain.
1) Making a vow was an
2) Keeping a vow was an
3) Breaking a vow was an
David Jeremiah – When the fires of adversity storm into our lives, a vow comes easily from our lips. But tomorrow when a cool rain drives calamity from our memory, it’s too easy to go back on our promise to God.
2. Jephthah Gains What He Wanted (vv. 32-33)
- Jephthah got the
- As far as Jephthah knows, God came through with His side of the bargain. And now, Jephthah will too.
3. Jephthah Keeps A Promise That He’d Rather Not (vv. 34-40)
- Two questions: 1) What happened? What was the outcome of the keeping of the vow? 2) What was the actual vow that was made?
- Jephthah didn’t promise to offer a human sacrifice to God. Jephthah did not kill his daughter.
Jephthah is in the roll call of faith in Heb 11. He is there because by faith he kept his vow. If that vow were human sacrifice, then it would make no sense for him to be in the roll call of faith. He would be on a totally different kind of list.
How was the vow fulfilled? Jephthah gave his daughter to the Lord to
- Jephthah’s daughter fulfilled her dad’s vow somewhat like a Catholic nun living her life in a convent having no husband or children.
This was enough for Jephthah to grieve. His only daughter would not be married, not have children, and he would have no grandchildren. His lineage died with the fulfillment of the vow.
The thing that would have changed this story completely was an