“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.“ 1 Corinthians 13:11
WHEN WE READ THE BIBLE WE SHOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT GOD SPEAKS IN A WAY THAT HIS HEARERS CAN UNDERSTAND. HE MEETS US ON OUR OWN LEVEL. WE DO THIS WHEN TEACHING CHILDREN. WE EXPRESS WHAT WE WANT THEM TO KNOW WITH WORDS AND ACTIONS THAT THEY CAN UNDERSTAND. GOD MEETS US WHERE WE ARE.
I JUST FINISHED READING THE ACCOUNT OF JEPHTHAH’S VOW FOUND IN THE BOOK OF JUDGES, CHAPTER ELEVEN. IT IS A SHOCKING STORY. JEPHTHAH WAS AN ISRAELITE OF THE TRIBE OF MANASSEH. YET JEPHTHAH SACRIFICED HIS ONLY CHILD, HIS DAUGHTER, BECAUSE OF A VOW HE HAD MADE TO GOD.
JEPHTHAH HAD BEEN CALLED BY GOD TO DELIVER ISRAEL FROM THE OPPRESSION OF THE AMMONITES. BUT JEPHTHAH BELIEVED THAT HE SHOULD MAKE AN OFFERING TO GOD TO SECURE GOD’S FAVOR – “IF YOU REALLY DO HAND THE AMMONITES OVER TO ME, THEN WHOEVER IS THE FIRST TO COME THROUGH THE DOORS OF MY HOUSE TO MEET ME WHEN I RETURN SAFELY FROM FIGHTING THE AMMONITES, HE WILL BELONG TO THE LORD AND I WILL OFFER HIM UP AS A BURNT SACRIFICE.”
THE TIME OF THE JUDGES WAS A VERY DARK TIME IN ISRAEL. “IN THOSE DAYS THERE WAS NO KING IN ISRAEL, EVERYONE DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES.” Judges 21:25 AFTER MOSES AND JOSHUA WERE GONE, THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL DRIFTED AWAY FROM GOD’S GIVEN WORD AND MIXED THE WORD OF GOD ALL UP WITH THE RELIGIOUS PRACTICES OF THE SURROUNDING PEOPLES FOR WHOM HUMAN SACRIFICE WAS A COMMON PRACTICE. THIS IS WHERE WE FIND JEPHTHAH.
HOW COULD GOD HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH SUCH A PERSON? HUMAN SACRIFICE WAS FORBIDDEN BY GOD IN ISRAEL. IT WAS AN ANATHEMA OR ACCURSED BY GOD. Leviticus 20
BUT GOD JUDGES EACH ONE OF US ACCORDING TO OUR UNDERSTANDING. IF ONE LIVES LONG ENOUGH, MANY OF US CAN LOOK BACK ON OUR LIVES AND WONDER HOW GOD NOT ONLY DID NOT REJECT US BUT BORE WITH US, TEACHING US TRUTHS WE NEEDED TO KNOW. GOD MEETS US WHERE WE ARE. BILLY GRAHAM WISELY CHOSE THE HYMN, “JUST AS I AM,” AS THE THEME SONG OF HIS CRUSADES.
JEPHTHAH’S MOTHER WAS A PROSTITUTE. HIS HALF BROTHERS LOOKED DOWN ON HIM AND DISOWNED HIM. SO JEPHTHAH JOINED UP WITH A LAWLESS GANG. BUT JEPHTHAH WAS KNOWN TO BE A BRAVE WARRIOR. WHEN HIS PEOPLE WERE BEING AFFLICTED BY THE AMMONITES, THEY CALLED ON HIM TO DELIVER THEM. JEPHTHAH MUST HAVE BEEN VERY HONORED, AT THE SAME TIME, FEARFUL OF FAILURE AND DEATH. SO HE VOWED TO OFFER UP TO GOD A HUMAN SACRIFICE.
JEPHTHAH’S RELIGION WAS ALL MIXED UP WITH THE IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITION OF THE PEOPLE SURROUNDING ISRAEL. YET WE KNOW FROM THE STORY THAT HE BELIEVED IN GOD AND HE WANTED, IN HIS OWN WAY, TO PLEASE GOD.
WE KNOW FROM HIS WORDS THAT JEPHTHAH ENVISIONED HIS OFFERING AS BEING A MAN, PERHAPS ONE OF HIS LAWLESS FRIENDS. IT JUST SO HAPPENED THAT AT THE VERY MOMENT OF JEPHTHAH’S RETURN IT WAS HIS DAUGHTER COMING THROUGH THE DOOR OF HIS HOME TO MEET HIM. INSTEAD OF A LAWLESS WICKED MAN, IT WAS HIS ONLY CHILD. HIS LOVELY DAUGHTER. SHE WAS PURE AND OBEDIENT, AND HONORED GOD IN HER HEART.
WAS THE SACRIFICE OF JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER A MEANINGLESS EVENT? I DON’T BELIEVE IT WAS. GOD TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS. WHY HE ALLOWS WHAT HE DOES MAY BE A MYSTERY TO US, BUT EVERYTHING THAT GOD DOES, OR ALLOWS, IS FOR OUR GOOD. NO ACT OF GOD IS ARBITRARY, WITHOUT REASON AND PURPOSE.
DID GOD WANT JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER TO DIE. NEVER! GOD TAKES NO PLEASURE IN THE DEATH OF EVEN THE WICKED, LET ALONE THE RIGHTEOUS. Ezekiel 33:11 IT WAS JEPHTHAH WHO BELIEVED IN HUMAN SACRIFICE. IT WAS JEPHTHAH WHO KILLED HIS OWN DAUGHTER.
HUMAN SACRIFICE WAS A PERVERSION OF GOD’S REVELATION TO OUR FIRST PARENTS. THE FIRST SACRIFICE WAS MADE IN EDEN. AN ANIMAL WAS SLAIN TO COVER ADAM AND EVE’S NAKEDNESS. MANKIND IS THE ONLY CREATURE ON EARTH THAT IS NAKED. ALL OTHER FORMS OF LIFE HAVE THEIR OWN COVERING. HUMAN BEINGS WERE MADE TO BE COVERED BY THE GLORY OF GOD. ROMANS 3:23 NOT ONLY SAYS THAT ALL HAVE SINNED, BUT THAT WE FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.
THE ATONING VALUE OF THE ANIMAL SACRIFICE IS FOUND IN ITS BLOOD. LEVITICUS 17:11 EXPLAINS THAT THE LIFE OF THE FLESH IS FOUND IN THE BLOOD. THE BLOOD MAKES ATONEMENT BY REASON OF ITS LIFE. GOD TAKES NO SATISFACTION IN THE DEATH OF ANYTHING. THE ANIMAL SACRIFICES WERE BUT A SHADOW OF THE TRUTH THAT WAS REVEALED IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST. IT WAS THE LIFE OF JESUS THAT SATISFIED GOD. AND IT WAS THE LIFE OF JESUS THAT BROUGHT ABOUT HIS DEATH.
HIS HOLY HUMANITY CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH. HE WOULD NOT LEAVE US IN OUR SIN; THEREFORE, HIS DEATH WAS INEVITABLE. “AWAY WITH THIS MAN,” SAYS THE SINFUL HUMAN HEART. BUT HIS RIGHTIOUSNESS OVERCAME AND CONQUERED OUR SIN WHICH THE RESURRECTION BEARS WITNESS TO.
THE DEATH OF JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER AND THE DEATH OF GOD’S SON WAS THE RESULT OF OUR SIN. THE APOSTLE PETER IN THE SECOND AND THIRD CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK OF ACTS STATES EMPHATICALLY THAT JESUS WAS REJECTED, TURNED OVER, KILLED AND MURDERED, NOT BY GOD, BUT BY MAN. JUST AS IT WAS THE HAND OF JEPHTHAH THAT KILLED HIS DAUGHTER, SO IT WAS THE HAND OF SINFUL HUMANITY THAT KILLED THE AUTHOR OF LIFE, THE RIGHTEOUS ONE. SIN KILLS, MURDERS, DESTROYS, BUT GOD GIVES LIFE, HIS OWN DIVINE LIFE. THE ANIMAL SACRIFICES, THE SIN OFFERINGS, WERE WORSHIPFUL SYMBOLS OF THESE DEEP TRUTHS. BUT SINFUL HUMANITY PERVERTED THEM INTO THE HORROR OF HUMAN SACRIFICE.
THIS IS WHERE WE FIND POOR JEPHTHAH. BUT GOD MEETS US WHERE WE ARE AND HAS WONDERFUL WAYS OF TAKING OUR IGNORANT CONCEPTIONS OF HIM AND OUR FEEBLE WORSHIP OF HIM, AND IN HIS SOVEREIGN WISDOM USES IT ALL FOR OUR GOOD.
WHEN THE ROMAN SOLDIERS WERE POUNDING THE NAILS INTO JESUS’ HANDS AND FEET, JESUS COULD SAY, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM. THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.” BUT GOD KNEW; AND EVEN THEIR IGNORANT OBEDIENCE TO ROMAN LAW WAS ACCOMPLISHING THEIR OWN SALVATION. INSTEAD OF ONE OF JEPHTHAH’S LAWLESS COMPANIONS, IT WAS HIS PURE AND FAITHFUL DAUGHTER; INSTEAD OF BARABBAS, JESUS.
WAS THE DEATH OF JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER MEANINGLESS? I DON’T BELIEVE IT WAS. IN SOME WAY, THAT WE CANNOT FATHOM, THE DEATH OF JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER PARTICIPATED IN THE ATONING DEATH OF GOD’S SON. HER PURITY, OBEDIENCE, AND FAITH IN GOD SPEAKS OF THE PURITY, OBEDIENCE, AND SAVING FAITH OF JESUS.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST WAS THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE. OUR SIN KILLED HIM, BUT HIS LIFE SAVES US.
JEPHTHAH THOUGHT HIS LIFE WAS OVER. “WHEN HE SAW HER, HE RIPPED HIS CLOTHES AND SAID, ‘OH NO MY DAUGHTER! YOU HAVE COMPLETELY RUINED ME! YOU HAVE BROUGHT ME DISASTER!'”
GOD ALONE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO JEPHTHAH AFTER THAT. I WOULD GUESS THAT JEPHTHAH, IN HIS SORROW AND LOSS, CAME TO KNOW GOD IN A MUCH MORE REAL WAY.
WE ALL HAVE TO DIE BEFORE WE CAN LIVE. WE HAVE TO COME TO THE PLACE THAT WE SEE AND FEEL OUR OWN EMPTINESS AND GUILT, IT IS CALLED REPENTANCE, AND CALL UPON THE ONE WHO IS THE SOURCE OF OUR TRUE LIFE AND BEGIN TO LIVE IN HIM.
Rosemary E Hyslop February 8, 2019
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