Judges 11

Chapter 11 begins a series of chapters with awkward relationship situations.  Jephthah ends up being the hero but does not begin as a hero. In fact, he is shunned by his family and chased away because “he was the son of a prostitute.”  Jephthah settled in the land of Tob, which is northeast of the Dead Sea.

Jephthah was a man who liked to make bargains and cut deals.  When his brothers came looking for him to help defeat the Ammonites, he cut a deal that would make him the leader of Israel.

Futher, Jephthah cut a deal with God.  He told God that he would offer the first thing that walked out his door after God helped him defeat the Ammonites.

The result of the deal-making was that the Ammonites were defeated, and Jephthah was in the position to offer his only child (a daughter) as a burnt offering to the Lord.

Here are a few themes in chapter 11 that we can apply to our own lives.

This man lacked wisdom.  When we cut deals with other people and/or God, we can put ourselves in a predicament without an escape clause.  Those situations tend to make people look foolish and we ought to avoid them as often as possible.

This man didn’t believe in a powerful God.  If Jephthah believed God could and would defeat the Ammonites, why did he feel a deal was necessary?  God doesn’t need a deal to deliver his loving kindness into our lives.  He gives those things to his children.  Jephthah needed a bigger view of God.  We could say the same thing about us many days.

Delayed obedience is disobedience.  Chapter 11 doesn’t record when the burnt offering was to happen, but other places in Scripture teach that commitments to God should be carried out diligently.  Jephthah allowed his daughter to leave home for two months on a mourning pilgrimage.  By allowing his daughter to go, he risked that she would not return home, or something else happen and he would not hold his end of the deal he made with God.

Every day, ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom in your life.  Every day, strive to learn more about more and develop a deeper love and knowledge for our Savior.  Every day, pursue immediate obedience in all things.

As we do these steps, we will be able to press forward into God’s mission for our lives.