You Don’t Make The Rules

Aug. 23

Read: Judges 11

You Don’t Make The Rules; (or Why Jephthah Didn’t Kill His Daughter)

“Two wrongs don’t make a right.” I am sure you have heard this saying before… SO what do we do with a Father (Jephthah) who has made a brash vow and is now faced with “sacrificing” his daughter to the Lord? Is keeping his vow the right thing to do? Is sacrificing his daughter to the Lord ACCEPTABLE? What would GOD expect from him? Is he “noble” if he follows through with it… or is he a MONSTER?

God has made it very clear that the sacrifice of children IS NOT ACCEPTABLE to him… and in no uncertain terms his people must never do this: “They built the high places…to offer up their sons and daughters…though I (the Lord) did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this ABOMINATION…” (Jer. 32:35, see also ) Child sacrifice was so detestable to the Lord… so outlandish… that God says it had never even crossed his mind! (“nor did it enter into my mind”) God states that ANYONE who sacrifices their child should be PUT TO DEATH; God himself will “set (his) face AGAINST them and cut them off.” (cf. Lev. 20:1-5) So it seems silly to think that God would approve of Jephthah’s burnt sacrifice of his daughter… that God would “applaud” Jephthah “keeping his vow”. There is another factor here that we may be forgetting- God is the one who sets the terms for acceptable worship of him. He is quite particular about what constitutes acceptable “sacrifice”. It is not only what is sacrificed, but also how it is sacrificed and the condition of the heart of those offering it up! God is NOT indifferent to how he is worshipped. Quite the opposite. We see this throughout the scriptures:

“‘What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” (Is. 1:11-13)

or

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen…” (Amos 5:21-24)

or, on a very personal level, we see this with Cain and Able,

“And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen. 4:4-7)

To give God something he never asked for is NEVER acceptable… even if you made a vow to do it. God is NOT pleased by you keeping a brash vote when it means doing something he has already told you is unacceptable. The crazy thing is, look at what Jephthah’s DAUGHTER does here… SHE is the true hero of the story.

“And she said to him, “My father, 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 avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” (v.36) This little girl understands sacrifice. This little girl understands trusting the Lord. This little girl foreshadows so powerfully JESUS. There is an ACCEPTABLE way for a daughter to be delivered to the Lord. There is a way that a child can be set apart as an offering to the Lord. We see this with Samuel as an example. (1 Sam. 1:21-28) For Jephthah’s daughter, this would mean never marrying and remaining celibate her entire life. (look at what she mourns; “that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity” - she does not weep for the loss of her life!) Once her father passed away she would be left exposed with no one but the Lord as her “husband” to look over her. This would have been a tremendous loss for her. This would have been a sad moment for Jephthah (no grandkids… no family lineage). This little girl suffered this loss so her father could save face. It was tremendously courageous, noble, and sacrificial! (Why else would the commemorate her actions year after year; “She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.” )

This “innocent” girl sacrificed her future life for the misstep of someone else… and Jesus laid down his perfect life on behalf of OUR brash words and sinful actions. Jephthah’s hasty words robbed his daughter… came a a great cost to someone else. Our hasty words do the same, but the good news is that Jesus is willing to step up and help make things right… make them “whole” again. How we worship God is no small matter… he is quite particular! Is our worship and the sacrifices we make to him today “acceptable” to him? Do we think that the state of our heart, the words of our mouths, and the actions of our lives are inconsequential in terms of God accepting our worship? Is it possible that the people of God have drifted today as they have in the past? Have we created systems pitting one “virtue” against another principle… resulting in twisted worship that is unacceptable? (keeping your word vs. sacrificing to God your child, opposing homosexuality vs. welcoming a person into worship, following God as our Lord and King vs. having a political position / supporting one political party over another, honoring those in authority over you vs. rejecting the leadership of a corrupt government, etc.) If your words have gotten you in trouble, it is not to late to step back! Do not doggedly forehead without seeking the Lord. There is hope. God has raised up a courageous only child for you that is willing to lay down their life for YOUR missteps… his name is JESUS. Love you guys. - JDP