Judges 11:29-40

     The Central Idea of the Text is that God empowered Jephthah to defeat the Ammonites; however, before the battle, Jephthah made an unnecessary and thoughtless vow which his daughter had to fulfill.

     Jephthah may have felt he had to barter with God as an act of diplomacy in order to secure his victory over the Ammonites, and he did this by making a vow (Judg. 11:30-31).  Making a vow was a serious matter that required forethought and commitment (Deut. 23:21-23).  There are two major views about Jephthah’s vow to sacrifice:

1. Jephthah actually offered his daughter as a human sacrifice, and the statement “a burnt offering” should be taken at face value.  If this is the case, then Jephthah probably derived this strange understanding and commitment from the Canaanite culture, for human sacrifice was forbidden under the Mosaic Law (Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5).  This would also explain Jephthah’s grief when he said his daughter, “You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot take it back” (Judg. 11:35).
2. Jephthah only dedicated his daughter for service to the Lord and did not kill her (cf. 1 Sam. 1:9-11; 26-28). This understanding is derived from an alternate reading of Judges 11:31 in which the word “and” might also be rendered “or”, so that Jephthah’s vow was to dedicate for service whoever came through the door of his home, “or” to sacrifice an animal if it appeared.  This view is favorable also because of other clues in the text, namely, Jephthah knew Scripture well enough not to make such a blunder (Judg. 11:15-27), previous Scripture views him as a thoughtful man, the text seems to emphasizes dedication when it reads that his daughter “had no relations with a man” (Judg. 11:39), and future generations honored her faithfulness (Judg. 11:40).

Whatever the view, the overall lesson is that we should never make hasty vows to God.

     The work of the Holy Spirit in the OT is different than in the NT.  In the OT, the Holy Spirit empowered only a few believers such as Artisans (Ex. 31:1-5), Judges (Num. 11:25-29; Judg. 3:9-10), Prophets (Ezek. 2:2), and Kings (1 Sam. 10:6; 16:13).  In the NT, the Holy Spirit baptizes each believer into union with Christ (1 Cor. 12:13), indwells us (John 14:16-17; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19), seals us (Eph. 1:13; 4:30), gives us spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:7-11), glorifies Jesus (John 16:13-15), fills us (Eph. 5:18), and sustains our spiritual walk (Gal. 5:16-18, 25).  The spiritual walk is what God expects of His children.  Walking with God means we are rightly related to Him by faith (John 3:16), and that we continue in faith (2 Cor. 5:7), trusting Him in all things (Prov. 3:5-6).  Walking with God does not mean a life of sinless perfection; rather, it means we handle our sin in a biblical manner with humility and confession (e.g. 2 Sam. 12:1-23; cf. 1 Kings 11:4; 1 John 1:8-10).  Walking with God means we go in the same direction He is going, and like a friend, we are glad to share in His fellowship (1 John 1:1-10).  It means God is regularly in our thoughts, and we live every day conscious of Him and His will for our lives (Rom. 12:1-2; Col. 3:16-17).  It means we are open and honest with Him about everything, and agree to let His light shine in our lives, not fearing what it exposes (1 John 1:5-7).  It means being sensitive to what may offend Him, and making every effort to please Him through a life of faith (2 Cor. 5:9; Heb. 11:6).