JUDGES 10:6 - 12:15; PSALM 142

 READ: JUDGES 10:6- 12:15; PSALM 142

PASSAGE FOR MEDITATION: JUDGES: 11:29-39

Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” 32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. 33 And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.” 36 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.” 37 So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” 38 So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. 39 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. 

REFLECT

I honestly haven't the faintest clue how to think about this story. Is it about God holding a person to his cruel and foolish vows even when the keeping of the vow has unthinkably horrible consequences? Is it about the tragic consequences of making foolish promises? Or is it about individuals having to sacrifice for the good of the community and nation? 

Whatever the moral of the story, this episode jolts us all back to the harsh realities of life. The reality of life is that while we all dream of, and long for fairy tale conclusions to our stories, tragic endings are often the order of the day. And ever so often, we are innocent victims of others' foolishness, or selfishness, or superstitions. And it is amidst such harsh realities that we grasp for explanations; and if no explanations are to be found, can we hope to find comfort and solace from our sufferings?

This story is about a man named Jephthah, who is described as a mighty warrior. But being the son of a prostitute and born out of wedlock, he was despised and bullied by everyone. Because Jephthah was reputedly a great warrior, the elders of Israel approached him to fight their enemy the Ammonites. Before Jephthah began his war against the Ammonites, he made a deal with God; that if he were given victory over the Ammonites, he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house to greet him. Jephthah won the battle and as he returned home to celebrate his victory, his beloved daughter and only child ran out to celebrate his return. On seeing her, Jephthah remembered his vow and realised the terrible mistake that he had made - that he would have to sacrifice the first thing that came out to greet him. He sadly told his daughter that he had to keep his vow and kill her as a sacrifice. His daughter affirmed that he would have to keep his vow, but asked for time to mourn with her friends. After the allotted time, she returned to him and was sacrificed.

RELATE

This story prompts some troubling questions: does God strictly and absolutely require a person to keep his vows, even if the vows are cruel and destructive, as in this case? Was Jephthah's daughter right  to agree to this cruel act of being sacrificed simply because the stakes were high? In verse 36 she said, "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." Just because God had granted Jephthah his wish and given him victory over a powerful enemy, was it  absolutely imperative that she die as part of the deal? Could there be exceptions to the general rule that vows are to be kept?

On the one hand, there is clear direction that vows to God must be kept. Deuteronomy 23:21-23 states:  “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth."

This command tells us that we must be very careful about what we vow. In fact, Jesus in Matthew 5:33-37  says that it is best we do not make vows at all, but to let our 'yes' be 'yes and our 'no' be 'no'. After all, none of us has control over our circumstances, nor knows what the future will bring, and it would be foolish to make promises where we have no certainty as to what the future will bring. Having made a vow, the vow would be binding on the maker of the vow.

On the other hand, human sacrifice is also forbidden: "There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering" Deuteronomy 18:10. 

This prohibition on human sacrifice highlights the sanctity of human life in God's eyes. Clearly God would not have required Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter. In fact, God would have given victory to the Israelites regardless of whether Jephthah had made the vow or not. The making and keeping of the vow was nothing but folly and superstition on Jephthah's part. God neither required Jephthah to make the vow, nor having made it, to keep such a vow.

This story highlights the importance and sacredness of vows. A vow is something we make voluntarily to God. Because it is God before whom we make our vows, we must never trivialize our vows. Wherever possible we avoid making vows, but instead be honourable persons who keep our word regardless of whether they are vows or not. And if we do make vows, the vow we make must weigh very heavily on our decisions. We take our vows seriously and do everything we can to keep those vows.

That said, we take note too of the tenderness of our Father's heart. He is not the sort who will demand our pound of flesh regardless of the harm it does to us or to others. God considers the goodness or the destructiveness of our vows and the damage the keeping of our vows might do to those around. Where the strict and absolute observance of a vow causes harm, then we must avoid causing harm rather than to keep strictly to the vow.

REST

Father, help us to take our word, whether a vow or simply a yes or no, seriously. Help us be persons of our word. Yet Lord, we thank you that you are a merciful God, tenderhearted towards your frail children. We thank you that looking at our frailty, you have released us from our debts through the sacrifice of your Son Jesus Christ, and allowed us to make wise and godly choices instead of being chained to our vows. Help us to live as free persons, who willingly and joyfully honour our word when it is good to do so, but who will also humbly admit to the folly of our vows when our vows are destructive. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Chiu Ming Li