The story of Jephthah in Judges 10-12 begins in a predictable manner with our four step process surfacing once again:

Step One: Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines.

Step Two: And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him, he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, who that year shattered and crushed them…”

Step Three: But the Israelites said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.

Step Four (modified!): Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him.
(Judges 10:6-7, 15-16; 11:1-3)

First of all, that should jump out to you again that Jephthah doesn’t completely fit the pattern: he isn’t directly appointed by God. He’s a despised man, driven from his home by his half-brothers because his mother was a prostitute. If you continue reading in chapter 11, you’ll see that the elders of Gilead come to him and ask him to lead them in fighting against the Ammonites.

Jephthah really does start out well – he has a clear understanding that God is the ruler and director of affairs for Israel. (11:23-27) As he goes out into battle, however, we see him rashly make a vow:

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD : “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” (11:29-31)

The plot becomes much more disturbing at the end of the chapter:

When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break.”
“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”
“You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.
(11:34-39)

WHAT?!?

This story is a great example where you can end up with a horrible, blasphemous, and sickening view of God if you don’t know how to read Biblical narrative. Remember, as discussed way back in the post “So why do we have the Bible?“, Biblical narratives are not given to us to prescriptively tell us how to live. Many, many times the people described in Biblical narratives are doing the OPPOSITE of God’s prescribed will in the rest of Scripture! Take note of that – you cannot read narratives divorced from the rest of Scripture.

So, what does the rest of the Bible say about Japheth sacrificing his daughter?

Throughout the Old Testament, references are made to the pagan cultures which surrounded Israel engaging in human sacrifice. Horrible practices that involved burning their infant children should have repulsed the Israelites and caused them to cling all the more to the holy and righteous God that they served. Unfortunately, that was not always the result.

Jeremiah 32:35 points out that even Israel had so abandoned their devotion to the one True God, and had strayed so far from His Truth, that they had engaged in this practice themselves.

They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

It’s obvious that God is far from pleased by this practice.

So, what gives with Jephthah? Is God ok with it in this instance since Jephthah vowed he would do it? Was it pleasing to Him?

I believe that Jephthah is a horrifying case of what happens when we think we are serving God, but don’t really know Him or what He requires. Sincerity is not enough, folks. Jephthah was sincere, and he was sincerely wrong. In his efforts to please God, he did something that should have been obviously completely contrary to what God would have wanted. Burnt offerings were supposed to be acts of complete devotion, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. I am quite confident that the act of slaying and burning his own daughter to ashes was repugnant, not pleasing, in the sight of God.

The Israelites had worshipped false gods for so long, that even when they turned back to God, they didn’t know who He really was and what He fundamentally wanted. Jephthah had probably absorbed so much of the pagan philosophies around him that this seemed reasonable and good, when it should have been appalling. Add to that the fact that his family was an utter disaster (obviously he inherited a great set of values from his parents), and the end is somewhat predictable.

I’ve discussed this before, so I will only briefly comment: if we do not know our God, we don’t even know what He requires!! It might sound great to us, and even be applauded as pious and excellent by the people around us, but we could actually be in direct opposition to His will. We must worship Him in Spirit AND in TRUTH.

Now, briefly back to our questions to consider as we go through Judges:
Progression from one story to the next?
*I think it’s noteworthy that even when they are trying to serve God, they’re acting contrary to His will.

How does it make you feel?
*Pretty sick and angry!

*How are women treated?
*I think this is obvious!

Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the LORD is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.
I Samuel 2:3

On Monday we discussed one of my favorite nuggets in Judges – Gideon’s transformation from the cowardly lion to the mighty warrior!  Gideon is not a faultless leader, that’s for sure, but he definitely has a couple of things straight:

Gideon knows that God, not Baal, is the God of Israel.

Remember back to chapter 6:25-32 – his first act of obedience as Israel’s appointed judge and deliverer was to tear down his father’s altar to Baal and the Asherah pole next to it. The people of the town end up naming him “Jerub-baal” – meaning “he who fights against Baal.

Gideon knows that God, not Gideon, is the King of Israel.

The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.” But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”

Judges 8:22-23

Well done, Gideon. God is king, no one else.

However, I mentioned in the last post that unfortunately Gideon doesn’t end on the greatest note. In the next verses, immediately after turning down the offer of becoming king, we find the crucial mistake in his tenure of leadership.

And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.) They answered, “We’ll be glad to give them.” So they spread out a garment, and each man threw a ring from his plunder onto it.

The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ necks.

Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. (Judges 8:24-27)

Why did he make a golden ephod? John MacArthur states,

“This was certainly a sad end to Gideon’s influence as he, perhaps in an expression of pride, sought to lift himself up in the eyes of the people. Gideon intended nothing more than to make a breastplate as David later did (I Chr. 15:27) to indicate civil rule, not priestly rule. It was never intended to set up idolatrous worship, but to be a symbol of civil power.”

Gideon verbally refused the offer of the people to make him king… but then he makes a symbol of civic rule for himself.

This is quite convicting to me. I think pride is definitely the temptation that Satan likes to lob my way most frequently, unfortunately because it’s one that trips me up often.  Perhaps outwardly I make the right choice, and keep God in the place of honor He deserves. But how easy it is to somehow keep some of that glory for myself. To either mentally our outwardly set myself apart from those around me.

Even if this is not done in an overtly malicious way, it’s end will be the same as Gideon’s mistake was: idolatry. I will begin to worship and honor myself, and sadly, others can be led to do the same thing. To give a human being honor and adoration that God alone deserves. It started out small – “all I ask is…” and it ends with a nation being led further into idolatry.

As fallen humans, everything about us is tainted by sin. My ability to reason, my emotions, my will… everything is skewed. It is frighteningly easy to convince ourselves that we are living correctly and that God would be pleased with us. As I pondered this, I thought of this verse:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

Only God can examine our hearts and see the sin that lies undetected even by our own well-intentioned introspection. The next verse in Jeremiah 17 says, “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind…” One of my favorite passages in the Psalms speaks to this also:

“Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:12-14)

Oh, Lord, search my heart! It is so easy to deceive myself, and even easier to deceive others. You, alone, know the hidden faults buried deep in my heart and mind. We are frequently handed honor and praise by those around us. Lord, teach us how to truly deflect that to You alone. How tempting to keep some of that praise for ourselves, just as Gideon asked only for one tiny token from each person. But you alone are God, and you alone are King. And you alone deserve all of the praise.

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

I love the story of Gideon… probably because it is one of the very few uplifting bright spots in the entire book of Judges! I also love it because I think most people will identify with it on some level.

In chapter 6, we will not be surprised to find our four step process repeating yet again:

Step One: Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…

Step Two: …and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.

Step Three: Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. (Judges 6:1-2,6)

So again, step four is coming: God will raise up a deliverer. This time it will be Gideon. Note how God calls Gideon -

Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” (6:11b, 12)

Oh, I love this! As my husband says, this is “gentle humor,” but it cracks me up every single time. :) Gideon is threshing wheat. [Now, I have been a suburban/city girl my entire life, so my understanding of the threshing of wheat is admittedly limited. For those of you who are equally agriculturally challenged, I will do my best to explain.] Threshing is removing the wheat berries from the stalk. In order to thresh the wheat, they would beat it out and then toss it into the air to allow the wind to blow away the chaff. What would be the best place to do this? A hillside. Remember – you’re looking for wind. But where do we find Gideon? A wine press! He’s basically hiding underground threshing his wheat in an exceedingly unproductive way (was he tossing it in the air and blowing as hard as he could??) – it had to be pretty humiliating and frustrating to do it this way. So why is he doing this? He’s afraid of the Midianites.

Now notice the address from the Lord (when you see “the angel of the Lord” in the Old Testament, it is usually a preincarnate appearance of Jesus! How do we know? Check verse 14 – suddenly it is the Lord talking to him. Often “the angel of the Lord” and “the Lord” are used interchangeably.) – how does Jesus refer to him? “Mighty warrior.” Seriously, it almost makes me laugh out loud.

It makes me laugh because it is ironic, but God isn’t making fun of Gideon here. God sees Gideon for the man He will make him to be! Oh, let that sink in!

All through chapter 6, “mighty warrior” does not seem to be Gideon’s appropriate title. He’s threshing in a wine press in verse 11. After God calls him to deliver Israel, Gideon answers in verse 15, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” In verse 17-21, Gideon gives the Lord the first test – he prepares a meal and fire comes from a rock and consumes it. That should be fairly convincing, one would think.

Next, he is told to go tear down his father’s altar to Baal and Asherah pole. He does it, but- “because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.” (27)

Next, he prepares to go to war against Midian. Notice what he prays in verse 36: “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised…” It’s not that Gideon isn’t sure what God wants here, or that God’s revelation hadn’t been crystal clear. He wants to know if God will really do what He already promised He would do!

In order to “clarify” that God would keep his word, we now have the famous “Gideon’s fleece” accounts. First he wants the fleece to be wet and the ground to be dry. God does it. Then he wants the fleece to be dry and the ground to be wet. God does it again!

[Side note here: I have often heard people talk about "setting out a fleece." Remember, just because it's in a Biblical narrative does not mean that it is a good example. Gideon's fleece was not a request for clarification - it was a lack of faith. In Matthew 12, the Pharisees come to Jesus and ask to see a miraculous sign. He replies, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign!"(36) They knew and had seen more than enough - they were simply choosing not to believe. You don't need a fleece! Just believe Him and obey!]

Chapter 7, though, is where we see what God saw in Gideon. He obviously did have the potential to be a brave leader, and he does it with gusto. Gideon starts out with 32,000 men ready to battle against Midian. God whittles the army first to 10,000, then to 300. Three hundred Israelites against the Amalekite and Midianite armies – check out how they are described.

The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore. (7:36)

Wow. This does not look like an even battle. God is making it abundantly clear to the Israelites that when they are victorious it is NOT because of them – it is because of their God.

There is one more reference to our old fearful Gideon – I love that God knows him so intimately and reassures him without being asked: the night before the battle, God tells Gideon,

“If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” (7:10-11)

I’ll let you read the rest of the story on your own – it’s a good one! Make sure you read it!! [We'll talk more in the next post about the rest of Gideon's life - he's not flawless, either.]

Back to our initial point: God sees Gideon for the man He will make him to be! On his own, Gideon is a wimpy, doubting, fearful man. With God at his side, he does amazing things. God sees past his weaknesses and sees who he will be when He is done with him.

No doubt, God has called each one of us to tasks that seem too big. We’re hiding in the winepress feeling attacked, and there is no way we feel up to doing the giant things God has told us to do! Some days just staying up with the housework seems too big for me, let alone raising and protecting my children in a wicked culture, ministering to my husband when he has hit the wall, teaching God’s Word to women who have twice my years and experience, and sharing the Truth with a lost and hurting world. I want to hide under the afghan on the couch and disengage. Step back from ministry, think about sending the kids to a traditional school, “protect” myself.

What are your challenges? Chronically ill or disabled loved ones? Rifts and conflict in the family or your church body? A difficult marriage? A hostile work environment?

Remember – God sees you for who He will make you to be. He knows who you are without Him. He’s not impressed by us, but He knows His own strength and power to transform us and use us (despite our own failures!). In your weakness, believe in His strength.

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:13-14

What happens when the men God calls won’t lead?  This question is one of the most frequently raised when I’ve been in groups of women discussing female versus male roles in leadership.  The story of Deborah is often used as an example of a female leader interchangeable with men… rightly so?  Let’s take a closer look.

The first three verses of chapter 4 show that our pattern is repeating again:

Step One: After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD.

Step Two: So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years,

Step Three: they cried to the LORD for help.

So, then step four will follow: God will raise a judge to deliver them.

The first interesting thing is that the judge at this time is Deborah. Importantly, Deborah is referred to as a judge, but she calls Barak and tells him that God has called him to deliver the people from the oppression of Sisera.

Deborah is not the same type of judge as the other main characters in this book – she is described as a prophetess, and although the same word for “judge” is used for her as many of the other judges, she was not in a warfare/deliverer role. God has called a man to fill the role of deliverer.

However, when Barak is told that God wants to use him as the deliverer of Israel, he refuses to do it alone!

She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’” Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” (4:6-8)

Why does he want Deborah to come with him?  Notice that Deborah is just the mouthpiece – she is simply delivering a message to Barak from the Lord.  It is GOD who promised to lure Sisera, it is GOD who promised to deliver him into Barak’s hands.  But Barak is seeing with human eyes – he directs his request for “back-up” to Deborah, not to God.   The wording here reminds me of something we heard Moses say back in Exodus, but in very different circumstances – he, too, was begging for Someone to go with him.

Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here...” Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Exodus 33:15-18, NASB)

Through a long process of being taught and refined by the Lord, Moses had been transformed in God’s presence. He understood that if all else failed, he just wanted to be in the presence of God!  If Barak really understood what it meant that “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you,” there is no way he’d be depending on Deborah.

I firmly believe that God made male and female with very different roles. Some have asked if Deborah was acting as judge and prophetess because a male was not close enough to God to fill that role. I’ll leave that for you to chew on as I have no clear answer on that from the text! However, it IS clear that Deborah wasn’t meant to be in battle gear leading the army – that was Barak’s job. His lack of courage and commitment apart from his female counterpart is evidence of a lack of faith in God, not an argument in favor of a feminist interpretation of Scripture.

Deborah continues to function in this account as a cheerleader of sorts, urging Barak to believe God and obey.  She tells Barak that she will accompany him, but that the honor will not be his.

So, do I believe that women can lead?  Yes, I believe we CAN.  I don’t think it’s best.  I think there are situations in which God uses women to influence His people in the right direction – and if they are godly women they try very hard to hand the reins over to male leadership.  When those men refuse, God can choose to use women to carry out His plan… but I believe this story is an illustration of the fact that this is not a good situation – it will have negative ramifications for individuals and for the group as a whole.

Because Barak refused to believe God and obey in faith, a woman was forced into battle, and another woman ended up being the one to kill Sisera.  And as we’ll discuss tomorrow, it’s never a good sign for society when women are nailing people to the ground with tent pegs!