July 12th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

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

June 29th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Picture from http://www.travelmania.com

While I am preparing for She Speaks, I thought we would take a “field trip” back through some old posts for the next few weeks.  I decided to repost our series on the book of Judges because this book is so eerily applicable to our day.   I pray this “mini-series” will be an encouragement and challenge to you as we walk through this fascinating book together!

If you have never read through the book of Judges, or haven’t done so in a while, this book will probably surprise you. Nay, shock you. If someone decided to make a movie based on Judges, I’m pretty sure none of us would go see it. The stories in this book go from bad to worse to horrifying.

So, this brings up a question: Why is this in the Bible to begin with? If you haven’t read these Bible study posts from the beginning, I encourage you to take a minute to read “So Why do we Have the Bible?“. Remember that narratives in Scripture are not given to us to be moral guides, IE: “Samson slept with a prostitute, so it must be OK.” Clearly, this violates the rest of Scripture. It’s actually hard to find a story in Judges that doesn’t violate the clear commands in the rest of Scripture!

To figure out what is happening in this book, we need to look back at the end of Joshua. In You Can’t Add God to Your Pantheon, we looked at the people’s response, or lack thereof, to Joshua’s final plea to abandon the foreign gods among them and commit themselves to serving God alone. They were very enthusiastic about serving God, but seemed to be missing a major piece: throw out the foreign gods! Right there they have set themselves up for major spiritual failure which is vividly illustrated in the book of Judges.

There is another element of Joshua’s address that we need to look at, as well. Remember that as they enter the land, the entire army of Israel has wiped out the major coalitions of Canaanites, but as each tribe entered their own territories allotted to them by God they were to finish “mop up” operations and completely wipe out the Canaanites.

First, read Joshua 23:5-13. The people had been told to drive the people out of the land. Why? The Canaanite culture was wicked and polytheistic. The Israelites’ possession of the land was more than just God giving the land to His people; He was also wiping out a stronghold of sin and idolatry. Joshua clearly warned them what would happen if they failed to do this and had association with the people of Canaan:

“But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you. (Joshua 23:12-13)

Now, quickly scan through Judges chapter 1:

The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots. As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak. The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor. Nor did Asher drive out those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob, and because of this the people of Asher lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land. Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the house of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.

Judges 1:19-21, 27-35

The mop-up operations were a giant failure. Why do you think they couldn’t drive the Canaanites out?  Do you think God had commanded them to do something impossible… or did this display a lack of faith?

Tomorrow we’ll discuss more… and give a better understanding of what we’ll be looking for through the book of Judges.

June 16th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

One of the most common things that confuses people as they begin to read and study the Bible for themselves is that it isn’t in chronological order!  Parts of it are… parts of it aren’t… and a whole bunch of the Old Testament overlaps into a confusing jumble!  Today I’m over at Scripture Dig giving a general framework of the timeline of the Bible – hopefully it will help you keep that “big picture” in mind as you study!

So, come dig in!

January 6th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Yesterday, Teri Lynne shared some fabulous suggestions for where to get started reading God’s Word.  Perhaps you’re re-freshing a neglected quiet time routine, perhaps you just needed some fresh ideas for what to read, perhaps you’ve never really read the Bible for yourself.

No matter how much or how little you know about Scripture, reading the Bible for yourself will change you.

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

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Ephesians 6:17

When you pick up your Bible, you are wielding a sharp sword.  Just like a person with no training recklessly swinging a sharp weapon around, we can do some damage to ourselves and others if we don’t know how to handle it!  On the other hand, it is powerful and effective when used with skill.  So today, let’s go through some “sword training” together.

Some of the Scriptures are written as poetry.  The book of Psalms is full of Hebrew poetry, but poetry also occurs throughout the Bible, sometimes in the middle of a narrative. Hebrew poetry is different than poetry we are familiar with – you can read a more thorough explanation here.  Figurative language is also an important element of poetry that can lead people to misinterpret the Bible or assume that the Bible is contradicting itself.  Again, you can read more complete discussions of recognizing and interpreting figurative language in these two posts – “How big are God’s hands?” and Understanding Figurative Language, Part Two.

Other portions of Scripture are known as “wisdom literature,” particularly the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.   Wisdom literature starts with the base assumption that God is Creator. As Creator, He embedded truth within the universe. Because God embedded order in His creation and His character is the standard for what is “good,” if we live according to His ways, life generally will go more smoothly for us. To ignore God’s principles is foolish and will usually destroy us. One important thing that we must understand with wisdom literature is that these statements are not promises we can claim, but rather they are observations of the way life usually unfolds. When Proverbs tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it,” (Prov. 22:6) this is not a promise! You can read more about wisdom literature here.

Other books of the Bible are comprised largely of prophecy.  The second half of the Old Testament consists largely of accounts of prophets that God sent to His people (Israel).  They were God’s messengers – rebuking sin, calling for repentance, and warning the people of the judgments to come if they did not repent and obey the Lord.  Once again, the books of prophecy assume that we know the requirements of the law, as well as God’s promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience that He made to the nation of Israel. The Old Testament prophets also occasionally gave more information about the Messiah who would come (Jesus), speaking both of His first coming as recorded in the gospels and His second coming which is explained in greater detail in the book of Revelation.  Revelation, of course, is also prophecy.

*Phew* – that was a lot of ground.  Are you still with me?  Anyone?  Raise that hand a little higher now…

Now, some sword-handling basics:

1. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us.  It’s primary purpose is not just to be a historical record, nor is it primarily a manual of how we should live.  The Bible’s purpose is to reveal God’s glorious nature, ways, and His unbelievable quest to create relationship with humanity.

2.  Before we apply the Scripture to our lives, we need to understand what it is saying. Scripture has one primary intended meaning – there can be a multitude of personal applications drawn from a particular verse, but that verse still means the same thing no matter who is reading it.  Instead of asking “what does this verse mean to me?,” we must start with “what does this verse mean?” After answering that question we can then productively look at how that truth might apply to various aspects of our lives.