Did Jephthah set fire to his kid?

All the following scripture is from Judges 11:29-40:

29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 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.”

The Bible introduces us in this chapter to Jephthah as a mighty warrior but context is everything, so let's start with that. Jephthah is the only son of his father to be born of a prostitute. Due to this blemish, his other brothers forced him to flee so he would not receive any part of his father's inheritance. He then settled in the land of Tov, likely with other people of similar circumstance. The elders of Gilead must have heard of Jephthah's reputation and invited him back to help fight the Ammonites. While he was still bitter about being exiled, the elders eventually made him an offer he could not refuse, that changing his status from exile to a normal member of society.

As mighty and cunning as Jephthah was, there is a lot riding on this victory, so he turns to God for aid and makes a vow, should God bless him with such a victory. To make vows is not a bad thing but we are not to approach God with an attitude of deal making. Also, one is to be wise in vow making in order to avoid unintended consequenses, which in this case, is going to impact whatever or whoever walks through that door. But how are we to read that impact?

Hebrew scholars point out the vow consists of two parts, that the one who comes out shall belong to God and Jephthah will offer he/she/it up as a burnt offering. Important to point out here is ambiguity in the Hebrew of whether these two parts are connected by "and" or "or". It is reasonable to suggest that depending on what came out the door, either it is to be dedicated to God, or sacraficed as an offering.

A key thing to remember for the rest of this passage of scripture, the Holy Spirit has come upon Jephthah, thus he will not be guided in such a way that his actions and God's blessing upon them will not contradict the commands of scripture. God will not set down instructions to not do human sacrifice as the pagans did and then tell Jephthah to do a human sacrafice.

32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

Jephthah goes off to battle and God blesses him with a great victory.

34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child.Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.” 

It was common in Jephthah's day that upon return from a great battle, the women would exit their homes in an attitude of celebration to greet the returning men. It is unlikely Jephthah would not have known this when he made his vow. He now realizes the unintended consequences of hasty decisions, but he knows that what was solemnly vowed to God, must be performed, even though it may be grievous to everyone concerned.

36 “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. 37 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.”

May we all have the humble spirit displayed by this young woman. She gives no indication of bitterness or of any desire to avoid the vow. Make no mistake, this will be of great cost to her but she obediently submits to her father and to God. She asks only to mourn for her future with her friends. Notice the focus here is not on her life, but rather her never going to be married, thus to remain a virgin. Something that would seem trivial if her life was to be sacrificed. But in a society where women are valued for their ability to have children, this for her is quite the sacrifice, and not just for her. There will be no family line for Jephthah to pass anything to as his daughter is an only child.

38 “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

Jephthah grants his daughter her request and true to her word, she returns and his vow is carried out. She lives a life of seclusion, dedicated to God, never to know a man. Again, a focus on remaining celibate, not on death.

From this comes the Israelite tradition 40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

This tradition is never mentioned again and was likely something done only during her lifetime.

The story of Jephthah is a tragic one, but also an example faith and holding true to one's word.

And the land had rest from war...

Near the end of Joshua's life,  Israel had conquered much of the land that God promised them.  The land had been long dominated by people who lived lives far from God, immersed in paganism and idolatry, enjoying to excesses every aspect of their lives.  But God can even use unbelievers and their desires and ambitions to accomplish His will.

For it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.  -Joshua 11:20

 There is a season for all things, a time for war and a time for rest.  During Joshua's time of rest, there is a beautiful moment.  The people of Reuben, Gad and half-tribe of Manasseh grew concerned that over time, they would be forgotten by those living west of the Jordan river, and would be denied access to worship at Jerusalem.  Their solution was to build a monument in the form of an altar, not to be used for worship, but to be used as a witness, a reminder that they also believe the Lord is God.  The western tribes, believing this was erected for sacrifices, were offended and afraid of God's judgement coming down on them all, so they set out to correct the issue, one way or the other, but peace and wisdom prevailed.

When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, it was good in their eyes. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. And the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”  -Joshua 22:30-34

Today, according to the media, we live in tumultuous times.  Fear and dread are always before us.  The future is uncertain but have peace that all is working according to God's perfect will.  Take some time to rest and remember, the Lord is in your midst as well.  Trust Jesus to be your witness that the Lord is God!

No, Jesus is not accepting of other religions.

Having a slow day at work, I got involved in a discussion about the morality of Trump after a Facebook friend posted a Fox News opinion piece with video.  Trump definitely has issues, but he is certainly not the worst we've had in the White House, as colorful as his issues are.   There are certainly areas of growth and improvement he should consider, but that is a conversation for another day. 

 As is usually the case when having these discussions with Alt-Left folks, to bolster their case they usually bring in other unrelated topics as their primary thrust of argument runs out of steam, like in this case, they turned to bashing the religious right's views on homosexuality.  One writer suggested Billy Graham went to hell because of his preaching against the sin, which is laughable.  Another writer, trying to justify their case attempted to use the passage of Luke 9:51-56, claiming Jesus was accepting of everyone, even other religions and thus would accept homosexuals,  She concentrated on the passage where Jesus rebuked the Apostles for suggesting the village should be nuked.  For reference, the scripture passage is as follows:

 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him.  But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.  And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”  But he turned and rebuked them.  And they went on to another village.                                                                  -Luke 9:51-56  ESV

 In the above passage, Jesus is making his final trip to Jerusalem near the time of the Passover.  By this point, history had left Samaritans as a mixed race people following religious customs not in agreement with the Jews, thus the two groups would generally not get along.  Samaritans had little tolerance for Jewish religious customs and were particularly hostile to them during the times of the various festivals when travelers would be on the road days at a time. 

In this case, we see that they refused to provide shelter to Jesus and his companions.  Well, this irritated the sons of thunder, James and John, so they inquired of Jesus if they could call down fire from heaven, to punish the village.  It is not that Jesus believed the action was wrong generally, but that the punishment in this case did not fit the crime.  Hearkening back to Elijah, when fire was called down, it was because of a direct challenge of who was sovereign over Israel, Elijah or Ahaziah, and their respective gods.   The Samaritans, while not being hospitable, were posing no such challenge.

Jesus, did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.  God is a jealous god and we are commanded to have no gods before him.  Accepting of other religions, I think not!  Jesus taught love and I believe we should love all people and I have no problem respecting them and their beliefs, but he also taught repentance, for He is a just god and he will exact his justice on those that do not accept Jesus.

Please don't use this angle to justify your sin and demand my acceptance of it.

It's up to us!

 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God[a] that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,[b] then you shall live and multiply, and the Lordyour God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,  I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,  loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”                                                                                                    -Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Next time someone complains about the direction our nation is going, remind them it is of their own doing.  God has not been silent on our morality or lack thereof.  The text is quite clear.  But people more and more are discounting Him, and not just ignoring him but out right denying him.  I've seen it written that it is 2018, why should we follow the teachings of an ancient sky god.  They should open their eyes and look around and behold what a world without God is becoming.

I am continuing my re-read of the Old Testament and my eyes have truly been opened to the wisdom contained on those pages!