Readings for today: Judges 11-12, Luke 9:1-27
When we travel to Ethiopia, we often head into the rural areas to visit village churches. As we walk along the dirt paths, we pass home after home. Most of them are mud huts surrounded by a little brush fence. In the evenings, we see children driving whatever livestock (donkeys, chickens, goats, sheep etc.) the family owns into the enclosure. This keeps the animals safe and the house warm. It’s a common custom all over the Middle East even to this day.
Hopefully, this places Jephthah’s tragic vow in context. He fully expected the first thing to greet him when he returned home to be a goat or a sheep or some other animal. He most certainly did NOT expect it to be his daughter! So when she comes dancing out of the home with her tambourine, he tears his clothes. He instantly regrets the vow he made. He feels trapped. And how does his daughter respond? Her reaction is perhaps the most surprising part of this story. She willingly lays down her life for her father. She faces her fate with courage and faith. Taking two full months to say goodbye and grieve with her friends. Two full months to weep over what could have been.
It’s a story that baffles us on a lot of levels. How could Jephthah sacrifice his own flesh and blood? How could Jephthah’s daughter willingly lay down her life? And where is God in all of this? The cultural distance between this world and our own is almost insurmountable. However, one key to understanding is Judges 11:23-24, “So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.” Everyone in the ancient near east believed in gods. Dagon for the Philistines. Chemosh for the Amorites. Molech for the Ammonites. Every tribe had their own deity. Make the right sacrifices and you were awarded with great wealth, military might, and political power. Make the wrong sacrifices and your deity would turn his face from you, resulting in defeat. Tragically, the same began to hold true for Israel. As they adopted the ways of the Canaanites, Yahweh ceased, on some level, to be the One True God and became just another tribal deity to be appeased. Thus, Jepthah’s tragic choice to sacrifice his daughter and her tragic choice to accept her fate. And the most important takeaway from the whole account is God’s silence. Nowhere does the Bible say God is pleased with Jephthah’s decision.
Excursus: One of the common mistakes that happens when we read the Bible is to assume God endorses everything that happens. This is a misapplication of the doctrine of inerrancy. Just because we believe the Bible is inspired and without error doesn’t mean that God approves of every action His people take. For example, just because David had multiple wives and was a man after God’s own heart doesn’t mean God approves of polygamy. The story of the Bible is the story of God meeting His people where they are. Speaking to them in the cultural context in which they live. Revealing Himself through categories they can understand. The same is true for today.
As Christians, we claim to worship the supreme God of the universe. We claim to know the King of kings and Lord of lords. We claim to be heirs of His eternal Kingdom. But do our lives reflect this truth? If we are not careful, we can fall into the same trap Israel fell into. Accommodating our beliefs to the ways of this world. Bringing God down to our level. Limiting Him to our tribe. Reducing Him to our personal deity. When we do, we remake God in our image and He ceases to be God at all.
Readings for tomorrow: Judges 13-14, Luke 9:28-62