Ep. 70. Judges 10-12 | Jephthah

EPISODE 70

JEPHTHAH: JUDGES 10-12

The best part, in my opinion, of the Jephthah narrative is that it gives us a reasonable anchor point for our timeline. Our brains look for patterns, even seeing some that aren't actually there. So when we find ourselves halfway through the book of Judges, the inclination is to think we've made it about halfway through the approximately 350 years of the book. But we already know that not to be the case since we understand that the last five chapters of the book should likely occur at the beginning of the book. Jephthah does us the great kindness of mentioning that it has been "300 years" since the Hebrew people took a claim on the land of the Ammonites. He brilliantly summarizes the journey from Egypt to the Red Sea and down to Kadesh. He recounts the troubles they faced from Edom, Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Balak, king of Moab. Jephthah boldly says, "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."

Hebrews 11 mentions Jephthah as a man of faith, one who trusted God. So what do we make of Jephthah killing his daughter as an offering to God? I don't have answers for you except to say child sacrifice, though a common idolatrous practice, is never condoned by God. This is not a form of worship God ever requires or delights in. Remember, though God tested him, Abraham didn't have to sacrifice his son.

What, then, are we to conclude about Jephthah? I honestly don't know. It is a wild story without any commentary as to how God viewed this action. We can only point to God's attitude in other places about similar sacrifices and conclude that this action must fall into that same category. There is one other place where people mingled the worship of God with the worship of idols, but it was an act of rebellion and not viewed as authentic worship. (See 2 Kings 17, especially 30-32)

I wish I could say more on the matter, but I try my best to go as far as the Bible goes and to stop where it stops.

ADDITIONAL READING: Numbers 20:17; Numbers 21:21; Numbers 22-25; Hebrews 11:32; Ezekiel 16:20-22; Ezekiel 20:30-32