Introduction: Jephthah's Act of Worship Considered in the Broader Context of the Book of Judges

The book of Judges is often misunderstood as if the main characters are given to us as examples of how to live. In spite of God's having worked through them and having responded to their faith, the "heroes" and "heroines" of the book are generally set forth to show us how not to please God. Nowhere is this truer than in the case of Jephthah, who thought that he was offering service to God when he killed his own daughter in fulfillment of an impetuous vow. (Cf. John 16:2.) Old Testament believers are the saints of God, not because of their virtuous lives lived out in moral perfection, but because God in his grace and mercy declared them righteous through their faith in him. They, like us, were right with God by grace alone, received through faith alone, and the object of their faith was the Messiah to come.

The Theme of the Book: Judges as an Ethical Farce

The theme of the book of Judges is given at least four times: "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." (Judges 17:6; Judges 21:25.) "In those days Israel had no king . . ." (Judges 18:1; Judges 19:1.)

While it is fully God's Word, infallibly given by the Holy Spirit, without error, the book of Judges is also a fully human book. As such, it functions as a kind of monarchist tract, and all of its "heroes" and "heroines" are deeply flawed, their great deeds being done by faith in God, (Hebrews 11:32ff.) rather than flowing out of their virtue or the consistency of their character. One is compelled to see that the book as a whole was written to illustrate what happens when "every man" does "that which" is "right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6; 21:25, KJV.) Not a pretty sight! Therefore, it not only prepares the way for the coming of the King of Kings, David's greater Son, but it also serves as a double warning to us: first, to remember what we are still capable of in spite of all that God has done for us and in us, if we begin to ignore the Word of God; and secondly, when God uses us to do something for his glory, to remind us that it is simply his grace working in us and through us -- "for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." (Philippians 2:13.)

The people of Judges are not altogether unlike us: they were part of the Covenant Community, struggled with sin and unbelief, and sometimes failed grievously to please God. Yet, in spite of their manifold flaws, they were, nevertheless, mightily used of God to do extraordinary things through their faith. (Hebrews 11:32ff.) The Spirit of God came upon Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson, as men anointed with the Holy Spirit. (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14.) As we run our race, many of them are there in the heavenly grandstands, cheering us on in the good contest of faith. (Hebrews 12:1.) Of course, they were on the other side of the Cross from us, and so they lacked a measure of the "fullness, evidence and spiritual efficacy" in the means of their Spiritual nurture that we now enjoy under the New Testament.(1) But many of them truly knew and loved God. They are the saints of God, but of course, not necessarily all of them, but they were part of the visible people of God.

Here we meet the sinister assassin, Saint Ehud, (Judges 3:15ff.) and the only woman in history given the same title as the Virgin Mary, Saint Jael, who betrayed one of the most fundamental codes of the ancient Near East, when she "nailed" the hapless Sisera, who had secured sanctuary in her home. (Judges 4:17ff.) There is also the cowardly Saint Barak, who hid behind the skirts of the prophetess, Saint Deborah. (Judges 4:8.) Reading on we discover that "great man of faith," Saint Gideon, who had to have his faith bolstered up by no less than four miracles before he would do what he was told to do and attack Midian. (Judges 6:11-23, 38, 40; 7:9-15.) After his great victory, Saint Gideon accepted "seventeen hundred shekels" of gold from the plunder, and he "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 8:27.)

After Jephthah, we encounter the whore-loving, Saint Samson, (Judges 16:1.) who in spite of being a very witty fellow, has to go down in history as the man most easily fooled by evil women. (Judges 14:15-18; 16:5ff. 10ff., 13ff., and 15ff.) Except for one incident, Saint Samson was most scrupulous to follow the religious ceremonies of his "order," (Judges 13:3-5; 16:17.) but his lust drove him utterly to disregard God's solemn prohibition regarding Canaanite women. (Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:1ff.)

After Saint Samson, we come to Saint Micah and his devout mother (Judges 17:1ff.), these pious folk went to great lengths to please God, even securing their own, personal Levite to be their "father and priest" to conduct divine worship before their pious representation of their Lord. (Judges 17:10.) However, when a larger congregation came along, probably offering better "terms of call," the Holy Father left Micah to join the Danites to be their "father and priest." (Judges 18:19.) The pious Danites (Genesis 49:17.) "Went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city." (Judges 18:27.)

Then we come to that wonderful example of male chivalry, the Levite from Ephraim, who spent the night in Gibeah of Benjamin. The next morning, the Levite spoke to his beloved after she had been gang-raped all night, "Get up; let's go." (He really knew how to treat a woman!) When he realized she was dead, he demonstrated his mastery of the art of butchering, chopping her up into twelve pieces. (Judges 19:28-30.) It is also in Judges that we encounter the first casuists, the predecessors of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Faced with the dilemma of a solemn vow, on the one hand, and the loss of a whole tribe, on the other, they concoct a plan to allow the daughters of Israel to be stolen from their parents at a big dance. (Judges 21:15-23.)