story of Jephthah's judgeship and his account begins in chapter 11 and it runs all the way through chapter 12 verse 7 and the length of that makes him a major figure in these lineups of judges. Now the one big idea in this passage is on the top of your handout and it's this At the core of our fallen nature is a profound self-centeredness that keeps us from caring for others. At the center of God's perfect nature is his unchanging love for those who do not care, even for him. This character flaw of self-centeredness exists in every human being, And that's why no mortal human can save us. Everyone is just too selfish to begin with. And then everyone has the same problem. When Adam fell, all of his offspring fell with him. That event is recorded in Genesis 3. And about that event, I like to say, exactly. Never underestimate the impact of the fall, because the fall changed everything. And ever since that day, each and every human being's natural inclination is to put themselves first, others second, and God a distant last. That's the reality of the human nature. The great story of the Bible, on the other hand, is about God who, at His core, cares for us even in our selfishness. But He not only cares for us, He saves us. And the book of Judges is given to us to show us this in real life terms of this God who saves. Now, our text today is a rather large piece of scripture. It divides nicely, however, into five parts, which I've noted on your outline, which is on the back of the handout. The parts are these. Yahweh and Israel in chapter 10, verses 6-16. Jephthah and Gilead in 10.17-11.11. Jephthah and the king of Ammon in 11.12-28. Jephthah and his daughter, verses 29 through 40, and then finally Jephthah and the Ephraimites in the beginning of chapter 12, verses 1 through 7. Now, in part 1, Yahweh and Israel, we covered this material back in September. So I'll summarize it. Once again, Israel falls into serious sins. They reject God and serve the Baals. That's the general term for the various gods of the neighbors, the surrounding nations around them. And for this apostasy, God again brings judgment. And this time, mostly from the Ammonites. We haven't met them before, the Ammonites. It's not what you do after the almonds are shaken out of the tree and they become almonds. This is a people group in the Middle East in ancient times. The Ammonites are oppressing the people of Israel. They've been doing so for 18 years, mostly on the east side of the Jordan River. That's the area of Gilead, you'll recall. But also on the west side, into the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah, and Benjamin. So for 18 years they've been oppressing them. Israel then cries out to God for deliverance. And remember, on three other occasions we've talked about this cry out. The Hebrew word is zaak, and it's a word that does not necessarily mean crying out in repentance. It's crying out in desperation. And again, they zaak, they cry out. And God says these terrible words in verse 13 of chapter 10. He says, I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods you've chosen. Let them save you in this time of distress. Desperate, Israel admits their sin, puts away the foreign gods. But you know what? Their sin is high-handed. High-handed sin is sin which is done in full knowledge of being sin and simply not caring. This is exactly what Israel has fallen into again. High-handed sin. And in the book of Leviticus, we learn that there is no deliverance from high-handed sin. But in the end, God is moved by his incredible compassion, his said love, and his exasperation, more than anything else, over their miserable condition. And it's in this context that we are introduced to Jephthah. It's important to notice that there are striking parallels that the writer of Judges has intentionally put into these two parts, Part 1, Yahweh and Israel, and Part 2, Yesha and the initial contact with the Gileadites. It's important to notice striking parallels and it becomes apparent when we compare Part 1 and Part 2, which we begin now with verse 1 of Chapter 11. So follow along as I begin reading there. Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah, and Gilead's wife also bore him sons. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, you shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another. Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. And worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him. After the time, the Ammonites made war against Israel. And when they did, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. And they said to him, Come, be our leader that we may fight against the Ammonites. But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress? It's crisis time in Gilead. The Ammonites are marshalling the troops for war and one of their own, Jephthah, a Gileadite, is described here as a mighty warrior and a mighty warrior is badly needed now in these times because there is no leader, no captain in Gilead. So as we become more familiar with Jephthah, we're going to discover five things about this guy. He is a man who is called. He's a man who is cunning. He's a man who is confessing. He's a man who's capable and he's a man who's callous. Now the problem with Jephthah is that it's not his military might, it's his mother. The son of Gilead, a tribal leader and a prostitute, Jephthah was driven out of his tribal home by his half-brothers. They were concerned for their own inheritance. rejected he went east to an area called Tob. Tob means good. And there he surrounded himself with a band of other outcasts, a band of brothers, and they became then outcasts led by an outcast. But now the elders of Gilead need a leader and they remember Jephthah. Now the parallels between part one and part two are too close to be accidental. Back in chapter 10, verse 10, when Israel is in distress, they did what? They cried out to Yahweh. They had previously rejected Yahweh, but now they needed Him. And in 11.5, we see that the elders of Gilead are in distress, and they call out to Jephthah, whom they have previously rejected. Now notice a second parallel here that in Yahweh's reluctance to save Israel back in chapter 10 verse 11 and following, Jephthah almost refuses to come to the aid of Gilead in verse 7 of chapter 11. Now neither the people of Israel nor the elders of Gilead are truly sorry for what they've done. They simply are desperate. And they are willing to use whatever means available. And guess what? Both God and Jephthah know this. And here we catch a glimpse of Christ in this little parable. These two parallels in this, these two parts here, actually form a short parable. The parable is reprised in a striking way in Acts 2. In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, Peter accuses Israel of rejecting the Savior by putting him to death. And then he calls on them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Do you see the parallel? Then, as now, the only hope for redemption is to call upon the one that they have rejected. And this little parable here in Judges is a fairly distinct shadow of the true judge and Savior, who is Jesus Christ. Now the parallels continue with Israel in chapter 10 and the Gilead elders in chapter 11. Both of them offer weak repentance. Yahweh and Jephthah both refuse. Then there's a further appeal. Israel, remember, puts away their idols and the elders of Gilead say, we're sorry. And Jephthah and Jephthah, Yahweh and Jephthah both agreed to come to their rescue. And here we see that Jephthah is indeed a cunning man, he's shrewd. But more importantly, we see here how God chooses all sorts of people for his redemptive work. Jephthah is what? Son of a prostitute, rejected by his family and the tribe that he so badly needed. And now he's surrounded himself with worthless fellows. By all outward appearances, he's a loser. He perhaps is a criminal. making a living by whatever means necessary. He probably should be in jail. Yet God chooses this man at this time to save Israel. The parallels here would not have been lost on the original Israelite readers because in times of distress they would have taken comfort in knowing that God often chooses the rejected to bring about deliverance and the Apostle Paul shares this truth with the New Testament church in his first letter to the believers in Corinth when he writes this, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even when things are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. The parallels clearly should not be lost on us either. So here's our first fill-in. God chooses the weak and the lowly to accomplish small and great things for His glory. Even me. Even you. When we trust God in times of uncertainty, we do so by simply showing up. Just showing up. And then he will use us then in benefit to others in surprising ways. But the first thing we have to do is show up. Pastor Steve mentioned in Sunday school today the fact that we are created in Christ likeness so that we might walk in the good works he has prepared beforehand. But we have to show up. And also consider the flip side of this issue. God uses people who we think he could never use to accomplish small and great things as well. What does that say then about how we should treat others? We should modify the way we look at others around us because you just never know who God will use to help us. God uses the weak, the lowly, what appears to be nothing, to accomplish amazing things. Now moving on to part three. When Japheth agrees to come and lead Gilead, he makes his commitment to them before Yahweh. That's in verse 11. And then part three in this text begins in verse 12, and is the interchange that occurs between Jephthah and the king of Ammon. This is an ancient Near Eastern example of diplomacy. In both these events, Jephthah reveals that he is a confessional man. He's confessed before Yahweh in verse 11 that he is coming to help Gilead and he reveals his confessional nature in the interchange now that occurs between him and the king of Ammon through emissaries. Because he shows that he believes God and understands how God has worked in history to give Israel the rightful possession of this land. Verse 12. The messenger to the Ammonite king says this of Jephthah through the messenger, what have you against me that you have come to fight against my land? The messenger comes back to Jephthah with the answer that's in verse 13 from the king, the king of the Ammonites answered, because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land. from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. And now, therefore, restore it peacefully. In verses 15 through 27, then, Yeftheg replies, in essence, that Israel did not wrongfully take anyone's land. In fact, he says, the record of our dealings with these other nations around us are quite clear in the historical record. In other words, in this section 15 to 27, he's saying, get your facts right. And we covered these events back in December 2013. So you probably remember that. I won't go into it. Well, actually, I will. This was during our series on numbers, and we covered this event. This is the second generation Israelites here. Israel had been forced to go around all of these nations. They had to go around the land of Moab and Edom because those kings refused to let them pass through. And they went all the way around and asked permission of the Amorite king, Sihon, as we see in the bottom there, in his land. And Sihon not only would not let them go through, he attacked them. So Israel responds in a defensive manner. They fought back. It's self-defense. And Yahweh, Israel's God, gave Sihon and Og, that's that other king to the north there, as Jephthah says in 23, the land was the Amorite land and Yahweh, our God, gave it to us. It's a divine gift. Get your facts right. Then to put a fine point on it, verse 24. Will you not possess what Chamash, your God, gives you to possess? And all that the Lord, our God, has dispossessed before us, we will possess. And then Jephthah goes on to point out that if anyone had a claim to the land in the past, it was the mole by King Balak. And he never pressed it. In fact, Jephthah points out, Israel has lived here for 300 years. What's the issue? And finally in verse 27, I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. The Lord, the judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon. But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him. Now once again, we see Jephthah, this confessional man, his theology is correct. Let the Lord judge the dispute. Now I want to point out two things here. First, in those times, people were serious about their gods. As 21st century Americans, we can't really truly imagine how the people of biblical times were connected to the supernatural around them. We can't imagine that. But we have to recognize that these people weren't stupid. They didn't really think that these lifeless idols had some life in themselves. But what they did know is that the powers and principalities behind those idols were real. The ancient idols today have been replaced by people in power. And there remains a spiritual power behind those people today that are active in the world. Now we tend to ignore this because we are so steeped in rationalism that like a fish doesn't know it's wet, we don't know that we're surrounded by a supernatural reality that is in fact more real than this one. Ancient people could and did see that because rationalism hadn't closed their eyes to that truth. So in verse 24, Jephthah tells the Ammonite king, possess what Chemosh has given you. Now commentators have had a field day with this one. Because Chumash was the god of Moab, not Ammon. Molech was the god of Ammon. Does the text make a mistake here? No. Instead, it correctly points to the fact that when the Ammonites laid claim to this land that was formerly Moab's, they rightly recognized Chumash as the god over it. Now we see the true meaning of Jephthah's words. Possess what Chemosh gives you, and we will possess what Yahweh gives to us. In other words, he says, let's see what the gods have to say about this. And when the king of Ammon would not listen, Jephthah said, let Yahweh decide. And Yahweh does, decisively. But before we get there, we need to consider the fourth part, Jephthah and his daughter, verses 29 through 40. Now, this part, part four, and then the following details of the Ephraimites in part five, they're tragic. Both tragedies center around words. One around a vow, the other around a password. The first tragedy is a result of being overzealous. The second tragedy is a result of pride, which is a form of zealousness. And here we see why Jephthah is the overzealous savior. Jephthah's vow now takes center stage in the narrative, and it begins in verse 29. Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. Now letting Yahweh decide is throwing down the gauntlet of war and Jephthah now demonstrates that he's a capable man, capable man. by putting together an Israelite army of fighting men from Gilead, Manasseh, Mizpah, which is his hometown, and the surrounding area. Then in verse 30 and following, we read of what Jephthah had done just prior to that. Jephthah made a vow, it says, to the Lord and said, If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. For a confessional man, this is a surprising vow to make. But consider this, up to this point, Yahweh has played no active role in this narrative. Jephthah has spoken about Yahweh he has spoken before Yahweh but God has not spoken to Jephthah as he did to Gideon or Barak or Deborah before them Jephthah has been called and commissioned by men not by God and he is unique in this aspect among the judges we've met so far Now furthermore, back in chapter 10, verse 16, we read that Yahweh had become exasperated with Israel's cry. But we're not told what he's going to do. Now the Spirit comes on Jephthah, and that tells us that God will deliver Israel. But the particular wording in verse 29 applies that Jephthah does not know this. quickly assembling an army is the evidence of the Spirit on him. But at this point, just as Gideon had done before him with his fleece, Jephthah seeks assurance. And you know, this is actually a deep window into this man. Having been rejected as illegitimate, having his rights violated through no fault of his own, now he wonders, will God reject me too? and the stakes are high. He has everything to lose. Formerly, he was an outcast. Now he's the captain of the military and the leader of the tribe of Gilead. If he loses the war, he loses everything, including his life. Think how important victory was to Yefim. And the irony is that we know his fears of rejected are groundless because the Spirit's on him. But he doesn't know that. It's like the opening of the book of Job. We're watching these events surrounding Jephthah from a different vantage point than he has. We know the Spirit's on him. He doesn't. And he then takes this extreme measure to secure what we know has already been given to him. He makes a vow. The vow is a bribe, in essence, as the elders offered something to Jephthah, now Jephthah offers something to God. Yet even in this, his cunning comes through. The vow is specific. I will offer a burnt offering if you give me victory over the Ammonites. But he doesn't say who the victim will be. It was not an impulsive vow, it was shrewd and cunning, and that's in keeping with his character. Now we've come to expect some really good warfare footage in these narratives in Joshua and Judges, but this time the victory gets only one verse of treatment. The battle is decisive, the Ammonites are defeated, but the center of the story is now shifted to this vow and to Jephthah and his daughter. And the outcome is the worst possible outcome. Follow along from verse 34. Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. As soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow. And she said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord. Do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies on the Ammonites. Now we gasp even before Jephthah does. His daughter, his only child, has come out tambourine dancing, delighted to see her father return safe from the battle. And is shocked when he tears his clothes in grief. But her joy is short-lived and You can't help but think of another only child, Isaac, the only son of Abraham, who was also destined as a burnt offering. Listen to what Barry Webb says in his commentary. Through all of this, Yahweh remains silent. In this respect, there is a terrible contrast with the story of Abraham and Isaac. Genesis 22 and Judges 11 both feature a father faced with the prospect of sacrificing and only. In Abraham's case, the obligation is divinely imposed. Jephthah incurs the obligation through his own voluntary act. In Genesis, a substitute is provided. In Judges, there is none. In Genesis, there is a voice from heaven. In Judges, the heavens are silent. And here in Judges, the outcome is precisely the opposite of that in Genesis. Abraham would have descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven, but for Jephthah, no descendants at all. Whether or not Jephthah should have kept his vow, he clearly thought he had to, and there was no voice from heaven to tell him otherwise. He was left to reap the consequences of his folly, and his daughter, like a lamb caught in the thicket, paid for it with her life. If laying his cause against the Ammonites before Yahweh to judge was Jephthah's greatest act of faith, his attempt to bribe him with a vow was his greatest folly. Did he sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering? People have tried to work around that one for almost 3,000 years. The ancient Israelite scribes believe that he did. Some older commentaries in English propose various workarounds, but usually at the expense of the plain sense of the text. My limited but fairly exhaustive study this week leads me to conclude, along with a number of scholars that I respect, that Jephthah did indeed sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering. Here's our second fill-in. It is the height of human presumption and folly to think that I can offer anything to God in exchange for His favor. That's the height of human presumption and folly. Jephthah's tragedy was of his own making. His vow was wrong. because it was unnecessary and it displayed his lack of trust. He was sadly mistaken to think that God ever works on a quid pro quo basis. That's the basis of you, I'll give you this if you give me that. God never works that way, never. Yesa's public expression of confidence in Yahweh before all of Israel was proven to be empty. when he made this vow. It was wrong to make, and he compounded the sin by fulfilling it in violation of the clear statements in the Mosaic law against such an act. A word from Solomon is sufficient for those with ears to hear. Ecclesiastes 5.2. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. Finally, in the closing reference in verse 42, Jephthah the Gileadite brings us back to the first mention of him back in verse one and reminds us of his origins. His origins as a guy who was rejected, surrounded himself with worthless fellows, And it prepares us for the development that's about to take place in the final episode of this narrative, this fifth part. It's in verses 1 through 7 of chapter 12. And there we read that the Ephraimites cross the Jordan to meet with Jephthah and to berate him for not including them in the fight. Now, maybe berate is a bit soft because they said, we're going to burn your house over you with fire. Now Gideon faced these same prideful Ephraimites, and he handled the issue diplomatically, but Jephthah, because he was this sort of angry guy, callous guy, Jephthah, true to his origins, is combative, and he points out in verses 2 and 3 that he did call them, and they didn't respond. Besides, he says, what you refuse to do Yahweh has done for me. another gauntlet thrown down. And before the fighting's over, 42,000 Ephraimites are dead. Yet those men captured the crossing points of the Jordan. The Ephraimites were on the west side. They had to get back across. And everyone attempting to cross over to the west at any of the crossing points had to give this password. Now, sure, they all had that password protect feature that you get in Norton. Well, maybe they didn't have that. Well, surely they had their passwords in Excel so they could remember them. Well, they didn't have Excel then. And just like the vow and the overzealousness that that indicates, again, we have a word that shows us the overzealousness of the Savior. Anyone crossing into Ephraimite territory had to give the password, Shibboleth. Now, I lived near Boston for a long time, and if I asked someone where they're from and they say Medford, I know they're not from Oregon. Because in Oregon, it's Medford. In Massachusetts, it's Medford. In the same way, the Ephraimites had a problem pronouncing that soft S-A, shibboleth. Instead, they said sibboleth. and Sibyleth had deadly consequences, literally. The Ephraimites show us, it's a gateway here into what's going to be developed now in Judges. It's an inter-tribal warfare that is going to claim thousands of lives. Now, no one's smiling because these stories are tragic. This is tragic. Ammon is subdued, Israel's delivered, but there's the grave of Jephthah's only child and the lifeless forms of the prideful Ephraimites as the consequence. But that's what the writer wants us to see. That's what the writer wants us to know. As I said in the beginning, at the core of our fallen nature is a profound self-centeredness that keeps us from caring about anyone other than ourselves. But God's action to use a flawed individual like Jephthah shows us that at the center of his being, of His perfect nature is His unchanging love said for those who do not care, even for Him. And perhaps you feel as I do after reading these accounts and judges, why does God continue to contend with these people? Why does He do it? No, I know. God said love. We've talked about it a lot. Unfailing faithfulness. Yes, we've talked about it a lot. But why? Why does he have unfailing love for these people? Now, earlier I mentioned that some people have questioned the validity of the text because of that reference to Chumash as the god of the Ammonites in verse 24 of chapter 11. And in fact, as we've discussed, the Ammonites and Jephthah correctly understood that if the land rightly belonged to Ammon, then Chemosh would give them the victory. But there's something more to that statement than we first think, and here's why. As Moses was about to die, and the leadership of God's people would pass to Joshua, Yahweh spoke to Moses and gave him a song to sing. to the Israelites. The song was a means for people to remember. And God explained the purpose of that song in Deuteronomy 31 verse 20 and following, where it says this, When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them. and despise me, and break my covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness, for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring." What follows in Deuteronomy 32 is a song of Moses, and according to Revelation 15 verse 3, all of the saints will sing this song as the end of time approaches, along with the Song of the Lamb. And in the Song of Moses, in verses 8 and 9, we find this, When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord's portion is His people. Jacob His allotted heritage. These verses link directly back to Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel. It was then that God divided the peoples of the earth according to the borders He determined and assigned the authorities that would be over them. At that time God chose His people. Jacob they are called. Yet Jacob Later, Israel did not exist then. Before they were a people, they were His people and His portion. Why does God continue to save Israel in these darkest of days? Because they are His portion. His heritage, selected by Him, preserved by Him, and reserved for Him for all eternity, over all the others who are apportioned to lesser powers and authorities, who will one day be destroyed. These people God has chosen, they are won by the blood of the Lamb. In Israel's case, their sins were held in escrow until Christ would die for them. In our case, He has died for our sins. Jesus Christ is the Savior to whom all these lesser and failing saviors point. Do you want to see Christ in judges? Then see the love that transcends all of Israel's sins and failures and idolatries and rebellion. That's Christ here. In spite of themselves, God will continually save them because they are His portion, and they will be and are His portion, redeemed and secured by Christ. Jacob continues in this redemptive storyline as the church Here's our last villain If I have put my faith in Jesus Christ Then I am of Jacob the Lord's portion His allotted heritage and I cannot be lost Cannot be lost Jephthah's vow was an if-then proposition. If you give me the Ammonites into my hand, then I will offer a burnt sacrifice to you. Well, God makes an if-then proposition as well. He says, if you believe, then you are mine. Furthermore, more strikingly, And even more importantly, Jesus says in John 10, that if you are mine, then you will believe. The difference is Yefta was mortal and flawed. God is eternal and perfect. And if you haven't done so yet, will you accept God's offer through Christ? And if you have accepted Christ as your Savior, then you are most blessed. So live in the light of the reality that God has chosen you as his portion. Do not be drawn away to live like those who are not his. Instead, we're called to live to glorify Him as we stand confidently in His promise, the promise that has played out throughout history, throughout the pages of redemptive history. And all of those things that we know are true. And live to be other-centered as Christ was when He put aside His majesty and came in humility to secure God's portion and His heritage for all eternity, which is you and me. And that's all the application we really need, because that's all the application we can handle. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the long-suffering, loyal and faithful, unchanging love that you have for us. It's so amazing that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Father, thank you for revealing the source of your unfailing love, your decision in eternity past, carried forward into time and space to redeem a people as your portion and heritage. Thank you, Jesus, for humbling yourself, taking on human flesh, leaving behind all the rights and privileges of heaven to come to earth, to be rejected and scorned, be put to death by the hands of evil men, who unknowingly bring about, through the ultimate rebellion that failed, the spectacular results of the redemption of your portion and heritage. And while we don't understand all these things, we rest in the assurance that comes to us through your Spirit. that indwells us. So help us to remember what we know, to depend in times of struggle and temptation on you and to be increasingly a people who glorify you in all we say and do, in how we treat others and how we serve. And I pray if there's anyone here today who has yet to accept your grace, that your spirit would move in them to do so even now. And for all of those who are your children, I pray that you would bring the truth of this text and the incredible love and grace that's displayed here, the compassion we see to our minds in the days ahead, to give us the strength to avoid temptation and to live in obedience for your glory alone. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.