Much attention is given to Jephthah's vow, which put him in a moral dilemma, pitting Jephthah's foolish promise to sacrifice whatever comes out of his home against God's prohibition of human sacrifice. Yet, I would like to focus today on another not insignificant account, where 42,000 Ephraimites were killed. 

Thus there fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim (Judges 12:6).

Jephthah was a Gileadite, likely from either the tribe of Gad or the tribe of Manasseh. God raises him up to overthrow the oppression of the Ammonites. The Ephraimites are upset that they were not enlisted to help. Jephthah contends that he did ask, but they refused, to which the Ephraimites simply criticize Jephthah's heritage. A civil war results between these ethnic brothers, leading to the death of 42,000 Ephraimites.

Why this senseless killing? Moreover, why this senseless killing of ethnic brothers? Ephraim and Gad/Manasseh were brothers through Jacob. What is more, even the Ammonites were relatives of Israel, for Ammon came from Lot, who was Abraham's nephew. Yet, Jephthah struck Ammon "with a very great slaughter" (Judges 11:33).

As harrowing as the thought of Jephthah's sacrificing his only daughter as a burnt offering to God, this pales in comparison to the tens of thousands of Ammonite relatives killed and the tens of thousands of Ephraimite brothers killed. That we often look at this passage and focus on Jephthah's daughter shows how our hyper-sentimentality often clouds rational perspective.

Do we say we value life? We don't value life. We value what most immediately captures our imagination. We are captivated by the story of a mom that kills her baby by leaving him in her car on a hot day. We have a lesser reaction to the hundreds of thousands of Tutsis being hacked to death by Hutus in a campaign of ethnic genocide. But both of these are soon forgotten when our attention is turned to a viral media blitz of Kim Kardashian's backside. 

Life is fragile. We are like dust. A mere handbreadth. Yet, that God treats us with value amazes me. Therefore, I will not fret over my very petty and worldly concerns. I know that my life is but a vapor. My value comes from the Lord, and apart from Him I am nothing. We may live for a day or for many years. The circumstances of our birth strongly determine the extent and quality of our earthly lives. Fate and fortune, providence and grace, we are not the masters of our destiny. Even if we had some modicum of control in this life, this life is too short to matter. As for the eternal question, I choose to believe the biblical message over everything else. Without judging the sincerity of the billions who hold a different point of view, I will run my course, echoing the words of him who brought God's people into the Promised Land: "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15)."

Judges 11

²⁶ While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time?

Jephthah was pretty remarkable. He must have been a reputable man, full of integrity and virtue. I imagine he was from the beginning, early in his life. His argument reflects so much.

Being the son of a prostitute he was ejected from his home, having his possessions taken from him. A man not grounded in a spiritual discipline, which was treated so unjustly and surrounded his self with worthless men (cf verse 3) surely would have become worthless like his fellows or would harbor ill will or would seek revenge or at least desire it at an opportune time; but it does not appear Jephthah was this kind of man. In fact, I suspect it was because he was not this kind of man that he was able to lead worthless fellows and continue to increase his name among men to ultimately be a desperate choice of his brothers.

It would be even more remarkable if these traits developed afterwards. But because of the first and the last, I suspect he had these traits from an early point.

He was diligent. In verses 12-22 he lays out the history making clear the case and facts. This was likely taught to him at an early age by his community establish some honor. He retained in memory. He even accurately concludes rhetorically that 300 years have passed since a possible offense. He was sharp.

His reputation must have lent itself for war; they went to him when in trouble

⁵ And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.

His was a just man. He understood in clarity where people’s rights came from and was able to express when men acted beyond their rights.

²³ So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? ²⁴ 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. ²⁵ Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? ²⁶ While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time? ²⁷ I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong

He was merciful. Even after being wronged, he did not hate them. He still retained  a vested interest in his home town. Because he knew that he could lose, he knew that he could die, he knew that nothings is guaranteed and yet still decided to help, leaving it up to God, shows he did not go at this by a selfish motives. A self interested man, even after being offered headship, would have asked for more – the negotiating power was with him, didn’t they come to him?

⁷ 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?” ⁸ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.” ¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.”

He was faithful to God. He was mindful of him and acknowledged God’s hand  in his future, his past, and God’s continued sovereignty.

⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.”

²¹ And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.

²² And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²⁴ 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.

And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the LORD whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” (Judges 11:30, 31 NLT)

Have you ever made a vow to the LORD? Reading Jephthah's story should discourage you from ever doing it again. There is no benefit from making a vow. There is no Scripture that teaches that God is moved by vows. God is moved by faith and obedience. Vows are generally foolish and binds the one that makes them. Consider this instruction to Israel in the days of the Law:

“When you make a vow to the LORD your God, be prompt in fulfilling whatever you promised him. For the LORD your God demands that you promptly fulfill all your vows, or you will be guilty of sin. However, it is not a sin to refrain from making a vow. (Deuteronomy 23:21, 22 NLT)

While it is a sin to break a vow, notice the Scriptures add that there is no sin in refraining from making them. Jesus picks up on this in the Sermon on the Mount:

“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the LORD.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one. (Matthew 5:33-37 NLT)

Even with this instruction believers still take vows. James even emphasizes this commands:

But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned. (James 5:12 NLT)

Don't you know that if you make a vow, you are bound to keep it? This is true in the NT as well as the OT. It is better not to make a vow in the first place. But if you do, I would encourage you to do your utmost to fulfill your vows. But if you have already broken your vow or recognize that you made it in foolhardy haste and want deliverance from it, you should confess your sin to God for forgiveness and accept whatever consequences He may see fit to bring against you. 

If you touch a hot iron, you will get burned. If you break a vow to the Lord, there are certainly consequences. In Jepthah's case, it may have been nobler for him to confess his foolish vow and appeal to God to perhaps take his daughter's punishment upon himself. 

Early in my Christian walk, I made a foolish vow to the Lord. I told the Lord that if I could not overcome a certain challenge within a period of time, I promised to never enter any kind of ministry full time. That vow was made about twenty years ago. I have kept my vow to this day. I have confessed my foolishness, but I have chosen to keep the vow that I made. I share this with you so that none of you would make any such vows like I did. 

One of the tear-jerking stories in the bible is in today's reading!  At least for me.  Jephthah vowed to God,

 "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.”

 Whether he mad a vow in a rash manner or not, he faithfully carrid it out before the Lord.  Nevertheless today's text doesn't say specifically if what he did was right or wrong.  So I'm wondering if that was necessary to have his daughter face that tragic ending of her life since God strictly forbade human sacrifice seen in Deut. 12:31  which says,  "You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods."  Most sermons that I heard as I was growing up in Korea were about Jephthah being faithful to his vow to God even with such a tragedy.  It is understandable for preachers to give such a one-track-minded sermon because we were taught that church was the only place where we could show our faithfulness to God and, in order to make your church big, it was necessary to emphasize your unquestionable loyalty to church that you belong to.  However, now I say to myself, "Was it really faithfulness that he sacrificed his daughter?"  It seems to me now that his ignorance of God brought tragedy to himself and his helpless daughter.  No doubt that sincerity is a virtue of man's integrity, but the object of your sincerity and how you are sincere to it, I believe, is as critical as itself as we can learn it from how the teachers of the Law were while the Lord was walking with us on earth.  Their zeal for the Lord was second to none but made them blind to the Truth.  I pray that we all know we cannot be too scrupulous when it comes to the knowledge of God.  Let's absorb Him through His Word everyday to live for His glory!

There were many judges at one, I am assuming they kept the government as moses and joshua left it. So these who are mentioned as judged or ruled over israel were The moses or the Joshua of the day, right? They were at the top?

Yujin responds... The judges were similar to Moses and Joshua in that they were the spiritual and military leaders of Israel. One difference is that while Moses and Joshua led the nation as a whole, the judges tended to be over certain tribes or groupings of tribes rather than over the whole nation.

It's interesting how God uses Jephthah.  First, he's the son of Gilead and a prosititute mother.  Although he's agreat warrior is in not in line for any inheritance and is actually ran off by his brothers.  God is always using the underdog.  Second, Jephthah lead Israel during the time when one might say they are going through an identity crisis.  No true unified king to speak of and their lack of faithfulness to God continuing to bring God's judgment.  Although Jephthah is a great warrior he seems to have a very logical mind as well.  His dialogue with the king of the Ammonites is not an aggressive or intimidating one rather showing his understanding to God's deliverance of his people (v. 14-27).  To have a dialogue at all could be seen as unique by someone who likes to fight.  Third, as he advances to fight the Ammonites he makes a vow with God (v. 30-31).  This vow reveals either his lack of forthought or pride.  To me this is an odd announcement to make.  His heart may have been in the right place but when I think of what comes out of my door at home I don't initially think it could be something to sacrifice rather a person/family member.  The context of the passage leads me to believe this because God could have allowed a bull or goat or some other animal come through the door just as easily.  It's more like God is teaching him a lesson. 

There is zeal for God and there is prideful arrogance as well.  It appears Jephthah crosses the line. 

The fourth and final point of interest is that he does fulfill his vow and makes good on the sacrifice.  Quite the humbling experience.  Interesting man.