Daily Prayer: A Weekly Devotional for Prayer-Filled Living. (Photo: Jesus Club kids acting out a Bible story.)

Daily Prayer ©2006
A Devotional Guide to Prayer and Prayerful Living

Published weekly by the Partners of
Lutheran Ministries of SW Oklahoma

Vol. 13, No. 15
Week of 
April 9, 2006
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Jephthah and His Vow
by Pastor Ronald Boelte

Jephthah, whose name means "he will open", is one of Israel's judges. He is a Gileadite, and was driven from his home by his father because he was the son of a harlot. He became an outlaw and with others in the band raided the land of Tod. He became known by many of the people in that area as a "mighty warrior". When the nation of Israel was attacked by the Ammonites, the people ask Jephthah to return and lead them in battle. Jephthah agrees and makes a vow to God that he would sacrifice whatever came out of his house to meet him if he returned victorious.

Many of the stories of Scripture ask us challenging questions. Often because they come from a world and a culture far from our own. We often are prevent from seeing and hearing these stories in the context of what God is trying to tell us, for get focused on what seems so bizarre that we recoil from the story. Often we do not see how the Israelites used these narratives to communicate theology to the people. Often there are many things in Scripture that recount past events that are not meant to be a positive model for our actions today. The book of Judges is stories with a negative context showing how the Israelites failed again and again to live as God intended. Even the leaders (Shophet, a judge or tribal military chieftain) are often flawed. They were only able to accomplish anything because God worked in spite of their failures. Jephthah is a good example of this. We are supposed to recoil from the monstrosity of His actions. The story was included in the biblical writings to show us how wrong his actions were, and there were no mistaking what the right actions should have been.

This story shows us how we often become confused in our own thinking about who God really is and how God works in our world. God did not need a bargain to work for Jephthah and he does not need bargains from us to work in our lives. This story has nothing positive except it is a heartrending model of what not to do.

 

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