Seeing God Despite The Mess We've Made (In Search Of Truth, Hebrews 11:32- Jephthah)

The names listed in v. 32 seem to represent the totality of those in history who displayed faith, since the list of deeds followed by "who" in verse 33 can probably not all be accounted for in the lives of only those on this short list of names.

With this in mind, we're going to take a brief look at each of the people listed here and make a few observations about their faith based on what the Bible says about them. We'll look at Jephthah, whose story can be found in Judges 11:1 – 12:7.

Jephthah starts out as an underdog we can root for. The product of his father's time with a prostitute, Jephthah is kicked out of his home and community by his own brothers as an adult, denied any form of inheritance rights. But later when Israel was threatened by an enemy, the local leadership of Jephthah's homeland (who had apparently participated in Jephthah's banishment) requested that Jephthah come back and command their forces against the enemy, due to his reputation as a warrior.

The elders offered to make him their leader if he will come and fight for them. Jephthah tells them that if Yahweh gives the enemy over to him, he will be their leader. He returned with them, the people made them their leader, and Jephthah affirmed his part of the agreement before Yahweh.

Before resigning himself to battle, Jephthah attempts to peacefully resolve the situation with the enemy, but the enemy ignores his words. Then the spirit of Yahweh came upon him and he entered enemy territory. He seemed emboldened and empower by Yahweh, but then it all goes horribly wrong.

(Judges 11:30-31, ESV) And Jephthah made a vow 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.”

After this, Yahweh gave the Ammonites into Jephthah's hand and they were completely subdued. So when Jephthah returned home and his daughter came out of his front door to greet him, he was devastated. With his daughter's willing support, and after a period during which she mourned the fact that she would never marry, Jephthah "did with her according to his vow that he had made." (11:39)

There is some division among scholars regarding what exactly happened here. Some argue that Jephthah didn't literally sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering, since he should have known human sacrifice was forbidden by Yahweh (Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 12:31). They argue that he metaphorically offered her as a sacrifice by committing her to life-long temple service (as in Exodus 38:8) as a "living sacrifice". But the metaphorical concept of being a "living sacrifice" is not mentioned until after Jesus' resurrection (Romans 12:1) and life-long temple service would not explain the custom that developed from this incident, whereby Israelite women annually lament the fate of Jephthah's daughter for four days.

The uncomfortable, yet most plain reading of the text, indicates that Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering to Yahweh. However it's important to notice a few key details. First, historical books like Judges primarily exist to tell us what happened, not to provide Yahweh's commentary on events. Nowhere in this account do we see Yahweh approving of Jephthah's vow or requiring him to fulfill it. Yahweh's spirit had already begun empowering Jephthah before he made his vow. It seems that Jephthah still lacked faith in the outcome, though, and so attempted to "strike a deal" with Yahweh in hopes of assuring his success in battle.

Not only did Jephthah show a lack of faith with his vow, but he also revealed how influenced he had become by the Ammorite enemy he was going out to fight, who commonly practiced child sacrifice. Both he and his daughter had soaked up so many false ideas about God that they saw this as a legitimate vow to be offered to Yahweh.

Before this we've seen Rahab, Gideon, Barak and Samson all serve as examples of faith despite the obvious sin that was a part of their lives. But the idea that Jephthah should be an example of faith to us has been the hardest one for me to wrap my head around yet. And the author of Hebrews provides no justification of his choice to include Jephthah in the "Hall Of Faith". Where is Jephthah's faith?

I'll be honest. It's hard to find. And identifying it feels a bit like trying to make excuses for the horrible sin that overshadows his entire story. I can identify 3 times that Jephthah recognizes that Yahweh is the reason that Israel has success (Judges 11:9,11:24, 12:3), and once where he acknowledges Yahweh as the proper judge of human affairs (Judges 11:27). Jephthah was being hailed as a might warrior, but recognized that Yahweh decides the outcome of wars. Jephthah was treated extremely unjustly by his family and community, yet he trusted Yahweh and left judgment of mankind to him. Jephthah should have pursued truth more than he did instead of being influenced by popular beliefs of the day. It would have saved his daughter's life. But he lived in a dark time with more death and pain than you and I are likely to ever experience in our lives and still trusted God and not himself in the midst of that.


SO WHAT'S IN THIS FOR GEEKS?

Because I've been hurt and judged, I find myself feeling defensive quickly and also being judgmental of others. (What was that look about? Hey, they're judging me, aren't they!") I think many geeks ironically become judgmental of others because of the way they've been misjudged. But putting people in categories and boxes can close us off to what God might want to do or say through them.

We shouldn't be too quick to write off those who are caught up in sin and deception, assuming that God will not use them for good, let alone in a powerful or significant way. It's clear from the story of Jephthah that God uses, empowers and honors anyone he wants in order to accomplish good. Which means you and I can't afford to ignore even the words and actions of those who are self deceived or who are hurting us. Because God still may be using that nugget of faith in them to do or say something important amidst the rest of the mess they are making. And we don't want to miss out on anything God is saying or doing, no matter who it's coming from.