Judges 11:34-12:15
“From Hero to Zero”
- Intro.
- Vs. 34-40 What’s behind door number 1?
Chapter 12
- Vs. 1-4 The gift of complaining
- Vs. 5-7 Eating their words
- Vs. 8-15 Illustrious plain servants
Intro
Like many of you I have tomatoes on the vine that have grown to a good enough size to eat but nonetheless have failed to vine ripen, their problem is not a constant enough supply of the warmth of the sun. This condition is far too common in the church today and it is for the same reason not enough constant closeness to the warmth of the Son of God. This morning, we shall look at the dangers of being spiritually ignorant as these two chapters 11:34-40 and 12:1-15 give us four stories to look at. The first three stories center around Jephthah who had great zeal for God risking his own life to save others, yet such zeal was no guarantee that he wouldn’t fall into spiritual ignorance with regards to the character of God. In Daniel 11:32 we read that “people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits.” True but people who are ignorant of God’s character will do stupid things and destroy lives. God transformed Jephthah into a “mighty man of valor” because the “Spirit of the Lord came upon him” but such transformation doesn’t secure that a person will not fall back into poor decisions. Our transformation is a continual process degree by degree over the rest of our earthly existence.
Chapter 11, Vs. 34-40 What’s behind door number 1?
Vs. 34-36 The vow Jephthah made was completely voluntary and God was not requiring a vow or any sign to fulfill his promise. It was completely unnecessary to manipulate God in doing what He already wanted to do “deliver His people though Jephthah”. He had utilized diplomacy with those who sought him out to defend the nations successfully. He had used diplomacy with the king of the Ammonites to get them to leave unsuccessfully. But friends, “You can never use diplomacy with God who knows the thoughts and intents of your heart. God doesn’t want to make a deal with you, He wants unconditional surrender!” The problem with Jephthah was not the sincerity of the vow or the zeal to carry it out. It was he fell out of touch with the nature and character of God and thought that to get what he wanted he would need to make a deal and carry it out. Folks, all we need to do to ensure God’s promises for our lives is simply believe that He is who He said He is!
I’m afraid that many have adopted a Physical workout mentality to spiritually that says “No pain, no gain” but the truth of the matter is that it is “His pain that has caused us to gain”! Jephthah thought that if he committed himself to something that was extremely unpleasant he could “buy” God’s grace. God’s grace is not for sale because it’s already been lavished upon us while we were still sinners. Jephthah still had the scars of the abandonment of his childhood and felt like he had to prove himself worthy to the only One who is worthy. What should have been a joyous occasion of the victory of God became a time of mourning because Jephthah had a faulty view of who God. Jephthah had made a foolish vow and keeping that vow would directly affect his daughter yet she says, “Dad, you’re a man of integrity don’t go back on your promise to God even if it changes my life.” (verse 36) What this reveals is that though Jephthah had a bad upbringing he had really changed and lived what he believed so that even his daughter knew it.
Vs. 37-40 Did Jephthah really kill his daughter? Well three things indicate that he didn’t:
- Jephthah knew his bible and therefore he would have known that to do such a thing would be against God’s word.
- Based upon these verses “She went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity . . . She knew no man,” These phrases indicate that Jephthah set his daughter aside for the tabernacle service and never married. What was at stake was her ever marrying a man and continuing on Jephthah’s genealogy.
- Jephthah is listed in the hall of faith and I doubt that in only serving 6 years he would have made that list if at the end he participated in a human sacrifice and surly Israel would not have a lament for four days commemorating human sacrifice.
This vow meant that his only child would remain a virgin and serve in the temple never knowing marriage or motherhood which means Jephthah would never be a grandparent and there would be no one to maintain his inheritance which you recall his brothers had ripped him off from.
Chapter 12, Vs. 1-4 The gift of complaining
Vs. 1-4 The second story deals with a national crisis as the prideful and obnoxious Ephraimites come complaining that they didn’t get enough recognition for the victory which they had chosen not to participate in. They were the kind of folks who talked tough after the battle! They are like far too many Christians today unwilling to engage the enemy but far too willing to fight their brothers and sisters. They had made the same mistake 85 years earlier with Gideon but totally miss read Jephthah. Gideon was willing to humor the Ephraimites to keep the nation united but Jephthah was not Gideon.
- His first response was gentile as he pointed out that he was preoccupied with risking his life not pleasing people.
- His second response was a bit more sharp as he reminded them that they had 18 years to step up to the plate and they didn’t do anything.
- His third reply was dead on as he told them that he did call them to battle but they were to chicken to come. Back in my days we would say that Jephthah was calling them out to fight! This tactic only caused them to engage in racial slurs and further name calling.
Nothing wares us down, grinds God’s work to halt more than complaining and it is usually on the heels of a great victory. The Ephraimites took “firing Jephthah” to a whole other realm as they wanted to “burn” him out watching him literally go up in flames.
The second spiritual ignorance with regards to the character of God is that He is all our Father, and it doesn’t matter if we sow, water or reap we do so for the glory of God not personal recognition. The Ephraimites were critics who were content to sit in the pews and direct “gospel traffic” then complain when they didn’t get the personal glory they had hoped. Jephthah’s problem was that his actions gave them the power that they didn’t deserve. God needs no advisers; He has called us all to be His hands and feet not His head! Someone once came up to D.L. Moody and said, “Mr. Moody I don’t much care for the way you teach!” Moody always ready to learn said, “Well please tell me what I can do better?” The person replied, “Oh I don’t have any specific suggestions!” To this Moody said, “I’ll tell you what I like the way I teach better than the way you don’t!” The Holy Spirit has never gifted anyone with the gifts of “complaining or criticizing” but He has gifted folks with the gifts of ‘encouragement and helps”!
Vs. 5-7 Eating their words
Vs. 5-7 The battle with the Ephraimites was not Jephthah’s fault they were taught a lesson that they deserved but what happened after they were retreating was his fault. As the Ephraimites began streaming back across the Jordan river Jephthah wanted to make them “eat their words”! As each of them came to the river’s edge they asked them to pronounce the Hebrew word for stream and they had an accent and couldn’t pronounce the “sh” sound. The meaning of the word “Shibboleth” in English is a test a group gives a bunch of outsiders to see if they truly belong. The mere mispronunciation of the word caused them to be killed and 42,000 died on that spot. Jephthah killed more in one event of his brothers than all the other Judges combined killed the enemy, with exception of Gideon. With this Jephthah became his own worst enemy!
The third spiritual ignorance of the character of God was an ignorance of the grace of God. Jephthah had been a recipient of the grace and mercy of God in his own life but was unwilling to extend that grace towards others. He became hardheaded which caused him to become hardhearted. There was no tenderness, no forgiveness just cold hearted legalism and an “I’ll get even” attitude. But how can we get even when Romans 13:8 says that we are to “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Christian history is littered with stories like this one:
- Martin Luther who taught the truth of justification by faith alone turned his anger towards those who sought to practice what he had taught
- Ulrich Zwingli who had been at the end of Luther’s wrath participated in the drowning of Anabaptists who had a different view with regards to believers baptism
- The Puritans who fled England to find religious liberty denied that same liberty to many others
Far too often we Christians make what we differ on what divides us then we treat each other as enemies instead of brothers and sisters.
Vs. 8-15 Illustrious plain servants
Vs. 8-15 Here in this section we are given they more judges that served for a total of 25 years.
- Vs. 8-10 The judge Ibzan: “illustrious” Who appears to have followed in the steps of Gideon’s later reign as he was into polygamy, materialism as well as breaking God’s word with regards to not exchanging wives and daughters of pagan nations. Ibzan was busy with his family as he was finding grooms for his daughters and brides for his sons and when you have 30 of each it’s a full time job, amazing that he was able to do so in his life time. In the Jewish culture every father had the responsibility for three things:
- Teach them the word
- Teach them a trade
- Find them a wife
Ibzan seems to have focused his attention upon his family which is a noble cause but because it was his priority he never accomplished anything for God’s family and kingdom.
- Vs. 11-12 The judge Elon: “plain” he was a member of the tribe of Zebulun and as such the only deliverer produced by this tribe. He was buried in a Levitical city of refuge originally held by the tribe of Dan.
- Vs. 13-15 The judge Abdon: “Servant” He also apparently was into polygamy and materialism as he had 40 sons and 30 grandsons whom he gave expensive transportation to. He was the son of a man named praise but was buried in the mountains of the Amalekites.
From mighty man of valor to a man that destroyed his family and a man who took out 42,000 of his own countrymen. This is what happens when our zeal lacks the constant touch of the knowledge of the character of God. Proverbs 19:2 says that “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.”
This is a placeholder. Notes will be added