399: Ben Hole - Jephthah

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:03

   Welcome to Good Christophian Talks. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk. Hello and welcome back.

2. 0:34

   This is Brother Chris for this week. We’re listening to a Bible class that was given by Brother Ben Hole at the East Coventry Ecclesia in the UK in November of 2024. And the subject of this that Brother Ben is looking at is the story of Jephta. This was sent in as a recommendation as a really comprehensive look at the idea of the story of Jephta and the different symbolisms and lessons and meaning behind everything that happened in that story and judges.

3. 1:09

   Now it has surface level, the story of Jephta can almost seem to be a bit of a weird one. Sometimes it can even be used as an example of human sacrifice. But Brother Ben does a really great job at looking at all the nuance and all the symbolism and all the lessons and the biblical principles behind the story of Jephta. I myself have also done studying on the story of Jephta. I’ve done an expectation on it and I found that Brother Ben hit topics and ideas that I’ve never heard of before and to me is one of the more comprehensive approaches to this story that I’ve heard in a really long time. So I found it to be a really encouraging one, A fantastic listen.

4. 1:48

   Brother Ben does a great job of putting this all together. So I am really excited to be able to share this with you and hopefully you find it to be as encouraging and also kind of eye opening and all the different lessons and things that we can find from the story of Jephta. So with that, I will turn it over to our brother Ben Hole for his class on Jephta.

5. 2:09

   We want to consider then the record of this judge chapter. There’s a few key questions that we want to answer as we go through. When we when we read through this, this record, it’s quite unusual. It’s quite unique in the way that it’s presented and it’s quite unusual in the way it’s presented because the elements that are focused on aren’t necessarily the elements that we would expect. So we, we’ve read the end of, of Judges 10 because that introduces the, the, the scene, I guess, of, of what’s about to happen.

6. 2:38

   And Judges 11 then deals with the life of Jephthah or the, the, the incident in which Jephthah intervenes. And so we’ll, we’ll go through that through the course of the evening. But, but as the scene has been set at the end of Judges Chapter 10, there is a big battle brewing. That’s what’s happening.

7. 2:55

   And we, we have the Ammonites incamped against the Israelites. And then the, the, the people are, are asking for a leader. Well, how are we going to fight this battle? And so it looks like that the builder is building us all up to this great battle. And yet when we get to Judges Chapter 11, we’ve got 40 verses that detail what Jepfa does.

8. 3:17

   And, and two of those are about the battle. The rest are about Jepfa’s background, his selection as the leader by the elders of Gilead, the conversation in essence, that he has with the King of Haman, and then his vow that he makes. And so having set the scene that there’s this big battle about to take place, that’s not the focus at all of what Jephthah is presented doing in the record.

9. 3:51

   And So what we want to to consider this evening as well. Why is Jachter presented to us? And we’ll consider this in a second. Why is Jachter presented to us as an outcast of the people? We want to consider Why is Jachter’s main focus on the dialogue that he has with the King of Amman and rather than the battle?

10. 4:16

    And then we want to consider, well, what’s this vow all about? One of the most controversial characters for that very reason that that divides opinion and has done for many years. What is the vow all about? Did he sacrifice his daughter or not? So those are the, the, the questions that we want to answer over the course of this evening just to I guess set the scene a little bit a little bit more.

11. 4:44

    So so we’re chronologically we’re about 3/4 the way through the book of judges now. And in fact, this is one of the only judges that we are able to put a specific time marker down. We’re given a specific time marker in Judges Chapter 11, which we’re going to consider in a moment. But but this is about 3/4 the way through the book of Judges chronologically. And, and what’s happening now is the children of Israel go through that cycle that they go through so regularly through the book of Judges and they fall into sin, don’t they? So that’s where we started in verse 6. And there’s that long list of the gods that they begin to serve.

12. 5:19

    They live in Ashtaroth and the Syrian gods and the Zeidonian gods and the Moabite gods and, and the the list continues. And it’s the gods of all the nations around them that they are worshipping now and this time that they are sold into the hands of the Philistines first and then of the Ammonites.

13. 5:37

    And it’s the Ammonites who will take centre stage as Israel’s opponents in this incident. And so that there is 18 years of oppression on the other side, Jordan on the east side of Jordan. But the narrative really begins when when the Ammonites then cross the Jordan and begin to attempt to take the land of Judah and Benjamin and the House of Efraim. And that’s verse 9.

14. 6:03

    The children of Amman passed over Judah to to Benjamin and Efraim and and the House of Israel was sore distressed. And we need to consider for a moment the the state of the people at this point. This is before there was a king ruling over them all. This is before they were a united people in that sense that they were a tribal people at this point. So they would have had localised rulership, they would have had ruling families over over particular areas, they would have had regional and tribal leadership in that sense. And, and so, so these areas of of Ephraim in particular is where this is going to focus and the local leadership of that area.

15. 6:49

    And so the children of Israel in that area cried to God. Verse 10, we have sinned against thee. And it’s interesting that they give two confessions. So Judges 10, verse 10, we have sinned against thee both because we are forsaken our God and also survey them. Now it’s important that that they make 2 confessions.

16. 7:07

    And the reason it’s important is, is because God’s response to them is unique, I think, to the book of Judges. God’s response to them on this occasion is no, I will not come to your aid. And there’s a reason for that. So they cried to God, We have sinned and now please help us.

17. 7:33

    And and God says in verse 11, I have done, I have delivered you from the Egyptians, from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and the Philistines and the Sidonians and the Malachias and the Mayonites. I’ve delivered you from all of them and and what when you cried unto me, and yet you have still served of the gods. And so verse 13, I will deliver you no more. And so God, I, I think here it is, is this is a a unique or at least an unusual response in the book of Judges. They cry to him and he says, no, I will not help. And the reason is, but they hadn’t repented of both of their sins.

18. 8:13

    So they made two confessions, didn’t they? We are forsaken by God and also serve Balaam. And, and they’d repented of the first, they were now crying to God. And so they, they had realised that they, they, they had forsaken God and and yet they were still serving the other gods. It’s, it’s in verse 16 that they put away the strange gods and serve the Lord. And at that point, then at the end of verse 16, his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. And so, so it’s only when they repent of both of those confessions that God then responds to them. And, and there’s, there’s a lesson in there for us, isn’t there?

19. 8:49

    There’s a lesson in there for us. Crying to God is absolutely the right thing to do. But if we think we can cry to God but continue in our own ways, then God’s response is, is us here. God’s response is, well, if you think you can serve the other gods, then cry unto them. That’s what he says.

20. 9:11

    Cry to the gods that you have chosen. And yet once they put those strange gods away, well, then, then God will respond. And so the, the people of Israel then or, or, or certainly the people in this local area were, were perhaps struggling with their faith even more than they had in previous times in the book of Judges.

21. 9:30

    They were finding it harder to put those gods away from them. And, and yet they get to that point, they get to that point and they are gathered together ready to go and fight this battle and they look at each other. Who’s going to lead us? They are sheep without a shepherd, aren’t they? Verse 18 What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon?

22. 9:50

    None of them are there ready and able to go and lead that farce. They had no leader, they had no captain. And so they say, whoever it is, whoever will step forward, he’ll be the head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. And so the, the way the narrative builds this up or who’s going to be our leader, you expect it to, to follow in with, with this great introduction to, to who their leader is going to be. And, and, and yet what we’ve given is an outcast that the narrative builds up to this point where there’s this, this battle about to take place and, and the people of Israel are without a leader and they are facing defeat and they are led to consider the man that they had cast out. And I think in that we can start to see a type of, of what’s going on here, can’t we?

23. 10:50

    A type of what will happen in the future when the children of Israel are are gathered against a great invader who is coming against their people and they look at each other and they have no leader and they have no way out. And they will be led to consider the one whom they cast out as their head. And so how then are we introduced to Jachter? This was one of our questions, wasn’t it? Why are we introduced to Jachter as an outcast? And, and having built up to this point where we we have this repentance and we have this battle that’s about to take place.

24. 11:25

    We then we then take a little pause as we head into Judges Chapter 11 and the narrative takes a little break and we have sort of verses 1 to 3 is is in parenthesis really and and takes us back in time to give us Jephthah’s background. So Judges 11 and the first 3 verses.

25. 11:41

    Now Jephthah, the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. He was the son of an harlot, Gilead. We got Jephthah. So, so Gilead was his father. He was a Gileadite. They are in the area of Gilead. And so we would suggest then that this is likely to have been the the ruling family, the chief family of this local area, the Gileadites. But as two Gilead’s wife bare him sons, and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah and said, You shall not inherit in our father’s house, for you are the son of a strange woman.

26. 12:16

    Then Jephthah fled from his brethren and dwelt in the land of and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah and went out with him. And so the narrative presents this man as the Saviour of the people, the son of an harlot cast out with vain men gathered to him. This is the man on whom the hopes of the nation would raise.

27. 12:39

    So why is he presented in this way? Why are we given this detail of Jephthah’s background? Why not go straight into the fact that he was selected? Why are we given this context? Well, I think we are LED in this context to see a number of types again. Oh, and and echoes as to who Jephthah is, who his family are, and who they represent from from other areas of Scripture.

28. 13:06

    Let’s pick up first of all, that the fact that in verse 2, they thrust out Jephthah because he was the son of a strange woman. Now, now let’s consider an echo here. Who was thrust out because they were the son of a strange woman. If we come back to Genesis chapter 21, I think we are led to consider the comparison between Ishmael and Isaac.

29. 13:37

    So come back to Genesis chapter 21. We have the same word for thrust out brought up again here in Genesis 21 and verse 10. And the context is the same as well. Importantly, it’s not just the same word. It’s the same word in the same context. And so in in Genesis 21 and and we we we know the narrative Ishmael had been born of Abraham and Hagar, and yet the seed of promise then had been born and Isaac had been born. And yet the persecution begins, doesn’t it? In verse 9 of Genesis 21, Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which he had born unto Abraham mocking. And when that’s quoted in the New Testament, we know that that is the beginning of the persecution of Ishmael to Isaac. And so Sarah says to Abraham, cast out. And that’s our same word for thrust, cast out this bondwoman and her son.

30. 14:38

    For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And we can see the echo in the words of Jephthah’s half brothers, can’t we? They thrust out Jephthah. Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house, for thou art the son of a strange woman. So perhaps they, they knew their Bible.

31. 14:59

    Perhaps they thought that they were the seed of Isaac and that Jephthah was the seed of Ishmael. Thrust out this woman and her son. For she shall not be. He shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And Sarah’s words are confirmed by God, aren’t they? As as prophetic words and and confirmed as true and righteous? And so we have this comparison, I think presented, and we could consider the context a little wider as well that it fits. And I think we’re presented with this idea that the Gilead’s sons thought that they were, that the seed of Isaac, they were the promised seed, if you like, and that there was the opposite, that he was the seed of Ishmael.

32. 15:48

    And yet they, they had got the point wrong, that they had got the point wrong that that the calling was not of birth, but was of faith. And that was the point that they had missed. And so when we consider then again, this idea of someone being cast out because they are accused of being that the son of a strange woman, the whole narrative of Ishmael and Isaac is also picked up of Christ, isn’t it? It’s the accusation of the Pharisees to to Christ. So you can drop Genesis 21.

33. 16:21

    Now come over to to John chapter 8. Exactly the same accusation is levelled against Christ in Christ to in fact uses it as a teaching opportunity to teach the lesson that the Pharisees were in fact the spiritual seed of Ishmael, not the seed of eyes. He says yes, you are the children of Abraham.

34. 16:39

    That’s the whole point of what John chapter 8 is all about. You are the children of Abraham, Yes, but you’re of Ishmael’s life spiritually, not of Isaac’s life. And this, I think is the lesson that we’re being given in Judges Chapter 11. So John chapter 8, I said to go to the whole narrative that’s going on here is that the Pharisees and the leaders of the people keep making this point that we are Abraham’s seed and sort of subtext that’s not really there. And who are you is sort of the the challenge that they’re levelling to Christ.

35. 17:13

    And they, they raise the tone of that challenge when they say in verse 41, let’s let’s go back to the context, verse 39. They’re making a point again for the 19th time, it seems in this chapter. They answered and said unto Jesus, Abraham is our father. Jesus said if you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham, but you seek to kill me. Who’s told you the truth which I’ve heard of God and this didn’t you know this did not Abraham ye do the deeds of your father and there we talk to him is we be not born of fornication.

36. 17:48

    That is the accusation that they levelled against Christ that he was the son of a strange woman, that he was born of fornication. It’s a challenge that they level against him a couple of times. And so Jesus uses the teaching of Ishmael and Isaac and we won’t go through all that now, but you can see it all the way through John chapter 8, verse 35 in particular is is where Christ is referencing Ishmael and Isaac and he uses that same passage to to prove the point that they were of the seed of Ishmael and not the seed of Isaac. And so that’s I think is what’s going on with Jephthah here. We’re introduced to him in this way as an outcast, the Sullivan Harlan, the son of a strange woman, because he is counting his lineage in a spiritual sense, not a natural sense, and yet his half brothers have failed to see that. And so he flees to the land of Tobe. What does that mean?

37. 18:41

    It means good, quite simply. And so here we have the good seed gathered together, rejected by the people of the world. Yeah, the question is still there, that they were gathered unto him, vain men. So we’re back in Judges Chapter 11 now. And and in in verse three, they were gathered vain men to Jephthah and went out with him.

38. 19:06

    And that sounds contrary to everything we’ve just said, doesn’t it, that that they were empty men. Well, well, I don’t think that’s the case. I think that it’s a misleading translation to some degree. So if we actually flick over to the end of this narrative, which is in chapter 12, and look at verse 4, we’re given more detail about these men. So we’re jumping completely out of chronology here. But after the battle, the men of Ephraim get a bit upset because they say, well, we weren’t invited to fight with you. And Jeff says, well, actually I did invite you, but you didn’t help.

39. 19:47

    And so I went with the men that were with me and God delivered the people into my hand. And that’s, that’s Judges 12 verses one to three, paraphrased probably quite awfully, but that’s effectively what’s going on. And Jephthah says to the men of Ephraim, this is the, the local region they were in. In verse 4, Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim.

40. 20:07

    And the men of Gilead smoked Ephraim because they said ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim. So the men who were with Jephthah, the Gileadite, were fugitives of Ephraim. They were fugitives among the Ephraimites and among them and Assites. And so the vain men that were gathered unto Jephthah are the same men that are being spoken of here.

41. 20:28

    They’re the fugitives. Now, what I think we’re being presented with is, is an evil nation that was serving the gods around them who have cast out the men that disagreed with them and they have fled to a place which means good. We, we can see the point that we’re being led to see here, hopefully by by the spirit, is that the men that fled from the evil people were good people. And and that I think is, you know, an oversimplification. Good and evil is, is not how we should talk about it. But that’s an oversimplification of what’s going on here, that the men that are are gathered out of the Ephraimites. The men who were cast out, who were, who were fugitives, are the ones who disagree with the evil practices that are going on.

42. 21:11

    And so they flee to this place that means good. And so the vain men are not vain in the eyes of God. They’re vain in the eyes of the Ephraimites. These were the outcasts from the ungodly tribe. And so let’s think about our echoes again. We have a man on the run from the the the leading family of the area, a man on the run from the leading family of the area who gathers the outcasts of the nation around him and they go to battle together. Who’s that?

43. 21:50

    That’s David, isn’t it? David who when he was on the run from Seoul, the ruling power of the time gathered the men together around him 400600200400600AS as the numbers grew that were around him and they became his spiritual children, didn’t they? That he would teach the word to and that would go with him, become his mighty man in battle.

44. 22:16

    And so Jephther, in these 3 short verses where we’re introduced to him, is presented as a type of Isaac, as a type of David, as a type of Christ, the spiritual seed that the king, the Conqueror. That’s how Jephther is presented to us. So it’s not just Jephther the outcast. It’s Jephther the type of Isaac, of David, of Christ. And so chapter then is chosen over the course of the next few verses.

45. 22:46

    And now again we we come back to this point that God’s dealings in this situation are unique in the book of Judges. Normally God appoints a judge, a saviour for the people. That’s not the case here. The people appoints Jackson and God. God’s Spirit comes on him actually much later on. Initially it’s the people’s selection. And so the people verses, right, it’s sort of from verse 4 down to verse 11 that this all takes place when this war is taking place.

46. 23:19

    The children of Amman, sorry, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jackfur in verse 5 out of the land of Tobes to ask him to come and be their captain that they will could fight with the children of Amman. Now they said in verse 1, he was a mighty man of Allah. He must have been because they went to their outcasts, the one who they booted out to save them. So they must have known that he was pretty good at what he did in order to, to, to go and fetch him out of this place. So he’s given them 22 roles.

47. 23:49

    He’s given the role of captain and he’s given the role of head. Why? Why are we given 2 roles? Well, I think there’s a reason for that. He is sent to be their captain of war, but he’s also sent to be their spiritual head. So these are the two things. So it’s in verse 8, the elders of Gilead said to Jeff that therefore we turn again to thee now that thou mayest go with us and fight against the children of Amman and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. There’s two roles there.

48. 24:22

    There’s there’s our leader in battle, our captain to go and win this battle for us. And there’s the role of being our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead to to rule this people, this local tribal people. And Jeff would would take that on as a spiritual role, whether they meant that or not. That is how he would take it on.

49. 24:43

    And so Jeff responds, he says, yes, verse 9, if you bring me home to to fight against the children of Amman and the Lord deliver them before me. Shall I be your head and the elders of Gideon say the Lord be witness between us if we do not so according to that word. And so Jeff who introduces God into the conversation. They haven’t thought to do so.

50. 25:04

    Jephther introduces God into the conversation and says, well, actually, if I go to war, there’ll be God that wins the fight, not me. And they say yes. And we’re we’re that point is repeated for us again in verse 11 at the end of the verse that Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. And it’s, it’s a theme that runs through this chapter that that everything Jephthah does is before the Lord or, or to God or God is witness to everything that he is doing. And so he is the one that introduces this spiritual aspect in into this role that he is doing. And and so when he is then appointed to be this king, not this king, this captain and his head you, you would think, you know, role number one is go and win this battle, but it’s not. Role number one is from verse 12 down to verse 28. The biggest section of this whole narrative is to go to dialogue with the King of Amber and to correct his error. We’ll go through what the error is in a minute. But why?

51. 26:14

    Why is it presented in this way? This was another about questions, wasn’t it? What? Why is the fact that this shouldn’t be about battle? Why is the battle barely a focus at all in the whole narrative? I think the point is this so, so the people came looking for a leader in war, for a military leader to win the battle for them. That’s what they wanted.

52. 26:32

    And Jephthah comes in and he says, you’ve missed the point. What you need is a spiritual leader. We’ll deal with the battle afterwards. That’s, that’s well, not even us. God will deal with the battle for us. But what you need is a spiritual leader. And the point is this, I think that, that, that any, any battle is first a battle in the mind. Any battle is first a battle between God’s word and, and man’s word.

53. 27:00

    The actual working of that in, in a, in a military sense, So that that’s God will deal with that. That’s fine, but but the battle is first a battle of, of the mind. And again, there’s, there’s, there’s lessons in there for us, aren’t there for us to consider that, that the, the challenges and, and the battles that that we face in, in day-to-day life are, are first of all, a battle for our mind. Are we focusing more so on the actual practical day-to-day of, of what we’re doing, or are we focusing first on the spiritual side of, of serving God in whatever we’re doing? If if we do that bit, God will take care of the rest. Now that’s Jeff’s point to the people here, they, they come and say, can you come and fight the battle with Amman for us? And God says, well, if God wins that battle for us, will you let me spiritually lead you?

54. 27:48

    And they say, yes, you’ve got the focus in the right place. Serve God and God will take care of the Reds. And So what is this dialogue all about? Then from verse 12 down to verse 28, verse 12 sends messengers to the the king of the children of Amman and says, well, why aren’t you coming to fight? And the response from the king of Amman is because that’s so. This is verse 13 because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt from Arnhem, even unto Java and unto Jordan. Now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. So the so the claim of the king of the children of Amman is is this the the claim is but these are our lands from on and unto Jabba and even unto Jordan.

55. 28:35

    This is the land of the children of Amman and and Israel will took it off us when you came up out of Egypt. OK, what we want to consider is what was he right? Does he have a point? Rejector’s response makes 4 points, and we’ll deal with each of those four. Did he have a point? And let’s remind ourselves again, that’s what this is all about.

56. 29:03

    This is about truth and error. It’s not about a battle between armies. That’s not the focus. The battle is truth and error. There’s someone in the world trying to create error, and Jetta’s response is to correct that error from the law, from God’s Word. Let me show you how. So King of Almond says baseland is ours. What’s the truth of it?

57. 29:25

    Come back to numbers 21. Obviously keep something in judges 11. Let’s just check the truth of what the King of the Children of Alan says. So we’re in numbers Chapter 21. We’re on the wilderness journey.

58. 29:41

    We’re given a list of places that they have been to and from. They encompass the land of Edom. Early on in Numbers 21, they’ve had the incident of the serpents that the fiery serpent set up on a pole and everything that’s happened with that. They move on and they’re coming towards the land of Moab in verse 11, the wilderness which is before Moab, and they keep moving in verse 13. From thence they’re removed and pitched on the other side of Arnhem, Right?

59. 30:11

    OK, here we are. This is where we’re starting to get to the truth of the matter. The king of the children of Amman said they took my land from Arnon, even unto Jabok. I haven’t got a map, but we’ll just look at the place names for them because there’s enough to prove the point.

60. 30:28

    Verse 13 of Numbers 21 says from thence they removed and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coast of the Amarans. For Arnon is the border of Moab between Moab and the Amarans. OK, so Arnon has nothing to do with the land of the Ammonites.

61. 30:48

    It’s between Moab and the Amarans, between the Moabites and the Amarites. So nothing to do with the children of Amman. OK, so that’s, that’s that’s the start point. If, if we’re if we’re not quite sure about it, then verse 21 Israel sent messengers unto Saipon, king of the Amorite, saying, let me pass through thy land. You know we’re not going to take anything. But verse 23 Saihan said no, and they come out to a battle. Verse 24, Israel smote him, Saihan, king of the Amorites, they smote him with the edge of the sword and possessed his land from Arnon unto Javak, whose land? Saihan, the king of the Amorites, and, and just in case we’ve missed the point so far, it says even unto the children of Amman.

62. 31:40

    So the children of Amman are beyond that point. For the border of the children of Amman was strong. We couldn’t get as far as the Ammonites. So we took the land of the Amor right from ARN and even unto Jabba. And so when the king of the children of Amman says this is our land, it was never their land. Well, certainly it wasn’t when the children of Israel took it. That’s point #1 which Jephthah makes in Judges 11, verse 18 at the end of the at the end of the verse, Arne was the border of MOA and he’s referencing back to Numbers 21. So what’s, what’s Jephthah done here? And here is the example again for us. Jephthah has taken what what he’s been told and he’s gone. Well, what does the word of God say? What does the Bible tell me?

63. 32:23

    And, and, and there’s the example for us, right point #2 how about page of my note turned it upside down. But it did point #2 that Jeff makes is that actually the Israelites yesterday, they sort of took it by force in the end, but they tried the peaceful approach first. So this is the point that Jacqueline makes in verse 17.

64. 32:51

    So we’re back in Judges 11 now and we can, I think stay in Judges 11. So back to Judges 11 and we’re in verse well, 16 really to context when Israel came up from Egypt and walked through the wilderness and and this is the the numbers 21 reference again, this is what he’s talking about.

65. 33:09

    Verse 17, Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, can we pass through the land? And they said no. And he sent the same and to the king of Moab and they said no. And then verse 18, they came into one and, and, and verse 19, they sent to the Amorites. And he said no as well.

66. 33:24

    And so, you know, we tried to peaceably pass through to our land, but we couldn’t. So we had to fight our way through because no one would let us through. And so that’s, that’s point #2 that that Jackson makes. Well, it was never your land in the 1st place. He says, well, the Israelites tried the peaceful approach.

67. 33:39

    You know which, which I’m trying again now I’m trying to make peace here, but but you know, we had to fight our way through because Noah does 3 and then verse 21 he says, well, and the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihan and all his people into the hand of Israel and smote them.

68. 33:55

    He says it wasn’t the Israelites, it was God. God gave us the land. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country, and they possessed all the coast of the Amorites from ARN and even unto Javik. There you go makes the point again. It was the Amorite land, not the Ammonites banned and so on. And then the the 4th point that he makes, and this is where we’re given this time market that the 4th point that he makes is verse 24.

69. 34:27

    Sorry, verse 25. Are you better than Balak? Did he ever try and get it back? Verse 26 while Israel to art in Heshball and her towns and Roma and her towns and and all the cities that are that are part of this territory for 300 years. Why didn’t you recover them in that time?

70. 34:44

    And that’s our time, Mark. It’s just 300 years after the Children of Israel came into this part of the land. But anyway, 400 years, 300 years since they came into the land. It’s been 300 years since that happened. Why is this suddenly a problem? The mobilise never tried to get their land back, the Amorites didn’t.

71. 35:06

    Why are you dealing with this now? And so the, the, the, the king of the children of Amman sort of said, well, you know, it’s our land in the 1st place. So if you wouldn’t mind just stepping aside, we’ll, we’ll come back and take it. Thank you very much. And chapter says, well, 04 points, you’re wrong.

72. 35:18

    Wasn’t your land in the 1st place? God gave it to us. We tried to be peaceful. And it’s been 300 years. So it’s sort of our land now. And, and what’s interesting is that once chapter has had all of that dialogue, you know, he’s, he’s been given a message that says, you know, this is what you should do and he’s gone.

73. 35:42

    What does the Bible say? And actually, no, you’re wrong. I’m going to follow what God says. At that point, God confirms Jephthah as the Saviour. Verse 29. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. Until that point, God had not chosen Jephthah. He clearly had appointed him in his purpose, but the people had chosen him and, and once he has proven his spiritual leadership, then God says what?

74. 36:09

    Now I’m going to give you my spirit so you can go win that battle that everyone’s so worried about. And you can see the order. And that’s, that’s why I think, you know, one of our questions was what, what, why is it presented in this way? Why have you only got 2 verses for the battle? The point is this, God is saying you need to turn to me first. We’ll deal with the battle, that’s fine. But you need to turn to me.

75. 36:29

    You need a spiritual leader to turn you back, to turn the heart of the people back to God. And that’s the role that Jephta played. The people went looking for a military leader and they found a spiritual leader because that’s what God was showing them that they needed.

76. 36:48

    And so we come to the final section, which is all about the vow. We’ve got 10 or 15 minutes there. What is going on with this vow? Some people claim that this is a rash vow that Jack the makes that he rushed into it. Some people claim that he he offered his daughter as a as a as a sacrifice to God.

77. 37:21

    What is actually going on here? Well, let’s let’s establish a few principles. First that we need to frame this within Hebrews 11 verse 32 tells us that chapter is amongst the list of the faithful. So, so that’s that’s a first point that we can found ourselves on when we’ve seen it already. But Hebrews 11 verse 32 confirms that he is amongst the faithful waiting for the king.

78. 37:46

    We also know that God accepted the vow. So the vow was, God delivers us. Well, I should actually read what the vows before I go through all this, shouldn’t I? So first verse 30 and 31, Jeptha vowed A vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lords, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

79. 38:20

    That’s the vow. The way he says is, you know, whatever walks out the doors of my house after we come back from victory, that will be God’s. That’s the battle. So back to our sort of principles. Jeff was faithful. Hebrews 11 verse 32 confirms that God accepted the vow. So the vow was if, if God goes and wins this battle for us, then I’ll do this.

80. 38:44

    And God went and won the battle. So God accepted the vow because he honoured his side of the, the, the, the, the covenant, almost so. So God accepted the vow. And we know that human sacrifice is an abomination to God. Viticus 8 verse 21 is one example. Jeremiah 32 verse 25 is another. We don’t need to turn to those human sacrifice an absolute abomination to God.

81. 39:08

    So if that was the vow, it would not have been accepted by God. It was in fact, the practice of the Ammonites, who worshipped Molech to sacrifice their children to that God. It was one of their practices. And so he was jepsta, leading God’s people against the Ammonites. Do we really think that he was going to go and do exactly what the Ammonites did to worship their false God, to try and get Israel’s God to be on their side?

82. 39:39

    Absolutely not. He would not have followed the practice of the Ammonites Jephthah, we’ve already noted quotes Numbers and Deuteronomy repeatedly in his dialogue with the the king of the children of Ireland. So he knew the law. He he clearly had some access to it. He knew the law, he knew Numbers, he knew Deuteronomy, he knew the law and we’ve already said it’s a focus in in Judges Chapter 11 that he did everything before the Lord. So those are our principles that you. He he clearly did not offer his daughter as a human sacrifice to God.

83. 40:13

    That does not fit in any part of the context of what is going on here. God would not accept it. He wouldn’t have even tried to offer it. It would not have been considered the the action of a faithful man. It would not have been acceptable under the law. Let’s deal with another part of the the challenge as well. So, so the claim sometimes is made that this was a rash vow. We didn’t really know what he was saying. But once he’d vowed it, he had to follow through. You know, the, the, the, the, the claim is, you know, it was about to go into battle.

84. 40:42

    He just didn’t really think it through. That’s that’s again, not the case at all. So Jeptha makes this vow and then verse 32, he passes over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them. So, so the the infant being that this is while he is still in the camp of Israel, I remember what Jechter’s role was he he wasn’t the military leader first, he was a spiritual leader 1st.

85. 41:05

    And so he was in this camp making this vow before all of the people as an example to them. This wasn’t a rash vow. This was thought through. This was him making himself an example before them. His vow is that if God delivers us, then he can take whatever he wants out of my life and it will be his for his servants.

86. 41:33

    And that’s the example that he was setting to the people. He says whatever God wants in my life, I will give to God. And there again, we can see the example for us. Whatever God wants from us, are we willing to give it? So what then is going on here? Well, there’s a couple of things going on. The translation doesn’t help us.

87. 42:00

    So again, some people try and sort of get, get or get around this by saying that, you know, whatsoever cometh forth at the doors of my house, whether you might have thought it was, you know, the family dog or, or one of the, the sheep from the garden that that was going to walk out.

88. 42:14

    That’s the, the word means who. So whosoever cometh forth out of the doors of my house, that that’s what the word means. So, so that’s not not, that’s not the explanation. What I think is going on here is that this was the vow of a person. This was a vow of dedication of a person. So it’s it’s a viticus 27, which details some of this vowel in viticus 27.

89. 42:38

    And we have the the estimation of a person being made and it’s we’ll only sort of pick out the the one verse. We’re not going to go through the detail of what what the law was on this, but in Leviticus 27 verse two, he says speak the Lord spake unto motives, saying speak to the children of Israel and saying to them when a man shall make a singular vow, the person shall be for the Lord by their estimation.

90. 43:00

    And instead of the point is when when a person is dedicated to the service of God and there was a series of estimations for what had to be paid to to sort of redeem them. So this is what’s going on here. Jephthur is saying whoever comes out first of the doors of my house will be given in service to the Tabernacle to God and and then the the rest of the law would have applied. Now the, the, the only word that makes that difficult is a word that’s not there in the original. So the only word that makes it difficult is when he says and I will offer it up for a burnt offering to eat isn’t isn’t that.

91. 43:37

    And I will offer a burnt offering. And that’s how the original read. So, so we we should read this verse as whosoever cometh forth at the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon shall surely be the Lords, and I will OfferUp a burnt offering. And that was part of the process of offering someone in service to the Tabernacle.

92. 44:01

    That was the burnt offering was offered at the same time. And you know, the burnt offering we know was typical of complete dedication. So it makes sense in in the context of what was going on with that value. And so there are two things that Jeff is saying. He says whoever comes first out of my house, whichever human first exits my house will be given to the Tabernacle in service to God. And as part of that process, I will offer a burnt offering as a symbolic demonstration of the fact that that person will be given in complete dedication.

93. 44:33

    Now, let’s just check ourselves, you know, does that make sense? Does that fit? Let’s just check this one thing. Well, what we need to look at is Samuel, because this is exactly what happens with Samuel. And we can see it as as a demonstration. So one Samuel chapter one, we have an example of how this vowel plays out.

94. 44:54

    So in one sign in chapter 1, Samuel was of course promised by Hannah to be given, you know, if if I have a child, I will give that child to God. That was her prayer. And she completes that file. And so she says in verse 20, she bear a son called his name Samuel because I’ve asked him at the Lord. And then they went up to the Lord to offer the yearly sacrifice and his vow.

95. 45:25

    But this when verse 24, there’s another time when Hannah goes up, this time with the child, to offer the child in service to God. And verse 24, when she had weaned Samuel, she took him up with her with three bullocks, and 1 he for a flower, a flower and a bottle of wine, and brought him to the House of the Lord in Shiloh.

96. 45:46

    And the child was young and they slew a bullet and brought the child to Eli. So what have we got going on here? We’ve got the saying of a book at the same time as Samuel is given in service to the Tabernacle. We’ve got the offering alongside the giving of the person. And it’s exactly the same that’s going on in Jabfa in in Judges Chapter 11 in Jabfa’s life.

97. 46:07

    So that I think is just another. We’ll come back to why Samuel is the other example in a moment. So. So why then did Jabfa mourn so much that one of the reasons that some people struggle with this is that Jeff the mourns as if his child is going to die. That’s how it reads verse 35.

98. 46:29

    And last, my daughter, that has brought me very low. And now one of them that troubled me for I’ve opened my mouth to the Lord and I cannot go back. I remember that, that Jack, this house were the, the ruling House of the, of the, the local people. And, and so they would probably have had a household full of servants and all sorts of people there.

99. 46:46

    And so he wouldn’t have known that it was going to be his only daughter that worked walked first at the house. It was probably going to be a servant. It was probably going to be anyone else. And then it’s his daughter that walks out. And that’s what causes him to mourn. But remember what we said was was the point of Jephthah making this vow in the 1st place. This wasn’t just Jephthah.

100. 47:06

     He didn’t do this for no reason. He was stood in front of the people. And he stands in front of the people and says Eve, God wins this battle for us. God can take anything from my life and it will be his for his service. And God says I want my daughter. And so it is his daughter that walks out first.

101. 47:27

     And that’s what he wants for he’s still going to in, in, in in a real sense, lose his daughter. She’s going to go to serve in the tablet.

102. 47:41

     So what what is going on here? What? Why are we giving this narrative? What? Why does God take his only daughter? What’s the point? What are we being shown? And again, it’s, it’s another of these examples of this narrative being unusual. You know, there’s no focus on the battle, but there’s all this focus on the dialogue. And then there’s all this focus on the vow before and after. And it’s all about Jephthah’s spiritual leadership. But there’s more to it here then as well. Why did God need Jephthah’s daughter? It seems unusually cruel in in a sense, doesn’t it, that Jephthah has done this great act of saving, not saving the people, God save the people, but a bit of turning the people back to God and leading them in this spiritual way. And God says, well, I’m going to take your daughter then. It doesn’t feel right in a sense, does it? Well, God doesn’t do anything for no reason. If anyone’s starting to feel like they’re dropping off, it’s time to wake up again because we’re going to do some maths, which is probably the last thing anyone wants to do on a cold on Wednesday night.

103. 48:45

     But time for some maths and I really, really should have put this on the slide, but I haven’t, so I’m really sorry. I have drawn on the back of one of these pieces of paper. If anyone wants to take a photo of that afterwards, it might have. I’m going to do a timeline.

104. 48:58

     So we, we were given a time mark. Why are we given a time mark? Well, I think we’re about to find out. So this was 300 years since they entered the land, right? That’s what Jechter said in Judges 11, verse 26. We’ve been here 300 years, 300 years since they entered the land.

105. 49:17

     Bear with me. The temple was commenced. The building of the temple in Solomon’s day was commenced 480 years after they left Egypt. That’s one king one verse 6. The temple was commenced 480 years after they left Egypt. 40 years of world was wondering. So the temple was commenced 440 years after they entered the land.

106. 49:44

     OK, hopefully with me so far. And Jephthah takes place 300 years after they entered the land. OK, So 140 years between Jephthah and Solomon starting the temple. Solomon started the temple in the fourth year of his reign. Before that, David had reigned for 40 years and before that, Sam, Saul had reigned for 40 years. That’s 84 years.

107. 50:12

     And therefore Samuel anointed Saul 356 years after they entered the land. I’ll repeat that. So they entered the land 300 years later. Jetta happens 440 years after that point. They start the temple. If you work back four years, 4040, you’re at 356 years after they entered the land. So Samuel announced Saul as king 56 years after this incident that we know for absolutely definite from from the tie markers that we’ve given 56 years between Judges 11 and Samuel anointing Saul. Now we’re told in one Samuel 8 verse one that Samuel was already old when he anointed Saul. Now this is where we’re not fixed. Old is a loose turn and I always whenever I give this, I have to look steadfastly at the back wall when I suggest an age that might be old and and not make eye contact with anyone. But if we said 60 years old, sorry for anyone in the room. If we said 60 years is the age that Samuel was when he anointed Saul.

108. 51:33

     And it’s a big if, and I accept that this is conjecture, but if Samuel was 60 years old when he anointed Saul, which is a reasonable assumption, and he was given to the temple, the Tabernacle, sorry, when he was weaned 234 years old, then Samuel was given to the Tabernacle at exactly the time of Judges chapter, 1156 years perhaps before he anointed Saul.

109. 52:07

     I can go through all the dates again after, but it works if, you know, there’s some conjecture in there. But it’s a reasonable suggestion that Samuel was given to the Tabernacle at exactly this time. And so in a family in Ephraim, there is a father who leads the people back to God and says, if God needs anything from my life, God can have it.

110. 52:33

     And God says what I need is a mother figure for Samuel in the Tabernacle because this Samuel is going to grow up amongst A corrupt priesthood. He’s he’s going to grow up with Hoffman and Finneans under the, the weak leadership of Eli. And I need a strong spiritual figure to bring Samuel up because he’s going to annoy David.

111. 52:59

     He’s going to be the the the strength of the people under the leadership of Saul when he went a bit bonkers. And so God says I need Jeff’s daughter.

112. 53:14

     We don’t know, but it fits. It fits the time. And what a lovely picture that is of God’s mercy of, of God working in the life of a spiritual man who, who would not have known the use for which God needed his daughter, but he was willing in faith to say, if God needs anything from my life, God can have it. And what a wonderful example that is of God’s hand at work with the faithful that the, that the bringing together of, of Jephthah’s daughter and Samuel in this incident was what enabled Samuel to grow up to do the great things that he did, to mentor David in the way that he did, and then David to do all the great things that he did.

113. 54:05

     What a wonderful idea it is. And, and I repeat, we can’t prove it. We don’t know that the timings work, but they think, and it would explain why we are given this incident, why it is provided in this way. And it would explain why Samuel is the other example of one who was given as a child to the Tabernacle.

114. 54:27

     We have a pairing of these two individuals, don’t we, That they were both given by a parent along with an offering in unusual circumstances to the Tabernacle at a time when the Tabernacle was growing din. And so we had a few questions at the start, didn’t we, that we wanted to consider about why JetBlue was presented in this way, About why the narrative doesn’t focus on the battle, but focuses on everything else that happens around it. And there I think we have an answer and a number of lessons along the way, don’t we, that Jephthah was not there to to simply be a military leader.

115. 55:05

     Jephthah was, was there to lead them back to the word that that any battle begins first in the mind. And he won that battle. And so everything else would follow with God’s hand. We, we, we have seen that that Jephthah was presented as an outcast that the people might learn to turn to the spiritual seed, the principle of not being a respecter of persons. And we can see there that the, the hope of the future, can’t we, that the, the one who the Jews condemned as an outcast will come back to save them that their hour of greatest need. You know, and we have seen the hand of God at work that that we don’t know God’s plan for all of the things that happen in our lives, But just maybe the things that happened to us aren’t about us at all, but about someone else, somewhere else that is going to benefit from the things that are happening in our lives. And so hopefully we can take that wonderful example of, of Jeptha with us and, and be reminded of, of that, that need to turn back to the word, to know the word that we can counter the challenges of the world and that we can trust that God has a plan, that God is outworking his plan, even if we can’t see how and why.

116. 56:29

     And that we can trust that that plan will bring us, by God’s grace, to that glorious day of His Kingdom. Thank you for listening to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast. We hope this talk helped you in your walk and brightened your day. If you would like to hear more, please subscribe for new episodes. We are on all major podcast platforms and also on YouTube. If you enjoyed this particular talk, please share it with someone else who you think might enjoy it too. For show notes on the talk you just listened to, visit [email protected] or check out the Show Notes section of your podcast player.

117. 57:20

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118. 57:36

     You can send a suggestion using the Contact Us tab on our website or message us on any of our social media accounts. Thank you for listening. God bless and talk to you next week.