I heard a sermon once about how the story of Japhthah can also be seen as a warning to study and know the word of God. God had already said that there should be no human sacrifice, but Japhthah apparently did not know that law. He really thought he was doing something to honor God. Other cultures near by did practice regular human sacrifice. So he was letting the world around him influence the way he worshipped God rather than focussing on the word of God itself. This story shows the danger of that.
I am so happy that we are all taking a huge step at preventing us from making this mistake by reading the word of God in its entirety this year!
Amen Sarah and thank you for this comment! I was so disheartened to hear he went through with the sacrifice — and as someone else commented, what a lesson for US to learn NOT to test God!!
Great insight ladies!
Thank you for clarifying keeping our WORD and God Abhorring human Sacrifice.
Thank God we live under a new convenant, where our mighty Jesus fights and intercedes for us . And the consequences. Yes, there are always consequences. But….
We don’t pay any more, he already did!
This again points me to Jesus.
Thank you Jesus!!!!
Yes! Carly I was just about to repost. I talked to my dad about it as he is very wise in scriptures and he said that Her not having a husband or children would b the source of her mourning. God abhorred human sacrifice!
I’m kind of confused about the head covering passage. Does that mean we should have hair? Or that we should use a scarf to cover our head? In the footnotes it seems to say that a woman should not have a shaved head and that her hair is her “covering” and that a man should not have long hair. If someone could shed some light on this! Thank you
We cover our heads during church so that we can honor God. Culturally, it was shameful to have a shaved head as a woman. Paul is likening a woman’s head being shaved to that of her “praying or prophesying” with her head uncovered. He does not mean we should shave our head. Essentially women are the glory of man and man is the glory of God. We are honoring God by covering up mans glory (his wife) during church and showing God’s glory (man) by not covering his head. Hope that helps.
Jephtah may have not actually sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering, but instead she may have remained single the rest of her life, according to my Bible Study Notes.
Having a hard time with judges today and him sacrificing his daughter. I think it’s an important lesson to be careful what we promise…he had to keep his word to the Lord and had to go to that extent to do so. I’m struggling with it but that’s what I’m getting from it.
You know, what I got from this was his daughter’s obedience. That is such a difficult concept for me. To know that her dad made a mistake that would cost her very life, yet she was understanding, made a simple request for a small amount of time to prepare and then didn’t run away, but came back and allowed herself to be sacrificed. I mean, she could have run away. But she didn’t. She was obedient. Would we be obedient even unto death?
After further study, I realize that it most likely was not death that she obediently succumbed too, but rather a life of solitude and singleness. That, in my opinion speaks even MORE volumes to me asa single woman. Would I be willing to be obedient to remain single for the remainder of my life just because of the rash mistake of someone else? Hmm….that’s hard!!
My study notes say that when he made this vow Jephthah was seeking to assure the outcome of the battle by bargaining with God. (vs 30) Then later for vs 31: Now, accordingly, he cannot go back on his vow (pledge) to the Lord. Thus all his efforts to assure for himself a position of power in Israel by manipulating God backfired. God will not be used!
This verses perfectly illustrate why making hasty or rash vows without really thinking them through is a bad idea.
It took me a few reads to get it. He vowed to sacrifice to the Lord whatever came out of his front door. And his daughter came out. So he had to sacrifice her.
Confusing and crazy!
I heard a sermon once about how the story of Japhthah can also be seen as a warning to study and know the word of God. God had already said that there should be no human sacrifice, but Japhthah apparently did not know that law. He really thought he was doing something to honor God. Other cultures near by did practice regular human sacrifice. So he was letting the world around him influence the way he worshipped God rather than focussing on the word of God itself. This story shows the danger of that.
I am so happy that we are all taking a huge step at preventing us from making this mistake by reading the word of God in its entirety this year!
Amen Sarah and thank you for this comment! I was so disheartened to hear he went through with the sacrifice — and as someone else commented, what a lesson for US to learn NOT to test God!!
He didn’t actually perform human sacrifice. https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/rethinking-jephthah-foolish-vow/%3famp
Great insight ladies!
Thank you for clarifying keeping our WORD and God Abhorring human Sacrifice.
Thank God we live under a new convenant, where our mighty Jesus fights and intercedes for us . And the consequences. Yes, there are always consequences. But….
We don’t pay any more, he already did!
This again points me to Jesus.
Thank you Jesus!!!!
Yes! Carly I was just about to repost. I talked to my dad about it as he is very wise in scriptures and he said that Her not having a husband or children would b the source of her mourning. God abhorred human sacrifice!
I’m kind of confused about the head covering passage. Does that mean we should have hair? Or that we should use a scarf to cover our head? In the footnotes it seems to say that a woman should not have a shaved head and that her hair is her “covering” and that a man should not have long hair. If someone could shed some light on this! Thank you
We cover our heads during church so that we can honor God. Culturally, it was shameful to have a shaved head as a woman. Paul is likening a woman’s head being shaved to that of her “praying or prophesying” with her head uncovered. He does not mean we should shave our head. Essentially women are the glory of man and man is the glory of God. We are honoring God by covering up mans glory (his wife) during church and showing God’s glory (man) by not covering his head. Hope that helps.
Jephtah may have not actually sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering, but instead she may have remained single the rest of her life, according to my Bible Study Notes.
Having a hard time with judges today and him sacrificing his daughter. I think it’s an important lesson to be careful what we promise…he had to keep his word to the Lord and had to go to that extent to do so. I’m struggling with it but that’s what I’m getting from it.
You know, what I got from this was his daughter’s obedience. That is such a difficult concept for me. To know that her dad made a mistake that would cost her very life, yet she was understanding, made a simple request for a small amount of time to prepare and then didn’t run away, but came back and allowed herself to be sacrificed. I mean, she could have run away. But she didn’t. She was obedient. Would we be obedient even unto death?
After further study, I realize that it most likely was not death that she obediently succumbed too, but rather a life of solitude and singleness. That, in my opinion speaks even MORE volumes to me asa single woman. Would I be willing to be obedient to remain single for the remainder of my life just because of the rash mistake of someone else? Hmm….that’s hard!!
My study notes say that when he made this vow Jephthah was seeking to assure the outcome of the battle by bargaining with God. (vs 30) Then later for vs 31: Now, accordingly, he cannot go back on his vow (pledge) to the Lord. Thus all his efforts to assure for himself a position of power in Israel by manipulating God backfired. God will not be used!
This verses perfectly illustrate why making hasty or rash vows without really thinking them through is a bad idea.
I love the way you explained it! I was really struggling with what the message was.
Thank u for this! Really helpful and lessened my initial confusion after first reading
Thank you Pam! This helped me too. I was struggling with the passage.
Thank you for breaking it down! I was also confused by what lesson/message I was suppose to take away from this story!
Jepthah’s daughter has me all confused.
It took me a few reads to get it. He vowed to sacrifice to the Lord whatever came out of his front door. And his daughter came out. So he had to sacrifice her.
Confusing and crazy!