Overview
Judges: Jephthah
was the son of Gilead and a prostitute. His half brothers drove him out and he
lived in Tob. When the Ammonites came against Israel, the inhabitants of Gilead
asked Jephthah to be their leader to fight the Ammonites. He sent messengers to
the Ammonites to find out why they were attacking. They claimed Israel had
taken their land from them when they came up out of Egypt. He sent more
messengers explaining they had bypassed the king of Edom and Moab but the Lord
gave them the land of Sihon, the Amorite king. For 300 years, Moab had not
claimed the land so the Lord will judge between Israel and Ammon.
Jephthah
then rallied the people of Gilead and Manasseh and vowed to offer a burnt
offering to the Lord of the first thing that came out of his house if he
returned home successful in battle. So Jephthah beat the Ammonites. When he
returned home, his only child, his daughter came out to meet him. He was
distraught but told her about the vow and he couldn’t go back on it. She agreed,
but first took two months to roam the hills and weep. When she returned, he
kept his vow. The daughters of Israel lament each year for four days for her.
Ephraim was
upset because Jephthah hadn’t called them to the battle and threatened to kill
Jephthah because of it. Jephthah said he did call them but they refused to come
so he took his own life in his hand and went to battle. Jephthah and the
Gileadites fought Ephraim, captured the ford of the Jordan and killed any
Ephraimite who tried to cross. They could tell who was an Ephraimite because
they couldn’t pronounce Shibboleth with the h. Altogether they killed 42,000
Ephraimites.
Jephthah
judged Israel for six years and died. Ibzan came next and he judged for seven
years and died. Elon judged ten years and died. Hillel judged for ten years and
died.
Psalm:
David sings of God’s loving kindness and justice. He then expresses his own
integrity and how he has been blameless. He will not let evil people be around
him but only the faithful in the land. He will destroy the wicked of the land.
Proverbs: People
who are hurting may often put on a cheerful façade when they are with others
but go home and grieve. A person may also be a sinner at heart but it will show
in his ways just as good person’s ways are seen.
John: The
beginning of John tells us that Jesus is eternal and has always been with God.
Jesus is the creator of life and everything physical. He is the life and light
of men. Though Jesus created everything, the world and his people didn’t know
him. Those who do know him are given the right to be children of God. Jesus
became flesh and was seen by people. Moses gave the Law but Jesus brought truth
and grace. He is the only one who has seen the Father.
John the
Baptist came to witness about Jesus. Jewish leaders wanted to know who he was,
but he assured them he was not the Christ, the prophet, or Elijah. However, he
quoted from Isaiah 40:3 that he was a voice crying out to make straight the
paths of the Lord. They wanted to know why he was baptizing if he wasn’t one of
these. John said he baptized with water but there was another among them whom
they didn’t know who was greater than he was.
What Stood Out
Judges: “And
at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her
according to his vow that he had made” (Judg 11:39).
Psalm: “Morning
by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land” (Ps 101:8).
Proverbs: “Even
in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief” (Prov 14:13).
John: “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John
1:1).
Insight
Judges: Jephthah
must have been a very persuasive and strong willed person for the Gileadites to
ask him to be their leaders. While these traits served him well in his battle
with the Ammonites, it was also a problem when it came to sacrificing his
daughter after making a rash vow. His problem was a lot like other people
during the time of the judges. Their worship of other gods had become so
ingrained that they imagined the Lord was just like their other gods. The first
problem is that he thought he could make a bargain with God. He didn’t ask the
Lord if it was his will to defeat the Ammonites. He assumed that God would do
this if he promised to do something. We do the same thing. “Lord if you grant
me success in this business, I will give you ten percent of the profits (or
maybe more).” The Lord required burnt offerings from his people; this wasn’t
something to bargain over. They were supposed to give thank offerings without
any strings attached. We are supposed to do what is right and good because that
is our response to what God has already done, not in order to get something
from him.
Jephthah
didn’t expect he would have to sacrifice his daughter. That is evident by his
reaction when she came out of the house. It was common to sacrifice children to
the other gods that Israel had recently put away so it made it easier for Jephthah
to imagine that God would require him to keep his vow. Jephthah placed his vow
to the Lord above God’s clear commandment not to sacrifice children. The
Pharisees had the same problem. Their traditions and vows negated God’s
commands. This is the basis of sin. We do what we want even when it is in
violation of God’s commands. Sin is sin regardless of how great it is or how
small it is. We are no better than Jephthah when it comes to violating God’s
command. The only difference is that we have a lot more of the Bible than he
had and we are therefore less excusable than he is.
Psalm: I
really have to wonder when David wrote this Psalm. Was it when he was tending
sheep before he was brought into Saul’s services? Is it his vows when he became
king over Judah or later, over all Israel? He sounds a lot like a high school
kid who is a newborn Christian after receiving Christ at summer camp. He is
zealous for the good things of the Lord. He is all ready to go out and witness
on street corners. Then reality sets in when he goes back to school and finds
all his friends are doing the things he says he abhors. Like David, he stumbles
and falls. When he turns back to the Lord, he recognizes his own sinfulness and
his need to repent. He is able to give grace to others and not be so
judgmental. We don’t need to stumble before we give grace to others, we just
have to read the Bible and find out how much grace God has given us.
Proverbs: We
are a culture that often doesn’t reveal what is really going on in our hearts.
We put on a good face when we are hurting inside or sinning inside. It is often
a surprise to others when someone commits suicide or has an addiction. I often
read in the paper about a person who has been caught red-handed in a crime and
the parents are quoted saying how good of person he was. These two proverbs are
too true even among Christians. We have brothers and sisters in Christ and we
should be able to open up to them and get help whether we have secret grief or
sin.
John: The
eternal nature of Jesus is of vital importance to knowing God. Cults most often
represent Jesus as a created being. Some say he is the angel Michael, other say
he was the first spirit baby conceived in heaven by god and one of his wives.
It is extremely important to understand that Jesus, the Son of God, the second
person of the Trinity has always existed otherwise he could not be the Savior.
Our Savior had to be holy and without sin to take on the sins of the whole
world. We will see in the book of John that Jesus claims in various places and
ways that he is God. That means he has to be eternal. If he were not, then he
lied and that would prevent him from dying for our sins. He wouldn’t be able to
even die to cover his own sins. But the proof that he didn’t lie is in his
resurrection.
So, when it
says that those who believe in him have the right to become children of God, it
means we must believe in his eternality and that Jesus is God. If we don’t believe
that, we are believing in a false Christ and that will not save us. This is why
John clearly lets everyone know that Jesus is God in the first few verses of his
Gospel. The rest of the Gospel backs up this claim.
Application
I have plenty
of opportunities to sin and so does everyone else. My heart isn’t pure but because
of Jesus’ blood, I know that I’m forgiven. Since I’m too much like Jephthah, and
I know others are as well, I need to give grace to those who are struggling with
sin, grief, or other problems of the heart. I need to reach out to others for help
when I am.
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