God Wants Trust Not Transactions (Judges 11-12)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Have you ever made God a promise you lived to regret?

The ninth judge of Israel, Jephthah, certainly did. Jephthah was the son of Gilead and a prostitute. Due to his mother’s profession and his illegitimate birth, Jephthah faced rejection and was driven away by his half-brothers, who refused to share their inheritance with him. Jephthah fled to the land of Tob, where he became a great warrior and gathered a band of adventurers around him. Despite his difficult upbringing, he became known as a mighty warrior. Later, when the people of Gilead were threatened by the Ammonites, they sought Jephthah’s leadership in battle. Despite his initial reluctance, Jephthah agreed on the condition that he would become the ruler if victorious.

There are several critical points of this story to note. First, the dispute the Amorites had with Israel was illegitimate. After Jephthah reached out to the King of Ammon with the desire to merely pass through his land, “the Ammonite king’s reply to Jephthah is a typical political speech, claiming land that his people have never owned but basing his claim on history.”^[1] The second part is that, as Judges 11:29 says, “The Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah.” This is significant, given what follows next.

Third, despite this divine blessing, Jephthah makes a horrendous vow. In verses 30-31, ³⁰ “Jephthah made this vow to the Lord: ‘If you in fact hand over the Ammonites to me, ³¹ whoever comes out the doors of my house to greet me when I return safely from the Ammonites will belong to the Lord, and I will offer that person as a burnt offering.’”

Jephthah is a complicated figure, and he represents the depravity of his time. It’s clear that despite Jephthah’s allegiance to God, his prayers are rooted in paganism. Strengthening this argument is that when Jephthah addresses the King of Ammon, he almost equates the Ammonite god Chemosh with Yahweh. Daniel Block writes, “He is the sort of man whom we wonder if God will use but who has no reservations about manipulating God for his own use.”^[2]

Block notes that “Jephthah’s vow conforms structurally to four other vows in the Old Testament: Jacob’s vow in Gen 28:20–22; Israel’s vow in Num 21:2; Hannah’s vow in 1 Sam 1:11; and Absalom’s vow in 2 Sam 15:7–8.”^[3] However, Jephthah’s vow is also unlike any other vow we see in Scripture. Block states this of Jephthah:

Having successfully negotiated favorable terms for his leadership over Gilead, but having unsuccessfully avoided confrontation with the Ammonites through negotiation, he sought to secure victory from God with words. But he was still negotiating—manipulating God and seeking to wrest concessions and favors from him like he had from the Gileadites and Ammonites. But in this three-linked chain of haggling one may recognize an obvious and intentional decline in his effectiveness. With the Gileadites he achieved all that he wanted (vv. 4–11); with the Ammonites he received a verbal if negative response (vv. 12–28); with Yahweh there would be only silence.^[4]

This silence is telling, and after defeating the Ammonites, Scripture tells us Jephthah sacrificed his daughter. But is this actually what happened? Some have speculated that since his daughter goes to mourn her virginity, this is a sign Jephthah committed her life as a servant in the temple. But then again, Judges 11:39 indicates he did indeed sacrifice her as a burnt offering. Further complicating this matter is that Jephthah’s name is mentioned in the “Hall of Faith” chapter in Hebrews 11:32.

Why doesn’t God say anything and condemn Jephthah’s actions in the moment? Why is Jephthah seemingly celebrated in the New Testament? Even Augustine, who died in 430 AD, wrestled with this question when he says, “This event has become a great and rather difficult question to settle both for some who investigate the matter with piety and genuinely seek to know what this passage means and for some who out of ignorant impiety oppose the Holy Scriptures.”^[5]

In response to these objections, John Chrysostom offered this thoughtful response as a potential explanation for God’s silence:

For if after that vow and promise he had forbidden the sacrifice, many also who were subsequent to Jephthah, in the expectation that God would not receive their vows, would have increased the number of such vows, and proceeding on their way would have fallen into child murder. But now, by suffering this vow to be actually fulfilled, he put a stop to all such cases in the future. And to show that this is true, after Jephthah’s daughter had been slain, in order that the calamity might be always remembered and that her fate might not be consigned to oblivion, it became a law among the Jews that the virgins assembling at the same season should bewail during forty days the sacrifice which had taken place; in order that renewing the memory of it by lamentation, they should make all people wiser for the future; and that they might learn that it was not after the mind of God that this should be done, for in that case he would not have permitted the virgins to bewail and lament her.[6]

While we have no evidence of God’s immediate condemnation of Jephthah’s actions, in a way, we don’t need them because God had already condemned this type of pagan activity for centuries. And the fact that Jephthah’s name is recorded in Hebrews 11 was not an indication God approved of all his actions.

A Meditation to PRAY

Praise | Lord, I praise You for Your wisdom, which is far beyond my understanding. You lead me through trials and triumphs, shaping my life with purpose. In stories like Jephthah’s, I see the complexity of human actions and your sovereignty in the midst of them all.

Release | I release my tendency to make hasty promises or vows, especially in times of distress or eagerness. Teach me to pause and seek your wisdom before making commitments. Help me to understand the seriousness of my words and to align my intentions with Your will.

Ask | I ask for discernment in my decisions and promises, knowing they will impact those I love. Guide me to honor my commitments in a way that reflects Your love and righteousness.

Yield | I yield to your gentle correction and guidance, learning from the story of Jephthah. May my spirit be in tune with your teachings, and may I grow in patience and wisdom.

A Challenge to Act Like Christ  

The story of Jephthah teaches us that despite our commitment to God, it’s possible to hold on to a pagan mindset—especially in our prayers.

We thank God that he is all-powerful but plan our agendas as if he isn’t. We thank him that he is all-knowing but seldom consult him for advice. We thank God he is always present but speak and act in ways we wouldn’t if we believed this to be true. Like Jephthah, we have embraced a form of paganism in our prayers.

So how do we change? This is why the Word of God is so powerful. Only as we study God’s Word and learn to spend time with him in prayer in the context of a strong community can we root out those pagan desires that creep into our thoughts, words, and actions.  

^[1]Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, ed. E. Ray Clendenen and Kenneth A. Mathews, vol. 6 of The New American Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 359.

^[2]Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, ed. E. Ray Clendenen and Kenneth A. Mathews, vol. 6 of The New American Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 364.

^[3]Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, ed. E. Ray Clendenen and Kenneth A. Mathews, vol. 6 of The New American Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 366.

^[4]Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, ed. E. Ray Clendenen and Kenneth A. Mathews, vol. 6 of The New American Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 365-366.

[5] QUESTIONS ON JUDGES 49.1

[6] HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 14.7