Judges 11:29-40: Jephthath's Parachute

Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on May 24, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay

When I was in my first year of studies at university, a friend of mine – Jared – and I decided that we were going to have the time of our lives that summer or die trying. That is the year I took up SCUBA diving. I went white-water rafting for the first time, did a lot of kayaking (I love Ocean kayaking) and we went parachuting…

You’ll probably hear this story again, just in case you haven’t heard it before by the way. I remember the training for jumping out of the plane. They drew all these diagrams on the board and we had to learn about trajectories and wind currents and the speed of acceleration of a free falling object – It was just like high school Physics – and I didn’t understand when I took high school physics and I didn’t understand it now. Then they had the practical test where they suspend you from the ceiling and you practice pulling the ripcord – well, in the practice, mine didn’t work.

This wasn’t looking so good so Jerry and I signed fake names on our waivers, made each other promise that we would steel the other’s waiver if something went wrong. (It was a long time ago.) Then we went to the washroom before boarding the Cessna aero plane.

Now a Cessna is a little plane. It is a very little plane and we went up a long way in this little plane. We were to jump at 3000 feet. Jerry and I flipped a coin to see who would jump first: I lost so I would have had to jump first but I made him jump first anyway because I when we got up so high that I thought I was at 3000 feet I checked the altitude of the plane and it was only 500 feet. This was the only time that I became a little afraid of heights.

Jerry jumped first: I could see from the plane that the chute opened nicely and he floated down peacefully to earth. Okay, it looked all right. Next it was my turn… I climbed out on the wing of the plane like we were told to. You see you are supposed to climb out on the wing, jump, count to five and then check to make sure the chute is working and we’re on our way.

So I jump, and like Jerry (as I find out later), I jump and try to count to five…but I can’t remember what comes after one: “One… rats!… arrg!”[1] Then I look up and see the full canopy of the parachute above me. Phew. So I reach back for the steering toggles that are on my parachute ropes. I reach back and there is nothing there. There’s nothing there. Sure my parachute opened up … but it wasn’t attached to my back!

Well actually only one side was. So it was attached to my back but it wasn’t catching any air so it wasn’t slowing me down at all. It was just like a flag flapping above my head. So from these classes - I remembered something - I had to unhook the streamer and take off the parachute all the while I am careening towards the ground at terminal velocity, I’m sure.

So I get the parachute off and pull the emergency cord and it comes out … in one big ball. It wasn’t catching any air either. In our classes beforehand they told us that if our chutes did this we were to take them off but when it’s your last parachute…while to make a short story even longer as I am falling towards the ground without a parachute. – I pray of course - I look down and I can see beneath me the highway and trees. My friend is watching me from the field. People who live in the houses nearby get in their cars when they see me fall beneath the tree line and come to help scrape my body up off the field – or whatever they else they can do – I don’t know. I do know that after they have seen me fall beneath the tree line towards the power lines and highway that a gust of wind comes, literally picks me up, opens up my chute and blows me over the field so that I land nicely right where I am supposed too – without even a scratch. It was indeed a miracle and an answer to sincere prayer.

You see, when I was without a parachute, and about to pull the emergency cord, I prayed. Now, I was a smoker back then and when I pulled my emergency cord, I remember praying, “Dear God, if you save me I’ll quit smm…never mind just please save me.” And He did. And I knew that as He did the first thing that I would want after I landed would be a cigarette. And it was, so it was a good thing I didn’t make the vow. (I did eventually quit smoking; but that’s an unrelated story) I know that God takes covenants, oaths, and vows very seriously and I didn’t make one then that I wouldn’t keep.

Jephthah, who we read about today, Jephthah might have been better never to make his vow.[2] Jephthah, from the passage we read in Judges 11, made a vow that he may wish that he could take back but like we learned through examining Judges 2, Joshua 9, and 2 Samuel 21, the Lord holds us accountable to our vows, our covenants, our promises, and in the case of the earlier referred to Israelite-Gibeonite vow (Josh 9), even when we are lied to, even when we are tricked, even when we make a vow that is against the expressed command of YHWH, when we make a vow to God he holds us to it. Through Joshua 9 and 2 Samuel 21 we see that Israel is responsible to fulfill both competing vows it made. One, a covenant that God commanded and another, that He forbade. Jephthah knows this, as he is well aware of the scriptures (cf. Chapter 11:1ff), verse 35, Jephthah knows this and he immediately regrets his vow to the LORD.

His vow to the LORD, verse 30ff: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands.

Verse 34ff, 'When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."'

Jephthah made this vow and it may or may not have actually been illicit or illegal even.[3] Human sacrifice after all is forbidden by the Law (cf. Lev. 18:21, 20:1-5; Deut 12:31; Jer. 7:31-32, 19:5-6; Ezek. 16:20-21, 20:31) so some people – atheist, agnostic and even some Christian writers, have argued that Jephthah would not need to fulfill this vow. We, of course, know that he did need to fulfill this vow for a couple of reasons. One, even though God explicitly generally forbids human sacrifice (Lev. 18:21, 20:1-5; Deut 12:31; 2 Ki 23:10; Jer. 7:31-32, 19:5-6; Ezek. 16:20-21, 20:31), there are exceptional circumstances when He has asked for it. Abraham was commanded to offer up his son as a sacrifice (Gen 22:2) and indeed our Heavenly Father offered up His only begotten son. And we remember from the Exodus that God has a claim on every firstborn child in Israel –be it a person or animal- (Exodus 13:2, 22:29) after the Angel of Death collected that same sacrifice from the Egyptians (Exodus 4:22-23, 12:12).[4] In the NT, we are also told that if we lose our life for the Lord we will gain it (Matt 10:39, Lk 17:33). Jephthah made this promise to God and even if this vow was taken against the expressed wishes of God (which it may or may not have been, cf. 11:29-30) he is still obligated to fulfill it and he did.

Like we studied in Judges 2:1-5, Joshua 9 and 2 Samuel 21, the Israelites were lied to when they broke their promise to God by making a competing one with the Canaanites.[5] They were tricked by the Gibeonites and then they broke their promise to YHWH by making a treaty with the Canaanites. They broke this agreement by making this competing treaty with the Gibeonites (who are Canaanites) who lied to them. Israel was tricked into making the second treaty and Israel, when they were doing it, did not realize that they were breaking their first promise to God and yet they were still responsible to both covenants that they made in the presence of God and now Jephthah, in Judges 11, has made a promise to God and now he is responsible to keep it.[6]

Now covenants are good and covenants are important and because of this the Lord himself warns us (Mt 5:34) while discussing the prohibition against divorce: “But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” We should not take our oaths, our promises, our covenants, lightly at all. We are obligated to them (cf. Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12; Numbers 30:2-3, and Deuteronomy 5:11; 6:3; 23:21-23.).[7]

In the OT, Numbers 30:3, it records that, "If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth (Numbers 30:2; see also: Deut. 23:21-23)”. And Jephthah knows this.

Do we know this? How well do we do at keeping our vows? Last week[8] we explored the numbers of divorces in this country and the drastic results that disregarding these covenantal vows have on future generations as well.

What about our other promises? Have you ever made a rash vow? I remember once in grade five promising that if so and so won this or that I would fight someone else and –trust me- my friends held me to that vow. I know that as an adult too a friend of mine promised the Lord that he would quit smoking: this was 10 years or so ago and around the same time another one that she would clean her room – we’re still waiting for them to fulfill their vows but I have faith that their delay is just like the delay of Jephthah’s daughter when she goes to cry with her friends in the mountains (Judges 11:37-40). I have faith that these people of faith (my friends) will fulfill their vows and experience the full covenantal blessing as indeed Jepthath did.

How do we know that Jepthath fulfilled his vow? There are many ways and I assure you that scholars have spared no ink in exploring this topic but one of the most convincing arguments is that Jepthath is mentioned in the Hebrews 11’s Walk of Fame. He is one of only four in the book of Judges mentioned as a Hero of the Faith alongside King David and the prophet Samuel (11:32) and for what is he remembered? He is remembered for his faith (or faithfulness). He, like Abraham, like Hanna, and like God did not even withhold His one and only child.

Do you remember the story of Hanna (1 Samuel 1)? This actually has some bearing on our text here today (Judges 11) and Jephthah’s vow. I invite you now to turn with me to 1 Samuel 1. Hanna didn’t have any children. She didn’t have any children at all. Her husband wound up taking another wife at the same time and had children with her but Hanna did not have any children and was suffering much because of it so she called upon the Lord, verse 11, "And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life... (2 Samuel 1:11)."

1 Samuel 1:20-28: So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him."
When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, "After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always." [This is reminiscent of Jephthah’s daughter’s time with her friends]
"Do what seems best to you," Elkanah her husband told her. "Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word." So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there.”

Notice that Hanna ‘gave Samuel over to the Lord’ (cf. Lev 27.28-29).[9] Now the language in the Hebrew text of the Jephthah’s vow is certainly ambiguous.[10] While Luther argued that Jepthath was committed to executing his daughter. Wesley and others have argued the opposite.[11]

Indeed, there are some words and phrases in Jephthah’s oath that do permit these different renderings of the text. It has been noted, that the phrase in Judges 11 which is usually translated as, "Whatever comes out of the doors of my house ... shall be the Lord's, AND I will offer it up as a burnt offering" in Judges 11:31 can also be read as: "Whatever comes out of the doors of my house ... shall be the Lord's, OR I will offer it up as a burnt offering." [12] So, if this second reading is correct, which it might be – and there are other things that lend itself to this idea as well such as the fact that Jephthah’s daughter and her friends did not mourn her loss of life but rather her loss of opportunity to be a mother – if this reading is correct then Jephthah could keep his vow and not execute his daughter. He would give her up to live a (possibly celibate) life devoted to God: to a life like that of a pre-Roman Catholic nun as it were.

The text is not clear though. Scholars are not in agreement and either way this vow is a serious thing. Even if Jephthath did not execute his daughter, the fact that she was his only child, means that the leadership of his clan which he gained from winning the battle, would not be passed down to his descendents and even more important than that his family’s inheritance in the promised land would actually pass to another. Jephthath sacrificed his descendants’ claim to the promise, to the land, to the promised land. This was very important to ancient Israel. It would represent the ultimate sacrifice (for Jepthath and his daughter who willingly submitted to this commitment that was made on her behalf.) [13] Whether she was committed to celibacy or to death. Either way – whether it was a reckless vow or a pious and an inspired one - Jephthah’s family sacrificed their whole world for God and God accepted that sacrifice and Jephthath is remembered as one of the ‘Heroes of the Faith.’

So we should not take our covenants, our vows, our promises, lightly when they are made to (or before) the LORD because we will be held accountable to them. God is faithful to his promises (Romans 3:3,4). So when we rely on His covenant promises we will be safe but when we ignore them we will be lost.

Our covenants, our oaths, our promises then are like a parachute. When we try to jump out of life’s plane without them or when they aren’t properly applied, the consequences can be frightening and even fatal but when we prayerfully pull on the cord of our covenants, when we pull that cord, when we put our faith in the faithfulness of the Lord and His covenant promises, we will not be disappointed. When we fully rely on the Lord. When we put our faith in Him and His covenant promises, as God is faithful to his covenants, we will look up and see the full parachute canopy of our salvation guiding gently to where we are supposed to be and then we – like Jephthah – through faith(fullness), may also be remembered as one of the ‘Heroes of the Faith.’

Let it be.
---
[1] In all honesty, I did not say, “rats.” I said s… something else….
[2] That this vow was reckless and that he would have been better not to make this vow are common ideas these days. This may not be the case however. As the meaning of the vow may be that he either dedicates what meets him OR sacrifices it (11:31) then this could be an inspired act for sure (cf. 11:29) and is certainly one of obedience on par with Hannah’s (1 Samuel 1) or Abraham’s (Gen 22)
[3] Some contemporary comment seems to lean in this direction (but not the bulk of comment throughout history by any means (Olsen, p. 834.) and some have argued that he may not have even needed to fulfil this vow (cf. Wolf, Expositors, CD Rom Book version 4.0.2.) I think the root of that isogetical claim clearly sprouts from the non-theistic viewpoint that life is not eternal and therefore one’s life is what is most important. Scripture, of course claims otherwise. One who loses one’s life for the Lord will gain it. There will be a resurrection of the dead: those who die for God will enjoy it; those who live for themselves will not.
[4] Denis T. Olsen, ‘Judges’ in NIB II: Deuteronomy-2Samuel. P.834.
[5] Captain Michael Ramsay. Judges 2:1-5: Covenant and the Gibeonite Dilemma (a look at Judges 2:1-5 through the lenses of Joshua 9 and 2 Samuel 21) Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on May 18, 2008. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/05/judges-21-5-covenant-and-gibeonite.html
[6] Herbert Wolf. Expositor's Bible Commentary Pradis CD-ROM: Judges/Exposition of Judges/II. The Rule of the Judges (2:6-16:31)/ Jephthah's vow and victory over Ammon (11:29-33), Book Version: 4.0.2 :Jephthah's desire to defeat the Ammonites was so intense that he made a special "vow to the Lord" (v.30). … Scholars continue to debate whether or not Jephthah had a human sacrifice in mind. The masculine gender could be translated "whatever comes out" (v.31) or "whoever comes out" and "I will sacrifice it," but it is hard to see how a common animal sacrifice would express unusual devotion. …. Although Jephthah did not originally plan to sacrifice his daughter, he would gladly have offered up anyone else if it helped bring victory.
[7] DA Carson. Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/II. The Gospel of the Kingdom (3:1-7:29)/B. First Discourse: The Sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:29)/3. The kingdom of heaven: its demands in relation to the OT (5:17-48)/b. Application: the antitheses (5:21-48)/(4) Oaths and truthfulness (5:33-37), Book Version: 4.0.2 :The Mosaic law forbade irreverent oaths, light use of the Lord's name, broken vows. Once Yahweh's name was invoked, the vow to which it was attached became a debt that had to be paid to the Lord.
[8] Captain Michael Ramsay. Judges 2:1-5: Covenant and the Gibeonite Dilemma (a look at Judges 2:1-5 through the lenses of Joshua 9 and 2 Samuel 21) Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on May 18, 2008. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/05/judges-21-5-covenant-and-gibeonite.html
[9] JP Holding: “such vows did NOT allow the person to be redeemed with money.” On-line: http://www.tektonics.org/gk/jepthah.html
[10] Denis T. Olsen, P.834, argues that this ambiguity is intentional.
[11] John Wesley: "It is really astonishing that the general stream of commentators should take it for granted that Jephthah murdered his daughter! If a dog had met Jephthah, would he have offered up that for a burnt offering? No, because God had expressly forbidden this. And had He also not expressly forbidden murder?" and referring to the authority and responsibility for Jephthath to execute his daughter: “For this is expressly limited to all that a man hath, or which is his, that is, which he hath a power over. But the Jews had no power over the lives of their children or servants, but were directly forbidden to take them away, by that great command, thou shalt do no murder.” (Notes on the Old Testament).
[12] (Clarke's Commentary, vol. 2, p. 151) cited from Al Maxey, available on-line at: http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx224.htm
[13] Herbert Wolf, Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Judges/Exposition of Judges/II. The Rule of the Judges (2:6-16:31)/I Jephthah's vow fulfilled (11:34-40), Book Version: 4.0.2: “Jephthah's daughter sensed the implications of her father's vow but made no attempt to get him to break it. Her willingness to yield herself resembled that of another only child, Isaac, who faced almost certain death when he allowed his father to tie him to an altar (Gen 22). Even if victory over Ammon meant her life, it was worth it; and she gently encouraged her father to perform his vow (v.36).”