The Times of the Judges Part 5

Well, this is a blessing, brethren, to walk through God's Scripture and see the lessons He has for us, really, no matter what book you turn to. We've been walking through more of a Bible study, I would say, than a sermon series on the book of Judges, but there's so many lessons from the book of Judges that we can pull out as well, from Israel's history and their experiences, to pull those things forward, really, even to our time and how the lessons would apply to us today. And so, for today's sermon, we will continue, once again, in our study through the book of Judges. I hope to wrap this up in one more sermon after this one, just to give you a little foresight down the line. And I appreciate the other sermon men who have kind of filled in on the rotation on the weeks that I'm off and given us topical sermons, and it's allowed me to focus on the continuation through this book. But we're going to pick up where we left off last time, following the judgeship of Gideon. That concluded approximately 250 years after Israel had entered the Promised Land. And as we read through the Bible today, we're going to see a contrast between two individuals and, I would say in your mind, go back to Mr. Oliver's sermonette, because what we're going to see today is about attitude and really how you approach the circumstance you were born into and that you find surrounding you in life. Two people can come from very similar circumstances, and their outcomes can be very different depending on whether or not they dedicate their life to serving God or serving self. So what we'll see in the book of Judges today really will be two primary individuals and the contrast between them. A title for today's message is the time of the Judges, Part 5, from the Bramble King to a man of his word, from the Bramble King, as in Bramble Bush, from the Bramble King to a man of his word. And the last time we concluded, we acknowledged that Israel had 40 years of peace in the days of Gideon. And I'd like to go ahead and pick up the story where we left off in verse 30 of chapter 8, because we'll see very quickly, again, the decline.

It's how rapidly it can take place when a righteous leader or somebody that's pointing to people to God passes from the scene, how quickly this nation turned into decline once again. So Judges chapter 8 and verse 30 will just kind of come in to the very end of the story of Gideon. It says, Gideon had 70 sons who were his own offspring, for he had many wives. And his concubine, who was in Shechem, also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. Now Gideon, the son of Joash, died at a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of Joash's father in Ophra of the Abesorites.

Verse 33, so it was as soon as Gideon was dead that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the bales, and they made Baal Bethra their god. And thus the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their god, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side, nor did they show kindness to the house of Jeravail, that is Gideon, in accordance with the good he had done for Israel. And so very quickly, Israel forgot, we could say.

They forgot the living God, the one whom they had been directed to through the judgeship of Gideon. They forgot as well Gideon in his house, and what he had done in terms of rescuing them from oppression and restoring their worship, and again, pointing them back to the God of Israel.

And something that we'll notice from the end of his story here is that although he did not want to be a king, remember from the last time after his victory, the people in Israel wanted to make him king, and yet actually even more than that, they wanted to make him a dynasty of his family. They said, you rule over us and your son and your grandson. And you recall Gideon's response was, no, I'm not going to be your king.

God is your king. And he said, look to the Lord who is our king. And that is the focus that he pointed the people to. But as we come to the end of the story, we do see that even though he was not an actual king in Israel, he did have 70 sons. And we can assume, I think safely, that there were daughters in the mix as well. And this number of children indicates the fact that Gideon had amassed a rather large harem, which was something that was actually typical for kings of the day, to have many wives, to have concubines, and to have so many children in this way.

In fact, the son born to his Shechemite concubine was named Bimalak, which means, my father is king. So even though Gideon did not sit as king in Israel, the deference of the people towards him, along with his personal lifestyle in some respects, as well as the governing roles that he gave to his sons, his 70 sons had leadership positions in Israel, this actually did little to dispel the notion, at least in the minds of some people, to look upon Gideon as a king.

Again, he did not take that to himself. He said, look to God. But how he was looked upon did in fact reflect that in a way. And what we find as we move then into Judges chapter 9 is that the effect of this perception of kingship, the effect that it had on Abimalak. Abimalak wanted to be king himself. And he wanted that prestige, authority, actually for himself. Judges chapter 9 and verse 1, again, keeping in our mindset simply just the attitude of a person, how that can direct their focus and outcome.

Judges chapter 9 and verse 1 says, then Abimalak, the son of Drubal, went to Shechem, to his mother's brothers, and he spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, please speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem, which is better for you? He says, all the seventy sons of Drubal, is it better for them to reign over you? Or that one reign over you of your own is essentially what he's saying. Seventy of them or one of your own hear from Shechem?

He says, remember that I am your own flesh and bone. Verse 3, and his mother's brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the hearing of all the men of Shechem, and their heart was inclined to follow Abimalak. For they said, he is our brother. So there's a number of things going on here, but kind of reading between the lines, there's indication that the Shechemite concubine, whom was Abimalak's mother, was actually a Canaanite.

The city of Shechem really maintained its roots and its ties back to its Canaanite founders. There was a mix here of Canaanites and Israelites. They had not been fully dispelled, which was, again, contrary to what God told them to do, caused them so much trouble along the way. But the indication is the Shechemite woman was a Canaanite. At the very least, she was of Shechem. And as a result, Abimalak himself was likely spurned by his 70 brothers.

Again, these were brothers of Gideon's wives, but a concubine was sort of a second-rate wife.

Sometimes they're referred to as a wife in Scripture, sometimes not. But what you have, as it was listed out at the end of chapter 8, you had the 70 sons of Gideon, and then you had the son of his concubine, just kind of listed here over off to the side. So there's resentment, there's trouble, and it really does show for us, and we can see it many places in the Bible. The challenge is that these polygamous relationships often spawned. Resentment and competition was often the case among the offspring. Even if we look at the house of King David, the fabric of that house was ripped apart by sons that came from various wives. And it was not as God had intended it to be from the beginning, and frankly those situations very rarely ended well. But as a result, what you find is a bimilec would have basically been spurned, shunned by the 70 sons of Gideon as not a true brother, not someone that was going to be in line with the inheritance that they received. And so bimilec's appeal now to Shechem is based on a claim that the rulership of that city by the 70 wouldn't be nearly as good as his rulership. After all, I'm one of you.

Verse 4 carries on, says that they gave him 70 shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Barith, obviously a pagan god, which a bimilec hired worthless and reckless men, and they followed him.

So, you know, it's not like his own leadership gravitated. People gravitated towards him. No, he had to go actually hire a force that would follow him. Verse 5, and he went to his father's house at Ophrah, to Gideon's household, and he killed his brothers, the 70 sons of Jerub-bael, on one stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-bael, was left because he hid himself.

And so we have a bimilec here. He killed all 70 of Gideon's sons, his own flesh and blood, his own brothers, the youngest one escaped, and we just might ask, how horrific is that?

You know, how unimaginable would that be? It gives you a little insight into the mindset of this individual, and really the direction now he's going to go from the start. Again, in this message, we're going to see your start may be one way, but that doesn't necessarily have to determine your outcome unless you allow it to do so. So he kills the 70 brothers, and apparently without any remorse. Verse 6, and it says, And the men of Shechem gathered together all of Beth-milo, and they went, and they made a bimilec king, besides the tereventh tree at the pillar that was in Shechem. They made him king. So he becomes the first individual ever to be crowned as a king in Israel, and yet this was clearly not of God. The way it came about was not of God, and the people who put him forward were not of God, and a bimilec service clearly, in terms of his actions, were not of God as well. In fact, he is self-exalting. He's going to be selfish in his rule as we see, and he runs roughshod over the divine requirements of that office. You know, there would not be a king if it were God's direction, because God was their king. But even before they entered the land, he said, You're going to want a king, and if you do, these are going to be the requirements of the king. And a bimilec just ran roughshod right over the top of anything that would have even been godly about a king. Nowhere in the Bible can we find a bimilec ever called a king by God, and never even called a judge. Some listings of judges of Israel will list a bimilec in there, but there's no acknowledgement that I can ever find of him being acknowledged by God as legitimate. And that's because he was not God's servant. He was a servant of himself. Very self-motivated and very focused. He was not given the Spirit of God, from what we can see. He was not raised up by God to rescue Israel from some oppression.

In fact, we see his assault was against his own brothers, the descendants of the last judge of Israel, in order to wipe them out and to instill his rule. And as we've already seen as well, his leadership was in support of and supported by the idolatrous practices of Baal worship.

So this is the man you get coming on the scene. Now, we won't take time to read over a bimilec's entire story today. I do want to hit a few highlights, though, along the way that I believe are important. As this story continues, Gideon's last surviving son Jotham declares a parable.

He gets up in the hearing of the men of Shechem on a hilltop, and he declares this parable. And it's a parable about trees who sought it came to reign over them. So you have these trees, and they're like, who's going to reign over us? And they go to an olive tree, and they ask the olive tree to reign over them. And the olive tree essentially says, shall I quit giving my oil? That's such a blessing in order to come reign over you. And he would not. And then they ask the fig tree, come and reign over us. And the fig tree says, well, should I stop giving my delicious fruit? That's desirable in order to come reign over you. And he would not. And it kind of goes down the listing.

And finally, it comes to out of desperation, they settle for a bramble bush. A bramble bush to rule over the trees. It is this parable. A bramble bush, a worthless and barren shrub, producing nothing but thorns and briars. One that snares men into it who come on contact with it. And that bramble bush represents a bimlech. Represents a bimlech. It represents the legacy of his reign, the way he would act and conduct himself very abusive. Someone that, frankly, would shred anybody that crossed him in the wrong way. And that's why I'm calling him today the bramble king. King of bimlech, the bramble king. And through this parable, Jotham charged the men of Shechem with treachery against the house of Gideon. And he called for their destruction as repayment for their actions and their foolishness. Because they're the ones now lifting up the hands of a bimlech.

Ultimately, there is a pact between a bimlech and the Shechemites that come into decline.

There's a cozy relationship for a time, but then friction starts to enter in. You have a three-year period where a bimlech is essentially the king, at least in that small region. But then God sends a spirit of ill will between the bimlech and the sons of Shechem. And the disaffection then causes them to support another man by the name of Gal, the son of Ebed. Support him, actually, to raise him up in opposition to a bimlech who is now getting out of hand. But then a bimlech comes in and puts that opposition down by killing Gal, and then he goes about destroying the city of Shechem. The very ones who then had raised him up to begin with. If we drop down to verse 45, we can see how a bimlech destroys Shechem and eventually loses his own life. And we can learn some lessons from the manner in which he conducts himself. Judges chapter 9 and verse 45, it says, So a bimlech fought against the city, against Shechem, all that day, and he took the city, and he killed the people who were in it, and he demolished the city, and he sowed it with salt.

You'll find in a few places throughout the Bible a field being sown with salt, or cities, or a whole region. Essentially, when you sowed the ground with salt, it symbolized the utter destruction, and it ensured the loss of a perpetual fertility of that city. You made it infertile.

It's like if you and I on one of these snowy days, you go out and you shove shovel the driveway, be careful where you put the de-icer, right? If you're just going to throw salt out on the ground, what does it do to the grass? It burns it and kills it. We make homemade ice cream at home a lot, and I tell my wife and kids whenever somebody's going to go dump the ice cream bucket with all the rock salt in it, be careful where you dump the bucket, because nothing's going to grow there for quite some time. And so that was the case here. The city was sown with salt, and in fact, it was the fulfillment of Joseph's Declaration against Shechem. Indeed, the Bible shows that the city was not rebuilt until the reign of King Jeroboam I, almost 200 years after the encounter here with King Abimelech. To carry on in verse 46, it says, Then all the men of the tower of Shechem had heard that they entered the stronghold of the temple of the God-bereth. And it was told, Abimelech, that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. Verse 48, He went up unto Mount Zalman, and all the people who were with him followed, and Abimelech took an axe in his hand. He cut down a bough from the trees, took it, and he laid it on his shoulder. And then he said to the people who were with him, What you have seen me do may case than do as I have done. And so each of the people likewise cut down his own bough, and followed Abimelech. And he put them against the stronghold, and he set the stronghold on fire above them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died about a thousand men and women.

He simply just went through conquering, destroying, killing, destroyed the city so it would never, at least in his lifetime, rise again and now sets fire to the surviving men and women. Those that had actually lifted up his hands provided him an opportunity for this kind of leadership, and yet it shows us what kind of a man he was. Abimelech was a very twisted individual. Again, he was self-focused. He was self-centered. He ruled with fear. He was oppressive. People followed him because they were paid to follow him as his fighting force. He served the Bales, and he did not serve God. So again, it's a clear example of a very twisted individual who would be called a king, in some respects, in a very limited way, but certainly not anyone that God would support.

Verse 50, carrying on, it says, Then Abimelech went to Thebes, and he encamped there against Thebes, and he took it, another outlying city near Shechem. But there was a strong tower in the city, and all the men and the women and the people of the city fled there, shut themselves in, and they went up to the top of the tower. And so Abimelech came as far as the tower, and he fought against it, and he drew near the door of the tower to burn it with fire, just as he had done in Shechem. Verse 53, But a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. According to Expositor's Bible commentary on this passage, it says, The upper millstone was an easily held stone about 10 inches long that rode back and forth over the larger lower millstone as the grain was crushed. So you have essentially this very dense, compact, and heavy stone that she took into her hand. It says, Grinding wheat was the work of women, and the woman doubtless took the stone with her as a potential weapon. Her success was surprising. It was as surprising as the arrow that pierced Ahab's armor in 1 Kings 22. You recall that arrow that came flying across the battlefield and entered just between the two pieces of armor and killed Ahab.

It says this was unmistakably a divine retribution. As the story goes on in verse 54, it says, The Bimelech called quickly to the young man his armor bearer, and he said to him, Draw your sword and kill me. Lest men save me, a woman killed him. So his young man thrust him through, and he died. He says, And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his place. And thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. And all the evil men of Shechem God returned on their own heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubael.

And so ends the story of King Abimelech. Rather short story, but a rather tragic story as well.

The story of a man that really, I would say, couldn't seem to overcome his beginnings and took his anger and resentment. I would say, as the first message said, he sat in the seat of the scornful, and he allowed that to drive and motivate his leadership, and we see the end result.

In the end, Abimelech did not appear to have reigned over much more than the territory of Shechem and the surrounding villages. So in that sense, he wasn't a national king of Israel. He was basically a localized king in that respect. A couple of lessons that we can learn from the example of Abimelech. As we've walked through the judges, to me this is a book of leadership training. In a lot of ways, there's examples in every one of these individuals that you could say, here's a good leadership quality or here is a bad leadership quality. So you can flip it the other way and learn important lessons as well. A couple of lessons from Abimelech that stand out.

Number one, those who seek to exalt themselves will be a based.

Those who seek to exalt themselves will be a based. It's a biblical principle, principle of God. Abimelech's sole ambition was self-promotion. It was self-exaltation.

Think of how he became king. It wasn't by the fact that God raised him up or that the people recognized a leadership quality in him. No, he killed his 70 brothers who actually were in positions of leadership in Israel in order to grasp that a position for himself. You know, was that honorable to God? It was not. And ultimately, it was not even honorable to men as the people of Shechem turned against him as they saw his personality bear out in his rule.

Matthew 23, verse 12, Jesus Christ states, whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. And that was the case of Abimelech. He exalted himself.

He raised himself up, and ultimately it was God who put him down. It was God who humbled him in the end. James 4, verse 10 tells us, if we humble ourselves in the sight of God, he will be the ones who lift us up. And that's really where the principle comes from. It is God who will lift us up. We work on the heart, right? Humble self. Be moldable clay in the potter's hands, and God will use you in his service. But put yourself forward, and God will indeed, in the end, repay on your head that which you brought upon yourself. But the lesson is, if God lifts you up in his service, then he will be the one who strengthens you in the cause as well. And we've seen that all through the book of Judges. When he has raised up a judge who, in their humility, served him, God worked through them. It was the hand of God through Gideon, the hand of God through these other individuals that truly accomplished what it was that God was doing. It wasn't that the individual was so great beyond their willingness to serve and to be God's humble servant, but it is the hand of God, ultimately, that reigns.

Principle number two, lesson number two, from Abimelech.

Vengeance belongs to God. And I think that's a clear example for us. Vengeance belongs to God.

You and I live in a world that tries to convince ourselves that God is absent, that either he doesn't really see or doesn't care about what's going on, or, you know, just isn't involved. He's sort of hands-off and off in the distance somewhere. But we know the opposite is true, and stories like this show us that in the end God will have the last word.

You might say, where is God? As you see, evil men prosper. You see people raised up and maybe in leadership, rulership positions, and the people have grown because it is not a righteous leader.

And all through the Bible, the questions ask, you know, why do the righteous seem to prosper?

Excuse me, the wicked, right? When the righteous are an authority, the people rejoice. But why do the wicked prosper? Why does the rain come on the righteous and the wicked? Well, let's not forget, in the end, vengeance belongs to God, and he will have the last word. Bimlech set himself up to be king by killing the 70 sons of Gideon on one stone. And we kind of read over that quickly. It was on one stone, okay, in one place in which these executions took place. And ironically, what we see take place is that it was a single stone in the hand of a woman that brought it all crashing down around him. God is not mocked. What a man or a woman sows, that is what they will also reap.

And God is not mocked in these cases. As we read here in Judges chapter 9 and verse 56, it says, Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimilech, which he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. You know, God did that. It may have been by the stone in the woman's hand, but it was God's repayment upon him. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I will repay, Romans 12-19.

So inevitably, retribution does come from God. And wicked men may seem to prosper for a time, but it is God who sees all and is God who will right all wrongs in the end.

And for us, that is an encouragement. As a blessing, brethren, that no matter what happens around us, all the way up to the end of the age, no matter what trial or persecution, martyrdom perhaps, whatever oppression may come upon the people of God, take comfort, have faith in knowing we serve a God who will right all wrongs to his glory in the end.

Vengeance belongs to God. There's many other lessons we could draw from a biblic example.

I would just say, if you want to go back and study them, study them as a perspective of anti-leadership qualities. Here's the qualities of a bad leader, and frankly, even the bad men of Baal who were supporting him turned on him in the end.

Now, as we move into chapter 10, God raises up two more judges, Tola and Jair, who brought peace to Israel for approximately 45 years. But following their deaths, a predictable thing happened. Israel ran wholeheartedly back to idolatry again. It's the same cycle that we see over and over again. So for 18 years, God sold his people into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, two of the peoples whose gods Israel embraced.

You know, they thought if we embrace the gods of the people around us, we'll just sort of blend in with these people. But the fact is, God allowed the people to overwhelm them, put them into various levels of oppression. So obviously, serving a false god didn't do anything to deliver Israel from their oppressors. Only the true God would do so. Judges chapter 10 and verse 16. Judges 10 and 16 were coming to a point now where Israel finally comes to their senses, except this time God ignores their plea. God says, I'm not going to respond. We've been through this time and time and time again.

But Israel turns, even without God acknowledging their plea, Israel turns. They put away their idols.

They turn back to God once again. And finally, there came a point where God can no longer endure their misery. And out of his mercy and love, he intervenes. Judges chapter 10 and verse 16. This will lead us into the second man I want to focus on today. Judges chapter 10 and verse 16 says, so they put away their foreign gods from among them. They served the Lord and his soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel. Then the people of Ammon gathered together. They encamped in Gilead and the children of Israel assembled together, encamped in Mispa. And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon. He says he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. So we're seeing this cycle. Again, sin, the servitude, followed by supplication, followed by salvation as God provides a deliverer. We see this cycle now coming around once again full circle. God will raise up a man to deliver them from the hand of the Ammonites. Judges chapter 11 and verse 1 says, now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor and he was the son of a harlot and Gilead begat Jephthah. Verse 2, Gilead's wife bore sons and when his wife's sons grew, they grew up and they drove Jephthah out. And they said to him, you shall have no inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman. Kind of seems somewhat parallel to what we saw with the Bimillak. Bimillak wasn't a son of a wife of Gideon and neither was Jephthah, the son of a wife of Gilead. He was the son of a harlot. And so his brothers drove him out, said you're not going to have any part in our inheritance, but what we're going to see, you take two people and you start them at the same point, their attitude, their focus, and whether or not they yield to God, you know, you may start at the same point, but you can end up in two completely different directions, right, based on how you respond. Your circumstances can be overcome.

What we're going to find here, though, is that this is not completely unlike Bimillak. Both of them had mothers of low status, but with the case of our man here, Jephthah, he's going to overcome because of he's an honorable man and the fact that he looks to God. Verse 3, it says, then Jephthah fled from his brothers and he dwelt in the land of Tob. It says, and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and they went out raiding with him. You know, it's interesting that unlike Bimillak, he didn't have to go hire men to follow him. There was apparently a leadership quality about him that actually man banded together with him and followed him. Unlike Bimillak, as well, he didn't have the protection of his mother's family to flee to. And Bimillak did, and he still, even with that protection, it didn't set him on a good direction. Jephthah here is on his own, but as we're going to see, life in the wilderness became excellent preparation for a more significant service. And I would say it appears that Jephthah's relationship with his group of ragtag men probably resembled King David's relationship with his wilderness men. Those that David was with as he was fleeing from Saul and out in the wilderness, these men who he worked with. And they became rather a strong fighting force, but just like David here, we see him molding this group of misfits into an effective force that would become useful ultimately in service to God and his people. Verse 4 says, it came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. And so it was in the people of Ammon made war against Israel that the elders of Gilead went to Jephthah from the land of Tob. It says, and they said to him, come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon. And so Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, did you not hate me? Did you not expel me from my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress? Again, these aren't completely foreign people. These are his own people, and to a degree as well his own family, now seeking his support. Verse 8, and the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, that is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us, that you may fight against the people of Ammon and be our head, all the inhabitants of Gilead. So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, if you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head? And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, the Lord will be witnessed between us if we do not do according to your words. Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them, and Jephthah spoke all these words before the Lord at Mispa. So we find as Jephthah had established a reputation as a skilled fighter, but also as a leader, as one that people banded together with and were loyal to him, and it really made an effective force that was quite different actually from Abimelechs. Additionally, we find that Jephthah's years of wandering had served to deepen his faith in God, and we find him here acknowledging that if victory comes, it's going to be by the hand of the Lord. It's going to be by Yahweh, it's not going to be by Baal, it's not going to be by any other false god. The true God of Israel will bring the victory, and Jephthah had the understanding of where that strength and where that power truly came from, and he acknowledged that would only come by God's hand.

Verse 12 says, now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the peoples of Ammon, and he said to them, what do you have against me that you have come to fight against me in my own land?

And as the passage goes on, what we find, it defines a territorial dispute between Ammon and now Israel, or at least Gilead in this case. They were part of the tribe of Manasseh, but it's a dispute over the fact that 300 years earlier God had brought them into the land, and they had conquered this land, and they had become Israel's. And now 300 years later they want it back.

Verse 26, that's what this contest is about, verse 26 of chapter 11, it says, while Israel dwelt in Heshban and its villages, and in Urver and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of Arnon, for 300 years, why did you not recover them within that time? You know, no opposition, no request at that point. Obviously, God had given it to them.

Verse 27, he says, therefore I have not sinned against you, but you have wronged me by fighting against me. May the Lord the judge render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon. However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jepthah sent to him, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jepthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed through Misvah and Gilead, and from Misvah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.

So what we find is that war is now going to be inevitable. God has put his Spirit on him. He has raised him up as a judge, as a deliverer of his people, and really we should look at the judges from the perspective of a type of a forerunner of Jesus Christ, a type of a foreshadow of one that God raises up to be a deliverer. Obviously, this wasn't a spiritual deliverer unto salvation. It was a physical delivery, but it pointed to Jesus Christ, whom God would raise up as the deliverer of his people unto salvation. As the oppression of sin and death and that penalty over the people of God was broken through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That's what all of Jesus' judges ultimately pointed to as deliverers. Not that they were all perfect in the way they lived their lives, but as a type of what God would do ultimately for all of mankind, a deliverer that would point them to him.

So the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. As we move into verse 30, we see now a vow that Jephthah makes. And this is probably the most significant event of his life that he is known for, the vow that he makes. Verse 30 says, and Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. And he said, if you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, surely shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering. Verse 32, so Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from error as far as Minath, he says, 20 cities, and to able caromim with a great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. Verse 34, and when Jephthah came to his house in Nispathe, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing. You know, she's rejoicing because her father's returning from victory, and it's a celebration. God has delivered his people, and she comes out with timbrels and dancing, and she was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass when he saw her that he tore his clothes, and he said, Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low. You are among those who trouble me, for I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back on it. It says I can't go back. You know, this was a vow that he made before God. And again, the vow is recorded in our Bible. Again, verse 30 and 31, if you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, and then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering. That was the vow he made to God, so it would seem, and he could not go back.

He could not relent. His daughter came out celebrating the victory. He said, you brought me low, my daughter. Verse 36.

So she said to him, my father, if you've given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.

So this was an incredible young lady when you consider. She looked to God. She trusted in God.

She knew where the deliverance had come from, and she says, you have to keep the vow you have made to God. Verse 37. And she said to her, father, lest this thing be done for me, let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.

So he said to her, go, and he sent her away for two months. And she went with her friends and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. And it was so at the end of two months she returned to her father willingly, I might add. And he carried out his vow with her, which he had vowed. She knew no man, and it became accustomed in Israel that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. So what happened here exactly? Okay, we know Jephthah made a vow to God. He said, I've made this vow, and God has delivered victory, and I cannot go back. And his daughter said, no, indeed, you cannot go back. Cannot relent what you have promised to God. So he did fulfill that vow concerning her, but what did that mean?

Critics of the Bible actually point to this passage in order to label God as self-contradictory, as bloodthirsty. God is someone who is devoid of justice and mercy because he required Jephthah to offer his only daughter in a sacrifice to him. But is that what really happened? After all, wasn't Jephthah a faithful man? Right? Go to Hebrews chapter 11. Jephthah is listed as the hero of faith chapter. He's there as one we can look to as a faithful man of God, one of the cloud of witnesses that have gone before. Would a faithful man do such a thing? Plus his vow, I mean, if you go back and look in verse 29, it took place right after God put his Spirit upon him.

Would a man led by God's Spirit offer a human sacrifice up in response to God? Is this what happened? Well, besides that as well, whatever evidence is, could we find that indeed show us what would be pleasing to God? Because clearly Jephthah is someone who desires to be pleasing to God. Hatton God himself declared his disgust with human sacrifice. And even later on, because Israel did do these things, he said, you did this such that never even entered my mind.

And it's something that was repulsive and disgusting to God, something that did not bring honor to him. It was something that he detested. Before Israel entered the land, God had told them in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 30 through 32, he said, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, the other nations, after they are destroyed from before you, that you do not inquire after their God, saying, how did these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.

He says, you shall not serve the Lord your God in that way, for every abomination to the Lord which he hates they have done to their gods, for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it, you shall not add to it, nor take away from it. So the question is, would God truly have expected Jephthah to follow through with such a vow if that indeed was the vow that he made? Deliver me and I will offer whatever comes out.

His daughter came out as a burnt offering. Would God expect him? Would God have accepted it? Would he have been pleased with it? Many scholars argue that Jephthah did in fact offer his daughter as a burnt offering, but that is not our belief and interpretation in the church of God. Not if Jephthah was truly a man of faith. The answer seems to stem from the interpretation of the vow that he made.

Again, verse 30 and 31. I want to quote to you from the United Church of God Bible commentary, because I think it does a good job at explaining how we see the interpretation of verse 30 and 31, and the fullness of what Jephthah's vow was, and what he did in fact fulfill. So again, quoting from UCG Bible commentary, it says, the confusion can be cleared up by carefully examining Jephthah's vow, verses 30 and 31. It says first, notice that it is a conditional vow. It says if. It says then.

Second, the phrase, whatever comes out to meet me, is actually the one who comes forth to meet me in the Hebrew, in its apparent reference to a person. The Nelson Study Bible concurs. It says the phrase to meet seems to refer more appropriately to a human than to an animal. How then are we to understand Jephthah's vow? The Hebrew, verse 31, is the source of the difficulty, or rather the translation of the Hebrew text is the source of the difficulty. The next phrase could as well be translated, quote, shall surely be the Lord's, or I will offer it a burnt offering. So as the Nelson Study Bible notes, states that the conjunction in Jephthah's pivotal statement in verse 31, that whatever or whoever came out of their door of his house shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering, could be translated, or instead of and I will offer it up as a burnt offering, it could also be translated, or I will offer it up as a burnt offering. Thus, if a person came out, he would dedicate that person to the Lord, or if an animal came out first, he would offer the animal as a burnt sacrifice. So this explanation, however, has left out the possibility that an unclean animal, such as a dog, perhaps coming out, presumably a clean animal in this scenario, would be sacrificed, while an unclean animal would be dedicated like a person. But there's still possibility that this translation is not entirely correct either, as it leaves out the possibility of nothing or no one coming out to meet Jephthah. And this brings us to the next apparent problem in the translation. It says the clause, quote, or I will offer it up as a burnt offering, could also be rendered, or I will offer him Yahweh, the Lord, a burnt offering. If that is correct, then we are left with Jephthah imagining a person coming out to meet him and stating, and perhaps a corrected rendering of verse 31, quote, the one who comes forth to meet me, I will consecrate to the Lord, or if no one comes out, I will offer him the Lord, a burnt offering. This changes the complexion of the difficulty entirely. If God would give Jephthah victory and bring him safely home, then Jephthah would either dedicate a person of his household to God, or he would offer a burnt offering to God if no one came out. And yet it appears that the vow was rash still, unwise. Jephthah had apparently not thought this through well enough. He was shocked and deeply grieved that his daughter was the one who came out to meet him, stating that it had brought him very low. He was clearly expecting it to be someone else, probably a household servant. No doubt he learned a powerful lesson that day.

It says, thankfully, as the evidence seems to support, Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter.

He devoted her to the service of God, much as did Hannah devote Samuel to the service of God.

And as such, Jephthah's daughter would remain a virgin as she served at the tabernacle as part of the special class of dedicated women. It offers a string of scriptural references to that point.

It says, it appears that they acted as door-porters, singers, musicians, and workers in the cloth.

This dedication meant that Jephthah would have no grandchildren, for his daughter was his only child, and thus no heir. And so the position of the church has been that he did not offer his daughter as a burnt offering. This was a man of faith who looked to God, knew the source of his delivery, but he did offer her in service to God in this vow and in this dedication. And I believe it shows the household that he ran as well, that his daughter was a woman of faith. And she said, if you vow to the Lord and he has delivered, you must deliver on your vow. And she willingly submitted herself to this as well. It meant that this judge in Israel would have no offspring, no family to pass inheritance onto, and his daughter would remain in the service of God for the remainder of her life, a virgin, one who never knew a man, but one who knew the service of God as the fulfillment of her service. So I'll just say the example here of Jephthah is that he was a man of faith, and so was his household. So was his daughter, and we see that in the way that she was willingly conducting herself as well. Now I'll just read a little bit through the first seven verses of chapter 12 to finish out the record of Jephthah. Judges chapter 12 verse 1, it says, then the men of Ephraim, they gathered together, they crossed over towards Zephron, and they said to Jephthah, Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? They said, We will burn your house down on you with fire. And this is amazing because Ephraim, okay, remember this is the same tribe that came out and rebuked Gideon sharply because he didn't take them with him when he went to fight against the Midianites.

And you'll remember Gideon's response. Here they're threatening to kill Jephthah, they're threatening to kill the judge in Israel. Okay, so there's an attitude and a pride that needs adjusted here. Verse 2 says, And Jephthah said to them, My people, he says, My people and I were great and struggle with the people of Ammon, and when I called to you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. And so when I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my own hands, essentially. He says, I crossed over against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me? Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and he fought against Ephraim, and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim because they said, You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites. So what we find is this actually turned out a bit differently than the confrontation that the Ephraimites had with Gideon. But again, remember, they just rebuked him sharply. Here they're threatening to kill Jephthah, burn his house down on his head, and this is the judge whom God has appointed. So this was no small matter. The Gileadites were an independent clan within the tribe of Manassas, so essentially what we have erupt here is a localized civil war between the tribes of Ephraim and Manassa, the descendants of Joseph.

Verse 5, it says, And the Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived, and when any Ephraimites who escaped said, Let me cross over, the men of Gilead would say to him, Are you an Ephraimite? And if he said no, they would say to him, Okay, then say, Shiboleth.

Say, Shiboleth, and you can pass. Say, Shiboleth, and he would say, Siboleth.

You know, it's amazing, just a little difference in where you live, a little different tribe, a little different region, and suddenly the way you can bend your tongue or not bend your tongue changes. Say, Shiboleth, and you can pass, but he would say Siboleth, for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him, they would kill him at the fords of the Jordan, and there fell at that time 42,000 Ephraimites, a very sad circumstance. Verse 7, And Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died. He was buried among the cities of Gilead.

A couple of lessons we can take from the example of Jephthah.

Lesson number one, when God helps you, you can overcome your circumstances.

With God's help, you can overcome your circumstances. Again, Jephthah was born into some pretty difficult circumstances. He was the son of a prostitute, which meant he was an outcast among his people. He was an outcast among his own family, cut off from his family, driven away, cut off from inheritance in his father's house, and yet God provided a way out of those circumstances through faith. Jephthah still had to do his part. He still had to be an honorable man. He still had to pull himself up by his own bootstraps, as we would say, and yet God delivered him, though, through faith. God raised him up from humble beginnings to judge the land of Israel, the most revered position at the time. So this is really, this is incredible, if you think about it, coming from the most despised of starts, the son of a harlot to the judge of Israel, and what made the difference between him and Abimelech? Well, the difference was looking to God and trusting God. The difference was not being caught up in all those things of the Canaanites around them. You and I can do the same thing as well, because God is with us. If we live lives faithfully dedicated to him, we all start in different circumstances, and frankly, life deals us different circumstances that we face as well. But with God's help and faith in him, we're not to be victims of our circumstance. We can indeed overcome those things, and God will raise us up, but we must do our part.

1 John 5, verse 4, states, For whoever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. So the point is, just like Jephthah, no matter where you start, no matter your circumstances, if you're the underdog, if you're the outcast, don't stop looking to God.

Put him first. Live a life of standing and good character. Develop that relationship of faith with God, and the victory will allow you not necessarily financial riches of every sort, but overcoming this world. That is what God provides. Overcoming the penalty of death, frankly, that all of us are born into. That is what the victory of our faith delivers. Lesson number two of Jephthah is being true to your word is important, even when it hurts. And sometimes it can hurt.

Being true to your word is important, even when it hurts. Jephthah still fulfilled his vow to God, even though it was the most painful thing he had to do in his life. His only daughter, his beautiful daughter, who came out rejoicing at his return to have to dedicate her in a way that offspring, no grandchildren, to bounce on his knee. But this was the vow he had made to God, and he would fulfill it. Being true to our word is important, even when it hurts.

God holds us accountable to the words that we say. And the lesson for us is it's important to never make a promise that you cannot fulfill. And if you're going to give your word about something, then we must dedicate ourselves to seeing it through to the end, as long as it doesn't conflict with the standards of God. See it through to the end, frankly, no matter how bad it hurts, because you've given your word. Jephthah was a man of his word, and he ended up as the judge and God's servant, and elevated in Israel, not stone dropped on his head by a woman.

Two completely different outcomes. Psalm chapter 15, King David talks about the characteristics of those who may dwell in the tabernacle of God, who will dwell on the holy hill, essentially the kingdom of God. What kind of person will be there? And verse 4 of Psalm 15 says, he who swears to his own hurt and does not change. That is an attribute among many other attributes of one who will be there. A liar will not inherit the kingdom of God. So Christians are expected to be keepers of their word, and that must be you and I as we seek first the kingdom of God, as we live lives of faithfulness to him, as we seek after the righteousness of his character instilled in us by his spirit, be people of your word. There's many other lessons that we could look at. I invite you to take time this week and go back, read through Abimelech's story, identify faults in leadership and things that we don't want to do as far as paths you could easily go down by this world's drag. Read Jephthah as well and see what God gave him by faith. See the courage, the integrity, the faith, and the vision of Jephthah, again completely opposite of Abimelech. Judges chapter 12 wraps up by listing three additional judges that followed after Jephthah and their combined service provided an additional 31 years of peace in Israel. And again, he brought them around as their physical deliverer to point them to God, brought them full circle in that cycle, and peace was there again. So that's where we come to to end today's message, and I hope you've found it interesting. Again, the contrast between the Bramble King and the man of his word. God can work powerfully in those who submit themselves to him. Their outcomes were completely different.

So I hope you've enjoyed these judges' sermons that we've been walking through. Again, there's something we can learn from each and every one. When God raises someone up in his service, it is something that is not self-focused. It is something that is focused on him and his people.

So let us pull these lessons into our life. Let us use them, inculcate them in our relationship with God. Next time, we'll conclude the book of Judges by looking at Samson, one whom God raised up in a way that, frankly, was unique amongst the judges. So we'll take time to go through that next week. In the meantime, it's nice to be together. It's nice to have a potluck and fellowship. Please stick around, enjoy one another's company, and have a wonderful remainder of the Sabbath.