RASH VOWS - JEPHTHAH
(Message by Tanny Keng)
0. Introduction
a) Ecclesiastes 5:2 says, "Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God."
b) Scripture records the vows of many men and women. Some of these vows proved to be rash and unwise, and others, though extreme, were kept to the letter by those who made them.
c) Let us learn from the examples in God's Word not to make rash vows.
1. Jephthah
(Text: Judges 11:30-31)
i) 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, 31 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.” (Judges 11:30-31 NKJV)
2. What was his vow?
a) To offer to the Lord whomever came out to meet him after battle (it turned out to be his daughter).
3. What was the result of his vow?
a) He lost his daughter.
4. What is the text all about?
a) In God's law, a vow was a promise to God that should not be broken (see Numbers 30:1-2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23).
@1. 1Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: 2 If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. (Numbers 30:1-2 NKJV)
@2. 21 “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. 22 But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. 23 That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth. (Deuteronomy 23:21-23 NKJV)
b) It carried as much force as a written contract. Many people made vows in biblical times. Some, like Jephthah's, were very foolish.
c) When Jephthah made his vow, did he stop to consider that a person, not a sheep or goat, might come out to meet him? Scholars are divided over the issue. Those who say Jephthah was considering human sacrifice use the following arguments:
@1. He was from an area where heathen religion and human sacrifice were common. In his eyes, it may not have seemed like a sin.
@2. Jephthah may not have had a background in religious law. Perhaps he was ignorant of God's command against human sacrifice.
d) Those who say Jephthah could not have been thinking about human sacrifice point to other evidence:
@1. As leader of the people, Jephthah must have been familiar with God's laws; human sacrifice was clearly forbidden.
@2. No legitimate priest would have helped Jephthah carry out his vows if a person was to be the sacrifice.
e) Whatever Jephthah had in mind when he made the vow, did he or did he not sacrifice his daughter? Some think he did, because his vow to make burnt offering. Some think he did not, and they offer several reasons:
@1. If the girl was to die, she would not have spent her last two months in the hills.
@2. God would not have honored a vow based on a wicked practice.
@3. In Judges 11:39 says that she never married, not that she died, implying that she was set apart for service to God, not killed.
#1) 39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. (Judges 11:39 NKJV)
The End ...
0. Introduction a) Ecclesiastes 5:2 says, "Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God."
b) Scripture records the vows of many men and women. Some of these vows proved to be rash and unwise, and others, though extreme, were kept to the letter by those who made them.
c) Let us learn from the examples in God's Word not to make rash vows.
1. Jephthah
(Text: Judges 11:30-31)
i) 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, 31 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.” (Judges 11:30-31 NKJV)
2. What was his vow?
a) To offer to the Lord whomever came out to meet him after battle (it turned out to be his daughter).
3. What was the result of his vow?
a) He lost his daughter.
4. What is the text all about?
a) In God's law, a vow was a promise to God that should not be broken (see Numbers 30:1-2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23).
@1. 1Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: 2 If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. (Numbers 30:1-2 NKJV)
@2. 21 “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. 22 But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. 23 That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth. (Deuteronomy 23:21-23 NKJV)
b) It carried as much force as a written contract. Many people made vows in biblical times. Some, like Jephthah's, were very foolish.
c) When Jephthah made his vow, did he stop to consider that a person, not a sheep or goat, might come out to meet him? Scholars are divided over the issue. Those who say Jephthah was considering human sacrifice use the following arguments:
@1. He was from an area where heathen religion and human sacrifice were common. In his eyes, it may not have seemed like a sin.
@2. Jephthah may not have had a background in religious law. Perhaps he was ignorant of God's command against human sacrifice.
d) Those who say Jephthah could not have been thinking about human sacrifice point to other evidence:
@1. As leader of the people, Jephthah must have been familiar with God's laws; human sacrifice was clearly forbidden.
@2. No legitimate priest would have helped Jephthah carry out his vows if a person was to be the sacrifice.
e) Whatever Jephthah had in mind when he made the vow, did he or did he not sacrifice his daughter? Some think he did, because his vow to make burnt offering. Some think he did not, and they offer several reasons:
@1. If the girl was to die, she would not have spent her last two months in the hills.
@2. God would not have honored a vow based on a wicked practice.
@3. In Judges 11:39 says that she never married, not that she died, implying that she was set apart for service to God, not killed.
#1) 39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. (Judges 11:39 NKJV)
The End ...
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