Judges 9-12
These four chapters focus on the children of two mighty warriors.
God had made Gideon “a mighty man of valor,” but this was not automatically transmitted to his children, one particularly wicked son especially. How often godly parents in scripture are not able to pass their virtue along to the next generation (Eli and his sons, David and many of his sons, Hezekiah and his son, Manasseh, for example)! Of course, part of the problem lay with Gideon’s “many wives.” Moses warned kings that nothing good would come of that. And sure enough, Abimelech, the son of one of Gideon’s concubine’s organized a mass murder of all but one of his half brothers. He seized control of Israel and ruled for three years, until he got what was coming to him (9:53-54).
Jephthah, the Gileadite, was another mighty warrior and judge. Though rejected as the child of a prostitute, his people swallowed their prejudice and called for Jephthah’s help. Though he bristles at this, Jephthah agrees to return and lead the army of the Gileadites, if, when all is said and done, they make him their leader (judge). They agree. Jephthah leads them valiantly and defeats the Ammonites. All’s well except for one thing: Jephthah had made a rash vow when leaving for battle: “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.” (Judges 11:31) And what came out the Lord upon his return? His only child, his daughter! I challenge you to google Jephthah’s daughter and see what you think. Did the rash Jephthah actually sacrifice his daughter to keep his vow (not a good idea!), or did he dedicate her to the service of the Lord essentially keeping her from marriage and denying himself grandchildren?
Throughout the lives of these and the many minor judges, the cycle of sin continues.
Until tomorrow,
Pastor Gary
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