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29 The spirit of the Lord
came upon Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and through Mizpah
of Gilead as well, and from Mizpah of Gilead he crossed over against the
Ammonites. 30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. “If you deliver the
Ammonites into my power,” he said, 31 “whoever comes out of the
doors of my house to meet me when I return from the Ammonites in peace shall belong
to the Lord. I shall offer him up as a burnt offering.”
32 Jephthah then crossed
over against the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them
into his power. 33 He inflicted a very severe defeat on them from
Aroer to the approach of Minnith—twenty cities in all—and as far as
Abel-keramin. So the Ammonites were brought into subjection by the Israelites. 34 When
Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came out to
meet him, with tambourine-playing and dancing. She was his only child: he had
neither son nor daughter besides her. 35 When he saw her, he tore
his garments and said, “Ah, my daughter! You have struck me down and brought
calamity upon me. For I have made a vow to the Lord and I cannot take it back.”
36 “Father,” she replied, “you have made a vow to the Lord. Do with
me as you have vowed, because the Lord has taken vengeance for you against your
enemies the Ammonites.” 37 Then she said to her father, “Let me
have this favor. Do nothing for two months, that I and my companions may go
wander in the mountains to weep for my virginity.” 38 “Go,” he
replied, and sent her away for two months. So she departed with her companions
and wept for her virginity in the mountains. 39 At the end of the
two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She
had not had relations with any man.
This is a perplexing passage. Scripture plainly condemns human
sacrifice. Leviticus 18:21 & 20:2-5; Deuteronomy 12:31 & 18:10.
Perhaps the point here is to illustrate the caution with which
we should approach oaths. See Matthew 5:33-37; James 5:12; Sirach 23:9-10. Or
perhaps it illustrates the futility of thinking we can add anything to God’s
power by our selves; after all, v. 29 seems to indicate that the Jephthah
already had God’s blessing. See Proverbs 10:22; Psalm
127:1-2; Matthew
6:25-31; Luke 12:22-31; Luke
10:40-42; John
15:5
5 Blessed the man who
sets
his security in the Lord,
who turns not to the arrogant
or to
those who stray after falsehood.
6 You, yes you, O Lord, my
God,
have done many wondrous deeds!
And in your plans for us
there is none to
equal you.
Should I wish to declare or tell them,
too many are they to
recount. 7 Sacrifice and offering you do not want;
you
opened my ears.
Holocaust and sin-offering you do not request;
8 so I said, “See; I
come
with an inscribed scroll written upon me. 9 I delight to
do your will, my God;
your law is in my inner being!”
10 When I sing of your
righteousness
in a great assembly,
See, I do not restrain my
lips;
as you, Lord, know.
Do
not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on the day of Massah in the desert.
Jesus again in reply spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The
kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his
son. 3 He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to
the feast, but they refused to come. 4 A second time he sent other
servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited:
“Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’ This
is rich, succulent food. It took a long
time to get it ready. This is the same extravagant generosity we see in Isaiah 55 . God “cares enough
to send the very best” 5 Some ignored the invitation and
went away, one to his farm, another to his business.
We have to be willing to deviate from our normal
routine to get the rich things God offers. Luke 10:40-42.
6 The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed
them. 7 The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those
murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants,
‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. 9 Go out, therefore, into the main roads and
invite to the feast whomever you find.’ 10 The
servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good
alike, and the hall was filled with guests. Jesus
welcomes all; no repentant sinner is tuned away. Matthew
9:10-13; Mark 2:15-17; Luke 5:29-31;
Luke 15;
John 6:37.
11 But when the king came in
to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. 12 He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that
you came in here without a wedding garment?’. But he was reduced to silence. 13 Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and
feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and
grinding of teeth.’ God gives us a chance to
address our short falls. The host here doesn’t throw the man out because of the
absence of the wedding clothes, but because the man won’t respond to the
opportunity to correct the problem. We too are given opportunities to correct
our erring ways, and we too suffer if we fail to
take advantage of them. Proverbs 1:25-26; Proverbs 1:29-31; Proverbs 12:1; Proverbs 13:1; Proverbs 29:1
14 Many are invited, but few
are chosen.” Perhaps this speaks to what is
expected of us after we turn to and accept Jesus. Although Jesus accepts all
who sincerely repent (see v. 10 above), He expects obedience, a sincere effort
to live in the ways He tells us about and models. See Matthew 7:13-23; Matthew 25:14-46; Luke 13:24; John 15:4-6.
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