Empowerment in the Midst of Injustice: A Message of Hope from the Book of Judges

For many women, if they were asked to live a life of singleness, it would be one of the hardest decisions of their life. That’s what happened to Jephthah’s daughter in the Book of Judges. The choice and freedom of her future marriage is taken from her as a result of a vow her father, Jephthah made before God.

Choosing Singleness

Let’s take a look at the passage in Judges 11:30-31:

And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

Here we see a daughter being given into the service of the Lord for a victory against enemies.

Her father has been exiled and was now finally being accepted by his people for the cause of going off into battle. He was also offered leadership over them. It makes sense for Jephthah to be over-the-moon excited that He wants to glorify and honor God in some way. If you look closely into Biblical text, the promise he made before the Lord was not well thought out. In other words, he was sayin, “Whoever comes out of my house to meet me, I will sacrifice.” The keyword here is “whoever”. It is more common for animals to be sacrificed as a burnt offering to the Lord, but Jephthah spoke generally about what He would offer up to the Lord for being given favor in battle as well as favor in leading the people who once rejected him.

As a result of his actions, Jephthah’s daughter will never know a man, and his inheritance will not carry on because she was an only child.

Surprisingly his daughter responds so humbly but not without sorrow. She requests that she may spend two months in mourning of her virginity before moving into the service of the Lord.

Jephthah’s daughter leaves a remarkable impression here with the stance she decides to take.

A Life of Lacks

As men and women in 2018, I’m sorry to say that there have been and there continues to be countless things taken away from us. I mourn the treatment of men and women, but I encourage us to take a stance similar to Jephthah’s daughter. I encourage us to redirect our view, not to one of self-pity but as servants with humility and willingness, acknowledging the one who is Lord of all, especially in our lack of understanding His will.

Scripture doesn’t express explicitly that God was pleased, but even after the sacrifice; it became a custom that Jephthah daughter’s virginity was to be mourned. The Lord also continued to give Jephthah’s enemies into his hands.

Even though Jephthah acted foolishly, he was blessed. Without a doubt those who have wronged us may be bigger fools than Jephthah but I want to challenge us to turn our attention away from them for a moment.

The Problem of Sin

In Ephesians 6:12, it says:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

There is something else going on that we are not always aware of when we feel surrounded by our circumstances.

In the beginning, Satan in the form of a serpent introduced sin into the world by tricking Eve into eating the fruit. Ever since then, sin has corrupted the hearts of men and women and continues to do so. The real enemies that we are fighting against are Satan, sin and all the spiritual forces of evil. Sin has distorted Imago Dei or in other words, sin has gotten in the way of how we are seen as His children made in His image. We no longer regard each other the way that God regards us.

Sin has done a lot of work to turn us against each other and to turn us away from our Abba Father, but there is hope.

This is why Jesus was sent to Earth. He was sent to cleanse us from that sin that distorts and messes with our identities so that we can receive that gift of eternal life and give us the right to be called Sons and Daughters. There is no sin; no wrong-doing, no person that can remove your right to be called a child of God and oh how He loves you so.

We have every right to mourn that which has been taken away from us but know that now we also have every right to celebrate that which has been given to us again because of Jesus. For that which Jesus was called to give of Himself we were given reconciliation to our Father.

Even more remarkably God knew all of what was going to happen. God knew since before creation our need for a Savior. He knew that Jephthah was going to give his daughter up to God and He knew of the suffering that you were going to encounter and endure. So while we may at times think that God is not for us, know that it was because of you that Jesus was sent, died and resurrected.

I leave you with the words of Jesus:

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world – John 16:33 ESV

We have every right to mourn that which has been taken away from us but know that now we also have every right to celebrate that which has been given to us again because of Jesus Click To Tweet