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A Moment With God By Greg Harris
This blog is brought to you by Greg Harris, Pastor of Midtown Church in Melbourne Florida and is designed to be a supplemental reading to your personal time with God.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
More Than A Shepherd
More Than a
Shepherd
What
a night! That is a night that will go
down in the history books. One my great,
great, great grandchildren will still be talking about!
It
all started early in the evening on this mild Bethlehem night. Me, my name is Benjamin and I am just a
shepherd, 29 years old. A couple of
hired hands and myself watch my Father’s
flock at night. He puts me in charge as
the foreman since I am his youngest son and I know his flock very well.
Being
a shepherd has its ups and downs. It can
be socially hard to be a shepherd as our career is not a desirous one. Often times we risk our lives to save these
sheep, we always smell like sheep, and to be honest, the pay isn’t that great. But, on the other hand, as a shepherd, I can
truly say I love my sheep. They are
everything to me. Over the years, I have
named every sheep my dad owns, and interesting enough, when I call them by
name, they recognize my voice and follow me.
Typically,
our flock will graze about a ¼ mile east of Bethlehem on a hill overlooking the
village, but we have been known to wander up to 5 miles outside of the city to
find enough water and feed for our flock.
Around sunset, we usually bring the head of sheep (close to a 100 in
number) back to the sheepfold where we can do a final head count and safely
lock them up for the night.
But
on this night, I decided to allow them to roam in a field 500 yards east of my
village, on a hillside. The skies were
clear, the weather was pleasant, and to be honest, I had a rough week and could
use a night star gazing and relaxing. You see, the other side of being a shepherd
is, you are responsible for your sheep when they are under your care. This week, while I was on duty, a sheep
wandered off. It was one of my favorite
sheep named Whitey. He had an unusual
white coat that stood out from the other sheep.
Either way, I have spent four long days and nights looking for this guy,
but to no avail. I am very concerned for
Whitey as he is alone, and probably very scared and vulnerable to predators. I really want to find him, but I am exhausted
and needed a night to recoup. I have great help during the night hours, so I
was looking forward to sitting under an olive tree contemplating life.
Before
I get too far ahead of myself, let me tell you of Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a small village. There are just a few thousand of us that live
in this village. But don’t let our
population size fool you about our reputation.
We have been around for several hundred years now. Bethlehem was the city where the great King
David was born. In fact, King David was
a shepherd at one time also. One day,
out of the blue, David was called in from the fields while watching his dad’s
sheep to be anointed as King of Israel.
Sometimes I wonder if that field I was in last night was the same field
he was allowing his sheep to graze in the day he was called to be the Shepherd
King. It’s just a thought, but I would
like to think that I was sitting under the same tree he sat under when he was
just a boy. This town became quite
popular because of David.
But
there is another reason it is well known.
The prophet Micah says in one of his scrolls we have in Jerusalem just a
few miles north that,
“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too
little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who
is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
[1]
Everyone
in Bethlehem knows that prophecy. And we
are constantly thinking about it. We
have been under the oppressive rule of the Babylonians for some time now and
are longing for a ruler, a King to come and to set us free. According to Micah, this King will be born in
Bethlehem, just like King David was.
That’s
just a little back ground of my
hometown, now let me get to what happen last night!
At
about the twelfth hour of the day (that’s about sunset), I relieved my dad from
the flock and he headed home. We were a
bit farther south than I wanted to be for the night, so we headed north. There is a hillside I particularly like as it
is clear of rocks and is mostly just grass.
This makes it easier of the sheep to walk at night and therefore not
risk injury to themselves (not to mention, making my work a little bit
easier). Me and the shepherds with me
led the flock into this field and took up residence until sunrise where my dad
would come back out and meet us. Also,
another local shepherd recently saw a lion prowling the area recently,
therefore it is imperative we keep the sheep in an open field to be able to
spot any predator from a distance.
The
trip north took two hours. It’s no easy
task herding sheep at night and trying not to lose one of them. Sheep tend to wander off and get lost real
easily, therefore we have to always do a head count on the sheep. Also, when you move sheep from one field to
another, you can’t push them hard, you have to move at their pace, so covering
ground takes a lot of time and patience.
But for a shepherd, we don’t mind, because our entire lives are about
these sheep.
Well,
we all finally made it to that lush hillside and I set my staff and knapsack
down under an olive tree, gave my fellow shepherds some last minute
instructions on a couple of sheep that had been ill recently and took to my
star gazing.
The
night crept on like any other night.
There was nothing special about that night. The sky was clear, the sheep were cooperating
and my shepherds were bickering with each other, everything was normal.
It’s
funny, from this hill you can see everything happening in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was busier than usual as a recent
census has pushed people back to their homelands, so all the inns were full,
and there was a bit more commotion in the city than customary.
But
I still remember noticing a couple walk into the city that I thought was
peculiar. They were on the highway that
connected Bethlehem to Jerusalem. What
stood out to me was the lady on the donkey; even though I was a couple hundred
yards away from here I could tell she was in distress. She appeared to be pregnant, and by the way
she was holding her stomach, that baby was due at any moment.
I
felt kind of bad for them. I watched as
they walked to at least three inns before finding a resting place. I guess they finally found a room, which I
was glad to see. Remember thinking to myself, “Hopefully that
woman will get some rest tonight, she needs it.”
After
I witnessed that scene, I went back to my duties, counting sheep, and glancing
over the hill for any possible threats to the flock.
What
happened next literally leaves me speechless.
Words cannot describe the scene that took place before my eyes. As a shepherd, I am supposed to be scared of
very little, as often times I have had to fight bears and lions to protect the
flock, but what I saw tonight, made me pee myself (I have no other way to
describe it).
Remember
I said that the sky was clear. Well
something caught my eye in the distance.
It was a bright light, a light I had never seen before. This light was too bright to be a star and
was getting larger and closer by the second.
Before long, the other shepherds came over and we were all standing
together, when BAM! There it was! I have no idea what I was looking at, but I
was freaked out! I don’t know if the
sheep or anyone else saw what my workers and I saw. The sheep didn’t move an inch, like what we
were seeing wasn’t even real, but I fell to the ground and covered my
face. I was so scared. I wasn’t scared for my life; I was shaken to
the core with fear because of this being that stood, or rather, floated before
me. The magnificence of the creature enveloped
all of us. I later determined that what
I saw was an angel. I will never forget his words, he said, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news
of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And
this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths
and lying in a manger”.
But
that’s not all! As if one angel wasn’t
enough! All of a sudden, the entire sky
was filled with angels! It was an
incredible multitude, so many I couldn’t count them all! Whatever was happening in front of me at that
moment was something bigger than this world has ever seen. I doubt if anyone would even believe me when
I tell them about this! But this
multitude of angels just started singing! “Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Then
it hit me! It all came together. Micah’s prophecy, the lady on the donkey with
the man walking next to her earlier in the night; he is here, the King! I am getting all jittery just writing about
it.
Dude,
I had to go and see what this was all about. I didn’t care that it is the
middle of the night and that the family might be sleeping. I didn’t care if we lose more sheep, they
definitely can’t come with us. I had to
go see this thing for myself! And that
is what we all did; we left the sheep, our very livelihood behind for a few
hours to go see this baby that is called Lord.
On
the way down, we talked about how the Christ was the expected one to come and
how this baby has to be it. We talked
about what we were going to see, and how magnificent it was going to be. We didn’t fully understand why that angel
told us his name was Lord, as if this baby was already a ruler. But at least they did give us some clues as
to how we would find them. I know what
part of Bethlehem they are in because I watched them walk into the city. The angel said the baby would be in a manger;
therefore they must be in an inn that has an area in which animals could be
housed. In fact I knew exactly where
they were. I lived in this city for 29
years and I knew of every manger and every inn in this city. There was only one place they could be! And once we figured it out we started running! I mean straight out sprinting to this place.
We
tore through Bethlehem as if we just stole a bunch of gold from Scottie the
Blacksmith. We rounded those corners, so
fast that at one point I ate it, straight on my face, but I didn’t care I had
to see this baby!
There
it was, a small lantern burning in the door way and the ladies’ donkey tied up
outside. Once we found them, we stood there speechless, outside of catching our
breath. It was just how the angel said,
a baby wrapped in cloths lying in a manger. Wow. Let me take just a minute and think about
that again…
I
could tell the mother and father were a little perplexed as a bunch of out of
breath shepherds, one bleeding on his cheek with dirt all over his clothes,
with no sheep, were in their private quarters standing with their mouth’s wide
open at about midnight as they were trying to get some rest. We definitely were invading their privacy as
the mom was attempting to feed this child.
But we didn’t care. After
exchanging names real quick, we learned the name of the baby was Jesus, and the
mother was Mary, and the Father, or the man, whoever he was (Mary told us
something like Jesus was conceived by God himself), his name was Joseph.
We
really didn’t want to be a bother, but if you had the night that we had, then
you would understand. I will say this,
that young lady, Mary, who was about 16 years old, was the kindest soul you
will ever meet. There was something
about her and about that family that was unique. I mean, come on, a legion of angels came down
from heaven to announce his birth. I had
to learn more.
So
first thing this morning I went to Jerusalem, into the temple, and I talked to
one of the Priests on duty. I didn’t
tell him what I saw; I figured he’d think I was crazy. But in my cool, nonchalant way, I asked him
if there were any prophecies made about a future king being born in Bethlehem,
or maybe not a King, but someone special that we as Israelites were looking
forward to meeting. I told him I had a
lot of questions about God that needed answering (Priests love it when they
feel like they are doing the work of God, so I knew if I told him I had
questions about God, he would spend all day trying to answer them.)
Well
sure enough, this story turns even weirder!
The
Priest thought I was a shepherd by my sling in my waist line and my staff. He inquired about my shepherding and how it
was going. He then told me about a
prophecy made by Isaiah. But he didn’t
want to paraphrase it to me, so he went and dug around in the back room for the
scroll. About five minutes later he came
back. With a smirk on his face he told
me he just red this prophecy about five days earlier. He said he didn’t believe in coincidences,
and that God had him read this prophecy just for my sake. He went on and read it to me. It said;
‘9 Go
on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald
of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good
news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules
for him;
behold,
his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He
will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he
will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
(Isaiah 40:9-11)’”
Holy
Smackers! I thought this baby was him!
He had to be. That baby I saw was
somehow God, and he is called a shepherd.
Imagine that, as I was standing there in front of Mary and baby Jesus,
in my shepherd clothes, with my staff and my rod, I represented the very reason
Jesus came to this earth; to care for and to gather his lambs into his
arms. Now I am smart enough to know he
is not speaking of real lambs, but of people.
He came to this earth to care for and to love people like me and
you! Jesus was born to be someone like
me, a shepherd. I know being a shepherd
is no easy task, but after years and years of tending to sheep, you really fall
in love with them.
I
have about a hundred sheep I watch over and I know every single one of them by
name. In fact, I know and love them so
much that if it came down to it (which it has gotten close a couple of times)
I’d give my life for these beloved creatures.
They need someone like me in their life; someone to guide them, to watch
over them, someone who can tend to their illnesses and their wounds and someone
to lead them by still waters, and into green pastures. My sheep need their shepherds. And Jesus came, like a shepherd into this
world. That baby boy, who is just a few
hours old, came into this world to be my shepherd and yours.
Just
one person to another, if Isaiah was right, which I am guessing he is, since Micah
was right about Bethlehem, Jesus, that baby I saw last night, came to this earth
for one purpose. That purpose was
you. I got to see him face to face and
even as a baby, there was a sense of peace about that child. What a precious scene, that baby lying in a
manger. But he came for you. He wants to lead you and guide you. And I guarantee it, when Jesus grows up, he
is going to do something absolutely marvelous, something this world has never
seen before. And I bet you, whatever it
is, it’s going to be so he can love you even more.
But
for today, for tonight, as I finish telling you about what I saw, let me say
this. You will go back to your
lives. Some of you will forget what I
said tonight. For me, it will always
impact me, I will never forget that night.
I hope that I could get you to see it through my eyes, because that baby
changed my life! I know you will go back
to doing what you do, but I plead with you, do not let this story slip by as a
fable or a myth, but as reality. I was
an eye witness. I saw it! And I am telling you, Jesus came to this
world for you, as a shepherd to carry you, and to love you. I know what it’s like to be a shepherd, and I
know that my sheep are often tired and worn out.
To
wrap up, I have one more small miracle to tell you about. As I was walking back from Jerusalem, I saw
my father in the distance. He was coming
down from the hillside leaving his flock and walking towards me. As my dad got closer, I could tell there was
a sheep wrapped around his neck, one he was carrying. As we drew nearer, I could tell it was
Whitey! My father came up to me and told
me he had been searching for Whitey too and found him caught in a bush on the
outskirts of town. Besides some wool
missing, Whitey was ok, but he would need some tender care for the night. My father handed me the sheep and hugged me
goodnight. As I looked at Whitey, with
my eyes tearing up, I saw myself in him, safe and secure, back in his shepherd’s
arms.
People
call me nuts sometimes when I tell them my story. But that’s ok with me.
Luke 2:9-21
And an angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with
great fear. 10 And
the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great
joy that will be for all the people. 11 For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the
Lord. 12 And this
will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and
lying in a manger.” 13 And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God
and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and
on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels went away from them
into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem
and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with
haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw
it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it
wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But
Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds
returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it
had been told them.
21 And at the end of eight days, when he
was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was
conceived in the womb. [2]
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Wrecked
Have you ever meant to help someone out before and yet
caused their situation to be worse?
Maybe someone uttered the phrase, “Hey, just stop, you are doing more
harm than good here”, recently to you.
If so, you know how embarrassing it can be to intend to do someone good,
but in return, make their situation even harder on them than before.
Picture this scene I witnessed a few years ago that is a
perfect example of this. I was standing
in a Burger King parking lot talking with some friends alongside of a busy five
lane highway. This Burger King was
located about a tenth of a mile north of a busy intersection. If one wanted to pull out of the restaurant
and head north on the highway, they would have had to dart across three lanes
of traffic in order to do so. Most
people would head to the light to safely make it out. But on this particular day, one young lady in
her blue Corolla, took the chance that most wouldn’t. She pulled up to the highway with her left
blinker on, frantically looking both ways, hoping to find her break in traffic
in order to cross the three heavily traveled south bound lanes in order to head
north. After sitting there for about 20
seconds, the light to her south turned red and the lane closest to her backed
up. But one gentleman in this lane chose
to be kind and allowed space for the young lady to pull out. As I watched this unfold before my eyes, I
knew this wasn’t going to turn out well.
The man in the car was clearly enamored at this young lady’s looks as he
gazed at her while not considering the traffic around him. In his kindness, without checking the second
or third lane next to him, he smiled at the blonde hair woman and waved her
out. The woman could not see beyond this
man’s car and therefore was taking the man’s word that he had checked traffic
for her (which I could see from my view point that he didn’t) and all was clear
for her to pull out. I think you can
imagine what happened next. This young
lady, by the helpful hand of this gentleman, in a desperate move to make it
safely across these lanes, blindly floored it.
The chirp of her tires slipping as her engines revved up, told those
around that she was reacting to this man’s gesture and did not feel completely
safe about entering into traffic yet. The tragedy of the scene (which definitely
made me chuckle for a second) was that she floored it straight into oncoming
traffic as she was t-boned by a car doing about 45 mph in the lane next to this
man who waved her out.
Out of sheer embarrassment, the guilty man ducked his head
and took off, leaving this young lady with a wreck to clean up.
What an example of doing more harm than good.
Have you ever given thought to this concept and how it plays
out in your Christian liberty? You have
learned, over the years, that God has set you free from the law and that in his
grace you are free to enjoy a relationship with God that includes enjoying
certain pleasures in this world. Yet,
while enjoying those pleasures, you may be doing harm to your brother or sister. In fact, you may even encourage your brother
or sister in Christ to loosen up a bit and walk more in grace than in law. Yet, in your efforts to lead them in the
knowledge that you have of the gospel, you may end up doing more harm than
good. Take a look at how this plays to
in 1 Corinthians 8:10-13,
“For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an
idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat
food offered to idols? 11 And
so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ
died. 12 Thus,
sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak,
you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore,
if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother
stumble.”
This individual, who was eating food in an idol’s temple,
was waving his weaker brother out into oncoming traffic. He did not realize that his brother who was
witnessing him eating in an idol’s temple (which Paul indicates that this act
of eating in an idol’s temple, in and of itself is not wrong) was being led
astray and this was causing more harm than good for him. Paul,
at the end of this section, makes a startling commitment to become a vegetarian
if that’s what it takes to ensure he never leads his brother astray.
Are you willing to say “never” to the things you enjoy for
the sake of loving your brother or sister?
God is not as concerned about strengthening those who struggle in their
faith, as he is with those who are more mature in their faith stooping down to
the level of their brothers and sisters who are struggling.
This is the example Christ gave us, by stooping down to our
level, and dying for us. We should be
more concerned about what actions we may do that would stir doubt inside of a
fellow Christian’s heart, than indulging temporarily in our Christian freedom. For example, drinking alcohol in the presence
of some may destroy their faith instead of build them up. Or, the kind gesture of paying for a friend
to see a PG-13 movie, and yet this friend is condemned in his conscience while
he watches it.
Our ambition should be to know our Christian family so well
that their weakness becomes ours. This
makes knowing how to handle yourself in their presence much easier.
But hat’s off to you for having a heart of kindness to begin
with. Just like that man who kindly
waved the young lady out into traffic; who gave up a moment of his day and a
portion of the road that belonged to him to show kindness to his neighbor, you
genuinely want to love and care for others.
I guess it would behoove us to look over our shoulder and see if there
is oncoming traffic that may take us or our beneficiary by surprise and
possibly destroy them.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Thankful Prayers
I beat the afternoon rush to Taco Bell a few weeks
ago. My stomach was talking more than
normal that morning, so I set my work down a little earlier than scheduled, and
went out to order a meal deal #4 and enjoy a few minutes to myself.
Sure enough, there was no one there.
It didn’t take long to order my meal.
Once I finished ordering, I sat down and laid my meal out in front of
me. Then, like a well oiled machine
going through some pre -programmed motions, I closed my eyes and shot out a
prayer of thanks.
I was taught growing up to thank God before every meal. I never asked why I should pray before a meal,
I just did it. But, if I can be honest
with you and if you promise not to judge me, I always felt a little weird about
praying in a restaurant before my meal.
I always thought, “What will people think?”
I discreetly thanked God for my Taco Bell meal and
began eating. While I ate, I watched the
kitchen staff from my booth work hard at their job preparing for the lunch
rush.
Moments later a man walked through the door that
caught my attention.
He was a simple man, a city worker coming in off the
field for his lunch break. The man
appeared to be in his mid 50’s as his hair and gruff on his face had a dash of
grey in it. His skin was rough and pre
maturely wrinkled, clueing me in on his possible position as either being on
the public works or parks and recreation division for the city.
His grey work issued polo was worn out, but it was
evident that the man still found pride in his uniform as he tucked his polo
into his blue jean shorts, and used a brown leather belt to ensure his shirt
would remain in place throughout the work day.
His feet were fitted with a pair of old red wing
boots complimented with a pair of crew high socks that were folded down neatly,
telling me the man was somewhat concerned about his fashion, but not enough to
care about what anyone else thought.
With nothing else to look at, I watched this man
order his food and then sit down at a booth across from me.
I liked this man.
There was a sense of tranquility about him as he went about his meal
preparation that was refreshing to my hectic day. Underneath his arm was the daily sports page
from the local paper he had brought with him.
After setting the paper on the table, he began his routine, preparing
for his lunch. He unfolded his napkin and
laid it across his lap, moved his fork to the right of his tray, and
strategically located his cup to the 1 o’clock position in front of him.
But what he did next was what really stood out to
me. After his meal was setup, this city
worker then folded his hands, placed them on his lap, where his napkin was
resting, slightly bowed his head, and closed his eyes. For the next 20 seconds or so, the man’s
lip’s ever so slightly moved, as he was clearly thanking God for the meal that
was in front of him.
And then, just like that, he opened his eyes, and
began eating, as he read the front page of the newspaper that he brought with
him.
I pondered that scene for the rest of my lunch. That man had a unique relationship with God,
which was incredible to witness. His
prayer and my prayer were radically different.
Let me show you.
Count to five.
Go ahead and do it. My prayer
was, at best was that long. I was eager
to eat, yet in my mind, I was supposed to pray before I ate, therefore not
really giving thanks, but rather climbing through some religious obstacle in
order to get to my meal.
Now count to twenty, go ahead, I’ll wait. I’m not going anywhere…
This was about the length of time this man prayed to
God, giving him thanks for his meal. Let
me ask you something. Who showed more
thanksgiving, more honor, more value in the one who provided the meal?
God, can definitely be pleased with a five second prayer,
but my heart was focused on getting the prayer out of the way so I could get to
the “good stuff”.
I have a hunch that this seasoned man did not see his moment
of thanksgiving as an imposition to him, but an opportunity to give honor to
God. His meal could wait. His meal could get cold, but his prayer could
not wait, and would not be rushed through as he acknowledge God’s love and
goodness to him through the simple act of providing his Taco Bell meal.
Why do we give thanks to God? Because in so doing we honor God. Romans 14:6 says, “The one who observes the
day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the
Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in
honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.”
Thanksgiving is giving honor to God for what he has given
you.
The next time you bow your head to thank God for a meal, or
anything else, understand that the purpose of what you are doing is to honor
God for a brief moment before you indulge into his blessings.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
The Heart of Jephthah Continued
With
a bit more understanding of Jephthah behind us (see previous blog), we can now
move forward and tackle some of the theological questions that plague us as we
attempt to swallow this unbelievable story.
The
broad question that I want to answer is, “what is the purpose of this story in
the canon of Scripture?”
On
the surface, this slice of history seems to cause more questions than it
answers. So let’s unpack some of the peripheral questions first in order to make
headway to the foundational question at hand.
Did
God accept Jephthah’s vow and sacrifice? No. If
we look later into Israel’s history we see a young wise king by the name of
Josiah trying to turn Israel back to God.
In his attempts to reform Israel, we read in 2 Kings 23:10 that he defiles
Topheth. Topheth was right outside of
Jerusalem and had an altar that was used to offer sacrifices to the false god
called Molech (which we talked about last time). 2 Kings says he defiled this altar “so that
no one might burn their son or daughter as an offering to Molech”. Somehow, possibly by the hand of Jephthah,
this altar was erected and used for such sacrifices in the land of Israel. The reason Josiah would have defiled the
altar, making it unusable for any sacrifice, would have been because he knew
that God would not have accepted these sacrifices; not by Jephthah, and not by
anyone else in the land of Israel.
Listen
to Jeremiah’s words as he is the mouth piece of God to the Israelites, “They
built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up
their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it
enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to
sin. (Jeremiah 32:35)”.
It
is clear that Jephthah’s act of sacrificing his daughter was an abomination in
God’s sight.
But,
one may argue that Jephthah made a vow and he should have kept it, especially
since God did deliver the Ammonites into his hand.
I
want you to note two things about this.
The first is, God planned to use Jephthah to defeat the Ammonites
regardless of Jephthah’s vow. Judges
11:29 says that the Spirit of God came upon Jephthah. This happened before Jephthah ever made his
vow. We see another incident of the
Spirit of God coming on a Judge, and when He did come upon him, that Judge
defeated the enemies of Israel (Judges 3:10).
God was already moving in Jephthah to defeat the Ammonites, and thus his
vow was irrational and impulsive.
Secondly,
according to God, a man was not held to his word if the vow he made to God was
sinful. Leviticus 5:4-5 says, “or if
anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of
rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know
it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these; 5 when he realizes his guilt in any of these and
confesses the sin he has committed…”
Jephthah
truly believed that his oath was honoring to God and that is why he fulfilled
it. But if Jephthah came to the
knowledge that his oath was sinful, he was required by God to turn from it and
confess his sin to God. He was not held
captive by his words, rather he was led astray by ignorance of the law of God.
The
moment Jephthah saw his daughter and was torn by the oath he made to God, he
should have confessed his sin to God and made atonement for it through an
animal sacrifice and a contrite heart and he would have saved his daughter’s
life.
Jephthah’s
downfall was that he had a weak knowledge of the Word of God, and allowed the
practices of the world to infiltrate his worship to God. It serves us as a
reminder, especially in a world where evil is becoming more rampant and
tolerated, that the Word of God acts as our guide in how to worship God, to direct us through the confusion of a
world drifting farther and farther away from God.
But,
this story is not all doom and gloom. There has to be a specific reason this story
is found in the Word of God. And that
reason applies to us today. This story
reveals to us the overwhelming love of our Father in Heaven. For it is on the backdrop of sin that God’s
grace and mercy become more real to us.
What I am about to show you may surprise you, as it did it me.
I
was reading through the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 the other day and guess
whose name was in it? No, not mine (mine
is in the Book of Life!), that’s right, Jephthah’s!
Hebrews
11:32-33 “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon,
Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and
Samuel and the prophets— 33 who
through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped
the mouths of lions,”
What? I
almost screamed “are you kidding me!” when I read it. But that’s right, by faith Jephthah led
Israel, and he defeated the Ammonites. And later in Hebrews, it says, he was
commended for his faith. Commendation
literally means to be spoken well of by God.
This mean Jephthah was spoken well of by God because of his faith, not
because of what he did do or didn’t do, but because he had faith in God. Jephthah did a terrible thing, but yet God
accepted him as righteous because of his faith.
Incredible! I
need a breather for a minute as I am still processing this.
Is there any sin that is too heinous that God would not
forgive? If there is, I would imagine it
would be killing your own daughter. But
God says no. Rather, one is justified by
faith alone and not by what he or she does.
What Jephthah did was absolutely horrible, but his
sinful act was not beyond the reach of the grace of God. Jephthah found favor in God’s eyes because of
his faith (Hebrews 11:6) and God was pleased with him because of that.
Jephthah is a picture of God’s unfathomable mercy on
a fallen person. God’s love is so deep
and so wide, that we can’t even begin to fathom it. I believe Jephthah is in the Bible to remind
us of the greatness of God’s love and mercy that can cover a multitude of sins.
You may feel as if you have done something so
terrible in your life that God cannot forgive you. It may seem to you that your
faith has been fatally wounded by a sin that is so atrocious, that no one in
this world will ever accept you.
Let me encourage you to let the story of Jephthah
serve as a reminder of God’s mercy and forgiveness. You are declared righteous because of your
faith in Jesus Christ, not because of what you have done or how good you can
be. You can boldly approach God and take
hold of forgiveness and that will set you free from the bondage of the guilt
that has followed you through life.
On the other hand, there is only one incident of a
child sacrifice that was acceptable to God the Father, and that was Him sending
his beloved Son to die as a sacrifice for you on the cross. His love for you caused him to do what Jephthah
should have never done, but was acceptable for God to do. That is because his
Son, Jesus, is the perfect Lamb of God who was and is able to atone for your
sins.
I have labored to bring you the best answers I could
find about the confusion surrounding Judges 11. Regardless if my interpretation
of Jephthah is completely accurate in it’s details, this story is a beautiful
picture of God’s faithfulness to those who are his children. If sacrificing your own daughter isn’t enough
to thwart God’s love for you, then what is?
Friday, November 15, 2013
The Heart of Jephthah
“Hey
God”, Jephthah’s petitioned began, “I really need your help right now. Israel has asked me to lead them against the
Ammonites, and I don’t think I can do this on my own. I’d like to strike a deal with you. If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I
will give you the first thing that comes out to meet me when I arrive home as a
burnt sacrifice.” There is no recorded
response from God in Judges 11. Rather
the narrative plays out and Jephthah does defeat the Ammonites as the Spirit of
God was upon him. Like any soldier
coming off the battlefield, he is eager to head home to see his family, fully
aware of the vow he made to God.
One
can only imagine the blissful scene that quickly turned to anguish as Jephthah
arrives home and meets his daughter. I picture Jephthah’s daughter playing with
some of the servant’s children in the entry way of his home as she did every
day, hoping for her dad to come home safely from war. Finally, to her delight,
she notices a group of men on horseback heading her way. There is only one person it could be, her dad! As the battalion of men grows closer, his
daughter recognizes the man in the front, and runs outside to give her dad a
huge hug and welcome him home. As
Jephthah draws nearer to his house, he sees his daughter running towards him
with a smile that stretches from ear to ear.
Her excitement cannot be contained, not even by her dad’s dreadful
words.
“Daughter! You have made me very sad! I have made a vow to God that I cannot take
back.” Jephthah says with a torn heart. “Father, I am just glad you are home, but
you need to keep your vow to God, do to me as you vowed.” The narrative leaves us befuddled as it says
,”he does with her as he vowed” then goes dark moments later leaving us
horrified at what appears to take place.
(You can read the entire passage in Judges 11:29-40).
There
are so many questions that rattle us when we read this account in Judges. Did Jephthah actually sacrifice his daughter? Did God accept the sacrifice? How could this happen? Why would Jephthah make such a foolish vow,
wouldn’t he had known that it would have been a human that would have come out
and met him, let alone possibly his daughter?
Why did he even gamble with a vow like this knowing he had a daughter?
Buried
in this story is a legion of lessons for the modern reader. But to get to those lessons we have to begin
peeling back the layers of the story to understand what is really going on
here. Let’s start by asking the
question, why did Jephthah make a vow like this?
To
begin, let’s look at the book of Judges as a whole. Judges is rightly named as Israel resides in
the long awaited Promise Land and is governed by officials called Judges. A Judge was typically a military leader who
helped Israel conquer their enemies. The
victory would boost this leader to a prominent political status, yet not quite
to the status of a King.
Lacking
a physical King, Israel takes up residence and settles down in this land
flowing with milk and honey. Their
nation is governed by a theocracy (where God is the King and the Law
giver). As time passes in this Promise
Land, Israel begins to drift away from God through the worship of false gods of
the nations around them.
With
each turn of the Biblical page, comes further deprivation on Israel’s
part. The end of the book of Judges makes
a startling revelation of the people of God; “everyone was doing what was right
in their own eyes.” Israel had walked
away from the law of God and each individual had established a code of ethics
based upon each one’s own desire.
Jephthah
was no exception as he made and fulfilled a vow that was right in his own eyes,
yet it would have been an abomination in the eyes of God. But To fully understand what led Jephthah to
make such a foolish vow, we need to understand his history.
Jephthah
had a rough childhood. He was the only
child in his home that was the child of a prostitute. His brothers picked on him because of this and
eventually drove him out of the home.
Jephthah
fled to a land called Tob. We don’t know
much about this land except that is was located 13 miles south east of the
Galilean Sea on the northern border of the Ammonite territory. [1] Living in such close proximity to the
Ammonite territory, Tob would have been influenced by the practices of the
Ammonites. This could be one of the
reasons Jephthah was summoned back to Israel to lead them in a military
campaign against the Ammonites, as he would have been familiar with their land,
practices, and pagan worship.
One
of the gods of the Ammonites was a god called Molech. Scripture reveals to us a little about the
religious practices of this false god.
2 Kings 23:10
says, “And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom,
that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech.”
It was a religious
practice for the Ammonites to offer their children as burnt sacrifices to this
god. I could just imagine how desperate
a parent would have to be to appease this false god by killing their own child.
As
I dig into Judges 11 a bit more I see a man who is desperate to rebuild his
reputation among his brothers and desperate to do so by defeating the Ammonites. After being exiled by his family, he is
called back to lead his brothers in war against the Ammonites. It appears (in
my opinion) that he becomes anxious not to fail them, possibly to be accepted
back into the family he was once shunned by.
In so doing, he makes an irrational vow to God that was motivated from
his religious affiliation during his time in Tob by becoming acquainted with
the practices of Molech.
Jephthah
was a man who knew Yahweh, Israel’s God (as is evident in the fact that Judges
11 says, “The Spirit of God came upon him), but because of his time in a
foreign land, he did not know how to worship or commune with the One true
God. So Jephthah resorted to what he was
familiar with, the religious practices of the pagans that he was surrounded
with while in Tob (Judges 11 also points out that worthless men followed him to
Tob and lived with him there. This indicates that Jephthah or these men lacked
a knowledge of the Law of God as Israel would have been governed by.)
In
analyzing Jephthah’s vow, we see hints that he planned to sacrifice a human as
his burnt offering. Here is why I
believe this.
Judges
11:30-31 says, “And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If you will give
the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever
comes out of from my 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.’” (Italics added).
One
reason I believe Jephthah planned to sacrifice a human in this vow are the
words whatever and it. These
words can also be translated from the
Hebrew as whoever and he, as it is somewhat ambiguous in the
Hebrew translation. If this is the case,
then Jephthah would have determined to offer a human as a sacrifice all along.
A
second reason I believe this is because of the phrase “to meet me”. This phrase
indicates that whatever Jephthah had in mind was a creature or human that had
the intent of coming out for the specific purpose of meeting Jephthah and
welcoming him back.
My
premise is that Jephthah was hoping for a child of a servant to come out to
meet him. Regardless if sacrificing a
human was his intent or not, he made a foolish open ended vow that included the
option of burning a human life. We see
his true intent when his daughter runs out to meet him and his heart is grieved
as he sees her as the object of his upcoming sacrifice.
Some
believe he never sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering but rather
committed her to the Lord as a virgin the rest of her life. If we read this story at face value, we are
led to believe that he does offer her as a burnt offering as verse 39 says
“…who did with her according to his vow that he had made.”
Every
time I read Judges 11, I am forced to pause and ponder why God would allow
something like this to take place inside of his chosen nation? He clearly could have put a stop to it by
sending a prophet to Jephthah to correct his reckless behavior and thwart his
plan to sacrifice his daughter. But
since God doesn’t, I must assume that this story has purpose in the overall
plan of the redeeming power of the Gospel.
Jephthah
is a picture of the state of Israel during his time. Being located in the middle of the book of
Judges, it represents a nation who has amalgamated faith in Yahweh with the
religious practices of the nations around them.
In
Jephthah’s vow, Jephthah has blended the worship of Yahweh with the religious
practices of the god of the Ammonites, Molech.
This picture shows the reader of Judges the state Israel was in. They were still God’s people, yet their
worship of God was polluted with the worship of false gods around them.
My
conclusion is, Jephthah made a pagan vow to the Holy God.
This
still leaves us with a slew of unanswered questions. Did God accept his vow? What should have Jephthah done the moment he
realized his sin? Was there a way out
for him? What can we learn from his
foolishness? These are all questions I
will address next time as we see how we have a merciful God who longs for
something much greater than sacrifice and burnt offerings.
My
belief is that Jephthah did sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering as he
vowed to. This was not God’s desire for
Jephthah, but God still found favor in Jephthah faith.
Read
on next time to see the hope we have in a merciful God who looks beyond our
foolishness to grant us grace and mercy.
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