Jephthah's Vow (Part 2)

Well, take your Bibles and let's open them to the book of Judges and we're going to look at all verses 29 to 40.

We have a little bit more to cover with Jephthah and we'll wait and get that next time.

I've got my Bible marked here with a Texas bookmark that was just given to me. And I just wondered, do you know who gave this to me?

Even has a little bit of Texas history on the back of it here, you know. So I can bone up on Texas history since I'm going to be spending a few days for four weeks in Texas.

Thank you, Dave. I'll put that in my Bible and so when I'm sitting there getting my treatment, I'll open it up and there's Texas.

Of course, probably the other people who are there from who knows where in the world. And I'll share it, yeah. I don't have an Oklahoma history, just Texas.

Okay. Let me go ahead and read the passage and then we'll look into it. Starting there again with verse, what did I say? 29 of chapter 11.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. And we kind of ended with this last week. Well, actually we went further than that, but we did cover some of this last week.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. And he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed through Mizpah of Gilead. And from Mizpah of Gilead, he advanced toward the people of Ammon.

And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. And he said, If you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my home 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.

So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from Aror, as far as Meneth, twenty cities, and to Abel-Keramim, with a very great slaughter.

Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. So, when Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, that sounds a little ominous, doesn't it?

I think that's a little bit more than just rain. Everybody going to run for their cars and get home? Or will you stick with me here? Okay. All the way, all right. When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing and she was his only child.

Because, besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low.

You are among... He brought her low. What about her? Okay. You are... Excuse me. You have brought me very low. You are among those who trouble me.

For I have given my word to the Lord and I cannot go back on it. So she said to him, My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.

Then she said to her, Father, said to her, Father, let this thing be done for me. Let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.

And so he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months, and she went with her friends and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. 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, and it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

All right, so it's an interesting passage, isn't it? And I said last week, when we kind of skipped over that, skipped through that, and kind of went straight to the great battle and the great victory, I said that we would talk about this next time, and so here we are.

Now, we really need to kind of set this up. And one way, of course, to do that would be kind of go back a little bit, kind of digress a little bit, and cause us to remember, you know, what has taken place here in chapter 11 that's leading up to this vow that Jephthah made.

Because to a degree, it's important, these things are important for us to understand not just what this vow is all about, but to understand something about Jephthah, the one who made the vow.

Because really, it's not the vow itself that is the point here. Okay? Now, I know it's the part we want to find out about. That's the part we want to understand, but that's not really the point that we need to get.

Yeah, that God's trying to teach us. So, let's kind of bring us up to speed again. And perhaps you weren't here last time, and so you've missed this part. But remember that Jephthah, who was he?

He was the son of a man by the name of Gilead. That was his father, Gilead, but his mother was what? A prostitute.

She was a harlot. So, he is an illegitimate son in the family. And so then later, his illegitimate birth caused some troubles, of course, with his half-brothers, or the full sons, the legitimate sons of Gilead.

What did they do? They kicked him out, got rid of him, kicked him out, and deprived him of any of his father's inheritance. And so, Jephthah then becomes an outcast.

Remember last week, we talked about that, how he went from, really started at zero, long before he ever became a hero in Israel. So, they cast him out.

And so, what happened to Jephthah? Jephthah then became the leader of a band of mercenaries. For, I mean, for all, you know, lack of a better term, that's exactly what they were.

And they weren't renegades, and thieves, and criminals, and highwaymen, or something. Some have tried to characterize them as something like that. But they were actually mercenaries, and they were protecting Israel.

Protecting Israel from their enemies. And who were the enemies? The Ammonites. All right, so they were a pretty useful bunch of people, a band of people.

But the point is that, apparently, Jephthah was a very effective leader. Now, he may have been born the illegitimate son. May have been born of a, you know, his mother was a harlot.

He may have, you know, had a dubious beginning, but none of that was his fault, of course. But Jephthah had a whole lot going for him. And he was an effective leader. And according to chapter 11, verse 1, just from the get-go, as we find out about Jephthah, the Bible describes him as a mighty man of valor here.

And he has a band of private soldiers who he's leading. And they were successful in their various isolated campaigns against the Ammonites and so forth.

But now, eventually then, the Ammonites muster up a very significant army to come and attack Israel. And their intention is to get them out of their land, to annihilate them so that they can have that land.

And so, this is not just a little skirmish that is developing here. This is going to be a major, major battle. And so, apparently, Israel's army here in Manasseh, this part of the territory, they were somewhat leaderless.

They needed a leader. And who did they think of? You know, well, the brothers of, or sons of Gilead started to think about their half-brother Jephthah.

And though they had cast him out, now, well, maybe he would be the guy to lead our armies. And they recognized his prowess as a military leader. And so, they went after him to seek him out.

And then, after a not-so-subtle reminder of what they had done to him, and kind of an initial refusal then to come and be their leader, Jephthah agrees.

And so, what does he do first? Remember, he doesn't just immediately lead the armies and go out and attack the Ammonites. He does something very shrewd, very wise. He then tries to reason with the king of the Ammonites, and negotiate with them.

And this was a wise move on his part. And Jephthah proved himself not only to be a mighty man of valor, but he also proved himself to be a wise leader, an expert negotiator.

And even though, and you know the rest of the story, even though his negotiation didn't really yield anything, they eventually did have to go to battle, that didn't make his negotiation any less wise and full of substance.

Remember what he said. He had this correspondence with the king of the Ammonites, and there were some very wise points that he brought up. I mean, he reminded the Ammonite king that the Israelites had not taken the land from the Ammonites in the first place.

This wasn't your land to begin with. You know, he admitted they took, we took it from the Ammonites, not the Ammonites. And the Ammonites took it from the Moabites, and so the Ammonites, we get a little mixed up with all these ites, the Ammonites had no real right to the land anyway.

All right, so he pointed that out first of all. And then he reminded the Ammonite king that the God of Israel had given them the land, and that was significant to the people of that day.

And so, he, the king of the Ammonites, and his people, as Jephthah argues, should just be content to live where they're living and live where they're, they're living because that land was given to them by their gods.

And so, you just leave us alone, you, you, you live in the land your God gave you, and we'll live in the land that our God gave us. All right? He's not paying lip service to a false god.

Don't misunderstand. He's just using a wise negotiation, and he's being, trying to use reason with this king. And then, he reminded the Ammonite king that Israel had lived in this land for 300 years.

And so, why now do you think you need to come and take over this land you think or you say is yours? That's just rational, reasonable thinking here.

And then, I guess, finally, we could say, according to verse 27, that he informed the Ammonite king that by attacking Israel, he would, in fact, be attacking Yahweh God and that God would be the ultimate judge.

That's basically what is said there in verse 27. He said, May the Lord, the judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon. All right? So, here's one, two, three, four.

Here's four reasons why you should just stay where you are and leave us alone. And I think you can even read between the lines and Jeff is having somewhat some mercy upon the people of Ammon because he knows what the outcome is going to be.

And so, he's saying, God's going to be the judge. And so, hey, let me just save you a lot of grief and bloodshed. Just stay there and leave us alone. All right? So, he's, you know, being very wise here.

And all of these are pretty convincing arguments. Now, digressing and reminding you of these things about Jephthah because this is going to come into play and help us understand what Jephthah, how he's thinking when he makes this vow with God.

Now, all right, so, he gives this convincing argument and would have been convincing, I guess, you could say, for anyone who has not already made up his mind to conquer Israel because in verse 28, however, there's that, however, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

All right, so all that was for naught. And yet, that does not change the fact that Jephthah was a pretty shrewd fellow and a good expert negotiator.

And that was one of his strengths. Not just a good leader and not just a, you know, a very brave and courageous and valued warrior, but he had a pretty, pretty, pretty good head on his shoulders and that was one of his strengths.

He was kind of quick on his feet at the bargaining table and made some convincing arguments. But, all right, now all that to say this, starting in verse 29 then, he overplays his hand.

He goes too far with this. He overreaches this talent of being a deal maker and, you know, a bargainer because starting in verse 29, Jephthah tries to negotiate now with God, try to negotiate with him and to bargain with God.

All right, so let's see that then and just kind of divide this into three parts. First of all, we have Jephthah's vow. We need to consider that first.

And so the stage is set for war, right? Jephthah is exhausted all of his negotiations and the king of Ammonites, of the Ammonites is not going to have any of that.

And so the stage is set for war and as Jephthah then leads the armies of Gilead to battle, what does he do? Verse 30, and Jephthah made a vow to the Lord.

That's what he does. All right, so he makes this vow. Now, I want to defer making any observations and conclusions and explanations about the vow for now.

We'll get to that. We'll kind of close with that. You know, the why of this vow and whether or God required it and how one should treat vows that are made and, you know, what the vow really consisted of and all those kind of important questions about vows and we'll get to all of that at the end of it.

But for now, we just want to look at the text and Jephthah's vow. First of all, the context of this vow that he made, the context of it.

What was the context? I think it's just kind of interesting to kind of picture this in our minds. Verse 29, remember, tells us several things related to the context.

One, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. All right, that's important for us to remember as we think about this vow that Jephthah is making. First of all, to understand that the Spirit of the Lord had come upon Jephthah.

So, God is with him. And what's the implication of that? The implication of that is the battle is as good as won. I mean, when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon you, then you know that he's going to use you to bring about a great victory.

And Jephthah should know his history because, certainly by now, he would know of many other times in recent history as well as past and ancient history that this is how God has moved.

The Spirit of the Lord would come upon a man for his use and for his purposes. And that purpose would be done. And so, the battle will be victorious.

And we need to remember that when we try to make some conclusions about the vow that Jephthah has made. Second, Jephthah mustered the armies of the tribes, those local tribes, people of Gilead and Manasseh.

And so, he brought those people all together. And so, Jephthah then made a vow to the Lord as he and his men were headed out to do battle against the Ammonites.

And we just kind of picture that. We can sort of picture Jephthah marshalling the troops there. And they're all together. I don't know how many there were. And they're outside, you know, maybe the front gate of his home.

And they're about to go out to battle. And maybe he has said some things to the troops. And maybe, you know, he's been kind of having a pep rally with them. And they're all getting excited.

And Jephthah, you know, is getting very excited to go out to battle. And, you know, and they're ready to go. And Jephthah just kind of sort of turns toward the door of his house.

And he says, I tell you what, if you, and he's speaking directly to God here, if you, God, if you, Lord, if you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then, if then, that ought to be an indication of a problem right off.

You don't do if thens with God. But he said, if you indeed will deliver the people who have me in my hands, then, it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace, that is, if I return in victory, comes out to meet me, then, then shall surely, this, this, whatever comes out to meet me will surely be the Lord's.

And I will offer it up as a burnt offering. Now, get that. I'm not talking about the burnt offering part, but get this idea.

If you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands. These are words of doubt. Right? So we can see that pretty clear.

These are words of doubt. He's not really sure. And it's doubt that is when there should be no doubt. Why should there be no doubt? The Spirit of the Lord. had come upon him.

But Jephthah wants to make sure about this. You know, just kind of a little extra assurance here.

Just make sure this deal is going to work out. And so he makes a deal with God. He makes a vow. So that's the context. Now the content of the vow.

vow. In this vow, Jephthah promises to give something to God. To dedicate something to God.

That's what it means. When whatever, he says, whatever comes out of the house first when I return in peace. Or if I return in peace, return in victory.

Whatever. Something he's going to give to God. And then he mentions about a burnt offering. Offering it up as a burnt offering. Now again, we'll wait just a bit to make some conclusions about that.

But even on the face of it, this is rash, foolish, for Jephthah to do, to make this vow.

I mean, not only because there was no need to, and all the other implications, but God didn't even require it. The battle, the outcome of the battle was going to be the same, regardless.

Because this is God's purpose. There's no need for a vow. And Jephthah is, I think, going to learn this lesson about vows, and he's going to learn it the hard way. You see, that's the problem when we start making promises to God.

have you ever made a promise to God? I saw a few heads like this. I should have a little testimonial time.

Would you like to tell us about it? No, I won't do that. Have you ever heard anybody say that they had made a promise? I promise to God, in fact, I have talked to, shared the gospel with mostly men who will say this kind of thing.

and they say, yes, yes, pastor, I'm saved. And I'll tell you what happened. I was in a really tough situation and I made a promise to God, you get me out of this and I'll believe in you, I'll serve you.

And without exception, every time I hear that, I'm dealing with somebody who's not serving him. They made a vow, they made a promise, but it's meaningless. But even believers sometimes will, you know, get maybe to what they perceive as the end of the rope, you know, they don't know where to turn, know what to do, and they're desperate, and they call out to God, God, I will do this.

You know, I'll teach that Sunday school class that they, you know, my pastor keeps bugging me about, if you'll answer this prayer. I'm not trying to make light of it because, you know, sometimes people can be very serious about these problems.

Is that something we should do? Well, we'll get to that. So, Jephthah's vow. Second, Jephthah's victory. And we're going to insert this in here because it's part of the text, and still all this kind of goes together to help us, I think, understand the dynamics of God's side of this and Jephthah's side of this, this vow that he made.

And so we have his victory, and this is a part of our understanding. We know from Scripture that when the children of Israel faced the Ammonites on the field of battle, Israel won the day, didn't they?

I read that just a moment ago. They won. They defeated their enemy. They won a great victory. Or someone won it for them. And so, in the first place, this was a divine victory, wasn't it?

I mean, that's clear from the text. In verse 32, so Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them. And the Lord, the Lord, who?

The Lord delivered them into his hands. This is the divine victory. This way it was going to happen anyway. This was God's plan.

God, you know, sent his spirit to come upon Jephthah to lead. He didn't do so because Jephthah deserved that. He didn't even do it because Jephthah was, you know, this mighty man of valor or a wise negotiator.

God has already done the very same thing with some men who had absolutely no qualifications. So it's not about Jephthah. It's about God. This is a divine victory. We understand that.

And it was a decisive victory, wasn't it? It really was. Verse 33 tells us that it was a decisive complete victory. The language, matter of fact, of this verse is really quite graphic because we're told that Jephthah slaughtered the Ammonites.

And we might have a little problem with that, but that's what happened. And that word, slaughtered, it carries with it the idea of being overcome with a plague.

That doesn't mean that God won the victory through a plague, but the word slaughtered means the effect of it is like being absolutely decimated by a plague. The children of Israel swept down upon the Ammonites and cut them down like a plague.

It was an outstanding and complete victory. And God did that. So we have Jephthah's vow, Jephthah's victory, Jephthah's vow we still have some questions about and we're going to get to that, I promise you.

And we have this great victory and then finally we need to consider how Jephthah dealt with that. So we have Jephthah's vigilance, his vigilance, the battle is over.

The victory is won, a complete victory. And Jephthah then returns home as a conquering hero. And I am sure, and you get the sense of that from the passage, that Jephthah had not forgotten about this vow.

It was foremost on his mind when he approached the house. What is it that's going to come out and meet me as he came home? He's not thinking flippant about it. It's just that if there's a lesson here, anything we can say positively about Jephthah in this whole thing is that he had every intention of fulfilling his vow.

Many times we make promises and we don't ever live up to them. And God answers our prayer and he didn't do so because we made a vow or a promise, but he answers our prayer or we get some great blessing and then suddenly, and it's amazing, we just forget all about that promise.

Or maybe we remember it for a time and then it just kind of falls by the wayside and we think, well, you know, maybe it didn't matter anyway. But it does matter as we shall see. All right, so he hadn't forgotten about it and he fully intended to carry out his vow and Jephthah then was a man of his word and he would not fail to do all that he promised to the Lord.

And so we have the account of that in verses 34 to verse 40. And let's look at it again. And let me just kind of walk through this a little slower. when Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter.

Oh boy, somebody should have told her about this vow. And there she was coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing.

I mean, why not? Her father is home and he has led the armies and led them to a great victory and why not?

I mean, what would be more appropriate than to have a great celebration? She comes out with timbrels and dancing and she was his only child. Now that is included in there not just simply as some historical fact but because of the seriousness of this vow.

No matter how you interpret the vow, she is his only one to carry on the lineage of his family.

And so she comes out. And besides her, he had neither son nor daughter and it came to pass that when he saw her that he tore his clothes.

Never, never did he even imagine that when he made that vow that this is how it would turn out. You think God knew? Of course he did.

So he tore his clothes, it says here, and he said, Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low. It's a bad day for me.

You're among those who trouble me. He's not scolding her but he, you know, he's reacting to this. This is a great tragedy for I have given my word to the Lord and I cannot go back on it.

So she said to him, my father, if you have given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth. Kind of reminds you of Isaac's response, you know, he's willing to be sacrificed even though it wasn't Abraham who made a vow there.

but what's going on now, do according to it because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.

Then she said to her father, let this thing be done for me, let me alone for two months that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.

Now that ought to be a little bit of a clue as to really the substance of the vow and what would be required to carry out this vow. So he said go and he sent her away for two months and she went with her friends and bewailed her virginity on the mountains 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 and it became a custom in Israel. What was the custom? That the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Alright? So there it is. Now let me just make then some observations and some conclusions and we'll wrap this up and they're really I think pretty easy to see.

And the first one is and everybody wants to know this did Jephthah really give his daughter to the Lord and offer her up as a burnt offering to the Lord?

Was that the vow he made and did he carry that out? And the answer to that question is yes he did and no he did not.

Yes and no. Yes to the first part he did give her to the Lord. No to the second part he did not burn her as a sacrifice on the altar to the Lord.

You know what it says does it? And here are the reasons why I make that conclusion. First in the first place and this is obvious the language that Jephthah used here in verse 31 is very ambiguous and it's just kind of open there for us.

He says then it shall be that whatever whatever just whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me.

when I return in peace from the children of Ammon that shall surely be the Lord's whatever comes out of the door to greet me shall be the Lord's and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.

Whatever and it as a burnt offering. The word whatever suggests really that he expected some kind of animal. Not his daughter.

he expected some kind of animal. Now his daughter came out. And so at the very worst here his vow is rash.

His vow is something he didn't think through when he made it. He was not expecting he didn't make the vow with any thought whatsoever or plan whatsoever or even the potentiality of a human being walking out.

He would never make a vow like that. He had every thought that it would be an animal. And so he didn't think it all the way through and that's so true of some of our promises that we sometimes make.

Make to God. Make to one. We don't think it through about just what that might mean. Secondly the word and this is important from the grammar. The word and that is give to the Lord and to offer as a burnt offering.

the word and can also be translated or. It be translated or in the Hebrew text. And I think very likely should be.

And so that means that if it is a person who comes out of the door, this is the implication, if a person comes out of the door, then I will dedicate that person to the Lord. But if it is an animal that I see first, then it will be offered as a burnt offering.

The only difference is and, or rather than an and, it makes all the difference in the world here, and the grammar would allow for that here.

And then this would be more in line with God's word. This is falling off my ear, just a minute. This would be in line with God's word, and that leads to a third thing that we really need to say here about this.

And that is that God would never have approved of or accepted a human sacrifice. He never would have done that. And Jephthah would know that. Jephthah would know that you don't make promises to offer up human sacrifices because human sacrifices are utterly condemned by God and in His word.

Any kind of sacrifice, burnt sacrifices and any other kind does not fit with God's word. Remember Abraham and Isaac in Genesis chapter 22.

And you can also see many other passages in the Bible that prohibit, clearly prohibit any human sacrifice. I'll just give you some. Leviticus 18. 21, if you make notes here.

Leviticus 18. 21, Leviticus 20, verses 1 through 5, Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 30 to 31, Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 9 through 12, and there are others that prohibit human sacrifices unto the Lord, burnt or otherwise.

And how then also we have to think about this logically. How would it be possible for Jephthah to be numbered with the faithful in Hebrews 11, 32?

If he burned his daughter as a burnt offering unto the Lord, which would have been completely against his way, how could he be called the faithful in that kind of a deed that he did?

It's just not possible. And therefore, you know, the men of Israel would not have allowed Jephthah to do such a thing. And where would he offer this sacrifice?

It would have to be the tabernacle. That's where burnt sacrifices are offered unto the Lord. And so if in the tabernacle, then it must be a priest who does it. And no priest would have done that.

See, there are just so many things that we understand from Scripture that make it absolutely impossible to interpret this as a vow to burn his daughter on the altar.

And it makes it impossible that Jephthah would have done that to begin with. So what's the answer? Well, Jephthah gave his daughter to the Lord to serve in the tabernacle with other women who served there.

And they would be virgins. And they would serve the Lord in the tabernacle. Exodus 38 verse 8, 1 Samuel 2 22, women as well as men.

And she would then remain a virgin for the rest of her life. That's the idea there in verse 29. And every year her friends came and spent four days with her helping her mourn for her unmarried childless condition.

That's what we understand from verse 40. And let me say something else. There was no need. Here's the point really of it all. The point of it, we have a tendency to focus on this passage that seems wild and strange and impossible and we want to focus on this vow and whether or not what the vow meant and all of that.

And we missed the whole point and the point is there was no need for Jephthah to make a vow. No need whatsoever. God did not require it. He never in Scripture requires a vow.

He will allow vows to be made to him but it doesn't require it, it's never mandated in Scripture but there is a mandate attached to vows in Scripture and that is that once one is made God demands that it be honored.

And there are several places in Scripture that talk about that. Deuteronomy 23 verses 21 to 23, Numbers chapter 30 verse 2, Psalm 34 verse 13, Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verses 4 through 6.

Are you getting all those down? See, once made, they must be carried out. Alright?

That doesn't mean he has to burn his daughter because he never made that vow. If it had been an animal then he would have carried out the vow in that way.

But the point is the victory was his. There was no need to doubt that. No need to sweeten the pot a little bit and add this deal with God.

No need to do that. And so Jephthah learned a great lesson. Why then, you might ask, why then was he so distraught by this when his daughter comes out?

Because he thought now he's going to have to kill her? No. But he knew she would have now to be a virgin for the rest of her life. serve in the tabernacle.

She could never marry and he knew that she was his last hope that anything could go beyond him as far as his progeny.

And that was a very big deal. Now, here's the lesson then for us. Never try to strike a bargain with God. Don't bargain with God.

Don't make deals with God. God. Our God is sovereign and he will not be coerced. And yet, I think if you would just, and I've said this many times before because I constantly find this happening in my own prayer life.

I'm trying to manipulate God. Trying to choose my words and phrase my prayers in such a way, you know, like I would, we would sometimes with other people.

people. We can kind of persuade people and maybe move their opinion of us and make decisions and come to certain conclusions by the way we frame our statements and things we say and that crosses over sometimes into our prayers and it's kind of like we're trying to manipulate God or coerce God to come over to our side, our way of thinking, and so that we can get what really what we want and just analyze your prayers and see if you ever see that showing up.

I guess I'm just willing to say that we're all the same on this and we have to be very careful but sometimes we go even further than that.

We might have a temptation to make some deal with God, try to manipulate Him or coerce Him. We're to walk by faith. Walk by faith. God is sovereign.

We're to trust Him. So don't bargain with God. Simply obey God and trust Him. If there's any, I mean, any one thing we're to learn from this incident in the life of Jephthah, it is that.

Don't make bargains with God. Just trust Him and obey Him. Thank you.