Sacrifice. Abraham obeyed. Jephthah ordered.


Abraham obeyed the sacrifice. Jephthah ordered a sacrifice.
Abraham obeyed to sacrificed his Son but it did not happen, Jephthah's sacrifice did.

"Jephthah made a promise to the Lord, saying, 'If you will hand over the Ammonites to me, I will give you as a burnt offering the first thing that comes out of my house to meet me when I return from the victory. It will be the Lord's.'" Judges 11:30-31 NCV

Every believer was amazed, stunned and inspired by Abraham's faith up to the point where he would sacrifice his only begotten son. Obedience, trust, and faithfulness to God were all present there. But what if the man of God arranged the agreement and was surprised by the outcome. What if the man of God made a promise with him, expecting a preferred result but was brokenhearted and depressed in the end. What if a man unexpected the unexpected.

Upon studying and meditating the story again, I analyzed the situation of Jephthah and realized that his faith was incredible. If we contrast it to Abraham's situation, the attribute and flavor of his life had a huge difference.

First, he was the one who started the promise "Jephthah made a promise to the Lord, saying, 'If you will hand over the Ammonites to me," (30.NCV). In Abraham's case he was summoned and commanded by God directly to kill and offer his son. Well, at least he had an idea on what will happen.

"..Jephthah went over to fight.. the Lord handed them over to him. In a great defeat Jephthah struck them down.. Ammonites were defeated by the Israelites." (32-33.NCV). Jephthah received what he asked for. God had done his part of their agreement. I'm sure not only Jephthah was happy, it was also his teammates, friends, and family. Now here comes the unexpected.

"When Jephthah returned to his home.., his daughter was the first one to come out to meet him..." (34.NCV). All was well, the he had gained the victory over the Ammonites, and then he returned home, expecting an animal to greet him but it wasn't. Biblical scholars would say, houses on that day had spaces for the cattles, maybe that's also the reason why he was confident to have an agreement with God. The possibility of an animal coming out first to meet him as soon as he got home is very high.

Oh no?!? Why oh Why?? His lovely, joyful daughter "..playing a tambourine and dancing. She was[also] his only child.." (34.NCV) first to came out!! Abraham's son was a boy, and his' was a girl.

Jephthah actually the one who formulated the conditions "I will give you as a burnt offering the first thing that comes out of my house to meet me.." (31.NCV). He didn't change his mind, or revised the promise, or say something like "ah.. ah.., not that one God, except for my family", instead he just "..did to her what he had promised..". He had a choice not to follow the agreement because God already gave what he was asking for. He was so depressed and his victorious happiness turned into sorrow. The level of his amusement was so high but in the end it suddenly went down. On the other hand, Abraham was preparing the woods, he had also time to prepare emotionally.

Abraham's situation was suddenly switched by the intervention of God, but in Jephthah's, God didn't interfere or just let his daughter go. Jephthah's crossroad was extremely difficult.

Jephthah was a man of integrity and loyalty to the promise he made. His compliance and obedience to the agreement was incomparable. His faithfulness to God is sacrificial, he had a choice not to obey God because he already got what he was asking for but he still did the promise.









**Photo was from http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u15/Father_and_daughter_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200810/why-has-the-age-puberty-declined-in-recent-decades-ii&usg=__4yjUR5y4kemDhxtB_fcAAZt9HkM=&h=342&w=590&sz=64&hl=tl&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=ACgb9ZFelS0erM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=161&ei=ZQeUTZuhE8ePcc6ZzYsH&prev=/images%3Fq%3DFather%2Band%2Bdaughter%26hl%3Dtl%26biw%3D1066%26bih%3D564%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch0%2C83&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=469&vpy=139&dur=1898&hovh=171&hovw=295&tx=159&ty=96&oei=ZQeUTZuhE8ePcc6ZzYsH&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&biw=1066&bih=564

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