Jephthah the Faithful

Transcript

yeah so tonight I want to talk about x Jeff the the faithful a man that x sacrificed his daughter or did he x I I think x um this is probably one of those x incidents in Scripture that x non-believers x agnostics atheists they love to Chomp on x this to show that the scriptures uh and x the and in general the god of Israel was x a evil God that he really required human x sacrifice and that in spite of all the x protestations against it uh this poor x lady ended up being sacrificed at the x whim of her father x and of course in the in the in the x Middle East uh human sacrifice was x actually quite common x um the Canaanites this is a kind of an x image of one of the Canaanite Gods with x its babies were put up in fact in in x archaeologists have found in in some uh x diggings in cities in the in the land of x Israel that uh Canaanites some x canaanized cities that they would find x buried beneath the city walls the gates x uh human sacrifices usually usually x small children and they burn their x children now x it's quite clear that God did not allow x this this is not something that x ever would have been acceptable to God x he he considered it Abomination it x wasn't just the Canaanites uh it was um x the amalekites the mobites and they in x general thought that somehow x the way to gain the God's favor x was to x emulify him to to say I'm giving up x everything to you my children x uh and this was a horrible practice x and but what happened in spite of x everything God said I only quoted one x particular verse here but but um you x know x um the the x there are so many admonitions in x Deuteronomy and so on the Jews should x not do such a thing and yet they ended x up doing it x Jeremiah 19 and 5 is a classical uh x story why um God was so dissatisfied x with them that they adopted these Pagan x practices thinking that somehow they had x to appease God x he says they have built also the high x places of Baal to burn their sons with x fire for burnt offerings unto Baal which x I command did not nor spake it neither x came it into my mind so not only did God x tell them not to do it he said God says x I never even would have thought of such x a thing now I don't know about you x but any parent has kids there were times x you want to you know x kids aren't behaving too well but I x would never have thought of burning my x children and sacrificing them if I the x thought would never have even entered my x mind in fact Mary and I have actually x had a pretty strict thing that we uh we x have we never actually ever used any x corporal punishment on our children x denial of things they wanted to do was a x much more effective way of reigning in x excess than trying to use physical x punishment because I believe physical x punishment x only encourages x repeat physical punishment with the when x the child grows and we didn't want to do x that now if you disagree with me you x know this spare the rod spoil the child x and all that stuff but I'm going to tell x you that in an Agricultural Society x the rod of shepherds wasn't used to beat x the Sheep it was used to nudge them and x guide them and I really think that that x was what was meant there and not x brutalize them anyway that's a side x point so what was the story here x um let's go to the next slide x so jephthah the faithful x he was a man that sacrificed his x daughter supposedly and and this has x been wrestled uh by uh atheists it's x been wrestled by Christian even Jews and x a lot of sites that I looked at and x talking to some Hebrew Scholars it's x nice to have those kind of people around x a university town I actually believe x that jephthah's daughter was offered as x a burnt offering x hmm x I I think we need to look at this very x carefully because I think there's a a x lot of lessons in this story so uh I x would ask somebody I can't see the full x screen on my computer but I would ask x somebody if you would please read uh x these verses in judges 11 12 verses 30 x 31 34 and 35 so we're all on the same x page x uh I'll I'll take that John and Jeff x though x unto the Lord and said if Thou shalt x without fail deliver the children of x Ammon into mine hands then it shall be x that whatsoever cometh forth of the x doors of my house x yeah go ahead I'm sorry x to meet me when I return in peace from x the children of Ammon shall surely be x the Lords and I will offer it up for a x burnt offering x and jephthah came to mizpah unto his x house and behold his daughter came out x to meet him with timbrose and with x dances x and she was his only child beside her he x had neither son nor daughter x and it came to pass when he saw her that x he rent his clothes and said alas my x daughter x thou has brought me very low and thou x art one of them that trouble me for I x have opened my mouth unto the Lord x and I cannot go back x Okay so x that's that's the heart of this whole x story he makes a vow x and he says I got to keep it even to the x length of x supposedly sacrificing his only child as x a burnt offering now I want to read you x a few Jewish sources this is taken from x the Encyclopedia of Jewish Women it's a x kind of standard Source that's used used x today to dealing with the women's issues x in in Judaism x and their view on chapter x some Jewish literary sources have severe x criticism of jephthah but naturally x without any reference to what's he in x Hebrews in the New Testament Egypt is x depicted as haughty and arrogant making x inappropriate and Reckless vow after a x military victory x despite his daughter's shrewd arguments x her father nevertheless goes through x with this vow to offer her to God and x slays her every year since the daughters x of Israel would weep or for four days x over jephthah's daughter x okay by every year I assume that was um x until the uh the Romans destroyed the x Jewish state x um they actually in recent years and x about the last 20 years or a woman Rabbi x has tried to resurrect this this uh this x tradition of uh weeping and putting x aside four days of the year for women x and she's connected it to the metoo x movement uh that uh that obviously x egyptus daughter was an abused woman x being sacrificed and and some synagogues x do have x um a Revival of this ceremony x Okay Christian sources I I don't think x have done much better and and I I found x a number of them but the one that it x that I'm going to show you is is a x sampling pretty typical of some x Christian sources and and this is x particularly disturbing one because I x think it's from a group that actually x shouldn't have in my mind at least a x fairly good knowledge of the scriptures x so it was a little surprised at it so x the inclusion of jephthah in this x well-known chapter on Heroes of the x faith has puzzled many Christian Bible x scholars so I'm going to quote This One x Source but it's really fairly typical of x what I was able to find x and here it is x the inclusion of jephthah x in this well-known chapter on Heroes of x the faith has puzzled many Christian x Bible scholars and he is the source x chapter a prostitute son leading a gang x in criminal Behavior would not seem to x be a likely candidate for God to use in x his service x certainly some better candidates must x have been available x furthermore jephthah appears to vow to x offer human sacrifice and to follow x through with it in the light of these x facts one might be tempted to wonder if x the author of Hebrews was in his right x mind to list jephthah as a hero of the x fate and this is from Stephen Bauer x President of the Adventist theological x Messiah and usually the Juventus of if x they use if the much better Bible x scholars than on the average from what x you find in in protestantism so I I was x a little uh Chagrin to read this and x what I when I put there in red is really x startling he actually accuses the author x of Hebrews of not being in his right x mind hmm x well with it x without arguing who the author of x Hebrews was and that's that a mute point x and a side issue I I cannot believe that x anyone inspired by the Holy Spirit would x write something that was not a god x approved and I'm a little shocked that x that a Christian from a group that is x fairly decent Bible scholars would even x make that kind of comment but it makes x me think uh I have run into x christadelphians who actually believe x that she was offered as a burnt x sacrifice and that that was just uh x something that you know if you make a x vow you got to keep that vow regardless x of the consequences well that simply is x not the case as we will see as we go x along here x and here's the passage that um Mr Bauer x thought was uh out of his mind and I'm x sure we I'm sure we're all familiar with x it and I I know when I've read Hebrews x every once in a while there are they're x actually a fair number of characters x mentioned in Hebrews and I I actually x have a great Bible class on Hebrews 11 x which is counter counter to the normal I x don't really think Hebrews 11 is about x heroes of the faith x because a lot of the heroes of the faith x are not really mentioned there x every one of the heroes of the faith in x Hebrews is is a it's a flawed character x and I think what he was 11 is telling us x in spite of everything if you do the x best you can God loves you and you're a x hero x and and I think that's what's true with x jephthah he made a rash vow but I don't x believe he carried it out in the way x people think he did and so what does he x say what more shall I say but the time x would fail me to tell of Gideon well x Gideon was a man who wouldn't even go to x war unless he had a woman backing him up x not the most um not the most auspicious x way to be a military leader a Barrack x Samson Samson did some terrible things x he's another one who ran after x prostitutes and other things chapter got x David and we know about David uh his um x his uh dalliance and we know of x um x uh x of many others Samuel was probably the x only one we can say here is actually a x person who was actually uh from what we x know in the scriptures who was without x full x but through faith character kingdoms etc x etc x okay x so I don't think we need to consider x views from either the Jewish or Krishna x perspective as being even part of the x story I think we can all agree that the x author of Hebrews was certainly in his x right mind when he inspired by the x spirit and he wisely wrote what he did x now if anybody he does not agree with x that save it until the end of the class x but but I I doubt that any x Christadelphian would x um doubt doubt that the author of x Hebrews didn't know what he was talking x about x and it is a little shocking to hear that x uh from any Christian x all right x so the question is x why is chapter included among the heroes x of the faith x and what lessons can we learn from that x inclusion that's the bottom line x when God points this man out as a hero x of the faith x it's our duty to reason really dig in x dig in deep and say well why is that so x not to gloss over this story but to dig x deeply and find out what why is this man x here uh x power advances said well he should have x chosen somebody else well that's not so x God chose he chose jepta and God knows x what he was doing x so let's see x how this plays out as we examine her x first x chipta had a miserable life I mean um x I you almost have to feel sorry for what x he went through uh his father Gilead was x um not a good man x uh he uh went off and had a chapter via x a prostitute and that's a stigma that x few people in life can live down x but he did take him into his household x but he even though he was the eldest and x he was the very first son he was never x ever x in line x for the inheritance x so he ends up being driven out by his x half-brothers because they weren't going x to take any chance of him claiming that x he was the eldest and first son and we x don't know if these half brothers were x all by one woman they may not have been x by one woman either but if apparently x they were all x from a mother who was legitimately x married to Gilead x and then x it's interesting Judges chapter 11 x verses 6 and 7 are particularly x interesting he says he it makes it x evident among the Elders of Israel must x have been a cager of half-brothers that x had treated him so badly in the past so x when they called them in and they needed x his help his half-brothers were there x too and and they must have been pleading x with them and but he says did you not x hate me and drive me out of my father's x house x now at that point I don't know x chapter must have had a very strong will x to do God's will because I I'm not sure x I would show up and uh my if my brothers x had treated me so badly and I'm very x fortunate my brother my brother and I x were always very close and there was x never a time uh when James and I did not x sort of resonate together and it's one x of the saddest moments of my life is x that I was talking to him on the x Saturday and he said he was going to x come out and see me and he was even x thinking of moving to Ann Arbor because x it was a lot cheaper than living in New x York I don't need to find out four days x later that he had been killed in a x boating accident x definitely one of the saddest moments x that you can uh that you can spend x so x he kind of forgives them he lets him get x away with it I'm actually pretty x surprised that he did not um you know x did not x request more x so x they no doubt wanted to make sure that x even though he was the eldest son they x didn't want to have no part in The x Inheritance so they weren't going to x take a chance at him right and that's x why they pushed him out of the house x and then x what it what happens x he ends up in Tobe which is a relatively x Barren area he believed to be southeast x of the Sea of Galilee and he links up x with what the NIV called Scoundrels a x worthless man or something x I'm not sure that that's quite x twist x on it because there is some Jewish x commentaries that say he ended up with a x bunch of outcasts so they may not x necessarily have been robbers and x criminals but they may have been a group x of women that had a scrounge for x themselves x so um when the the Adventist said that x he ended up with a Criminal Grant that's x criminal was not actually implied in x that text x um this gang of Scoundrels as it says in x NIV uh could easily have be interpreted x as a gang of outcasts x there certainly is no record in x scripture of them doing anything evil x with this gang they don't say he was x robbing this or robbing that or hurting x his fellow Jews so x okay x what happens x so he proceeds in a way that hardly x seems the action of a scoundrel x he tells the elders if you bring me home x again to fight against the ammonites he x says and the Lord notice this x the Lord gives them over to me I will be x your head he he doesn't give even the x slightest hint of Pride that is x something that he was going to do x and this is not the action of a x scoundrel this is the action of a x faithful person x and it's very remarkable we see again x and again in The Narrative of jephthah x his in his absolute dependence on the x Lord x there's never any doubt in his mind that x that's where x Victory will come not from me personally x and so he reiterates a number of things x he he actually forgives his x half-brothers x and goes ahead and does it x um x there's no record of him asking for an x apology there's no record of him asking x for recriminations x and I don't think the scriptures would x have overlooked that I think there's a x count on jephthah is in fact very very x detailed x and then x the important does he ask for Sheriff's x father's inheritance he could have said x well I'll you know I'll do this and x everything you know you guys but I want x back what's mine x no x he doesn't say that either x and I think this is kind of lesson that x I've learned a long time ago it's almost x as important to pay attention when x you're reading something and studying x something not only to what is said but x what is not said x so there's there's no ego in his x attempt to save Israel x he puts everything on Yahweh x and something by inference we see we x consider the Elders of Israel or the x Gilead apparently I had not done that x they rushed to find a champion x there's no indication of them all asking x for a prophet or saying you know we have x to rely on God x um I think by your friends uh the Elders x of Gilead x uh were looking for x a person to be a savior and they knew x that he was a strong leader and uh x apparently he must have been very x physically fit and uh um their knowledge x of his ability was pretty high x so he he shows and this this is probably x the biggest key in verse 11. x japta shows his faithful confidence in x the Lord when he accepts the commission x without it without any x without any goodies or anything else x that he attaches to it from them x he never says when I come back I want x you know I want 150 000 or I want my x inheritance back how about 50 donkeys or x and I'm not necessarily positive if that x were the case something would have been x mentioned x and he spoke all his words before the x Lord at misfa so again it emphasizes x have jeptus trust in God and that's it x was exceptional x so let's take a little further look into x his character because this this um x passage in Hebrews is very Justified and x I don't think we should ever skip it x and so what does he start out to do x you know he he doesn't even try to x gather everybody together and say okay x the Lord's with us let's attack them x instead he he tries to negotiate a x peaceful settlement x what did that happen in Wars nowadays x wouldn't it x peaceful settlements are x sometimes the last thing politicians x think of and I think sometimes even when x we have disputes in our own Community x instead of looking for a peaceful way we x look for ways for confrontation x but I won't go into that any more than x that or I think I'll be upset and you'll x be upset so instead of threats and plans x for immediate attack he tries to settle x the differences between the Israelites x and the ammonites by trying to negotiate x a settlement without resorting to x Bloodshed he reminds the ammonites of x the relations they enjoyed for over 300 x years and tells them why you're not x willing to undo that and go to water x settle a grievance that should long ago x have been forgotten x yeah that's something that I think a x lesson that I think is well placed upon x us x don't Harbor grievances x you know x when you Harbor grievance x you don't only damage your enemy you x damage yourself x forgiveness is one of the key first x principles I know it's not a statement x of faith but forgiveness is a first x principle it is in fact the only thing x that the Lord Jesus Christ expands on x when he teaches us how to pray he says x he's not going to forgive us if we don't x forgive others x if that is in first principle I don't x know what it is x and I think too often we don't bear that x in mind we we ask fathers to forgive us x but we're really slow when it comes to x forgiveness on our part and I'm probably x as guilty as anybody x okay so I want to go through this rack x of his x Faith demonstrated x there is there's no question in my mind x that the scriptures here x are in effect x outlining in the Old Testament every x single reason why he ended up x in Hebrews being one of the heroes of x the faith and if he's a hero of the x faith then he's somebody we need to x emulate x okay x in verse 27 he says we see jephthah's x faith in the Lord and his own strength x he says if the ammonites would not x listen Jeb to trusted that the Lord x would have Israel prevail x he says the Lord the judge decide this x day between the people of Israel and the x people of Ammon again he puts throws x this all into the hands of his faith x that he had in God x and when the ammonites refused to make x peace we find that he says that the x spirit of the Lord was upon jebeddah not x his own strength x it was for the testimony of his steadfed x face that the Lord would deliver x Israel's enemies into his hands x now we come to the to the story and the x focus of this this class x um I took this title from my ESV x digital Bible it heads up this section x by saying jephthah's tragic vow well I x think it was tragic but I do not think x it was fatal no excuse me erase that I x know it was not fatal x and I'm sure that x you you you don't feel that way x already you will when I'm finished x all right so let's see what this vowel x was x Helen x uh what follows is one of the most uh x curious scenarios and scriptures x um x and uh x it is often used to illustrate x that you should keep your mouth shut not x make any vows x as Solomon a more or less says in x Ecclesiastes x I have no doubt that this was tragic but x not fatal x okay so we'll just leave that there for x a second x okay x and here's what it says here's the vow x and jephthah made a vow to the Lord and x said if you will give the ammonites into x my hand and whatever comes out from the x doors of my house to meet me when I x return in peace from the ammonites shall x be the Lords and I will offer it up for x a burnt offering now notice I used to I x know use the word it there x because that is I believe the the x correct literal translation of that x verse x so rash vows well it's probably not a x good idea to make rash vows x um x I I guess I've made one or two on my x lifetime and have lived to regret it x um descriptions are pretty clear x that before you open your mouth and vow x something you better think not only of x the moment but the consequences for the x future x and and I want to bear that in mind x because that's something that always has x troubled me myself when you say x something you need to think of not only x what the immediate respect but we'll x come back to haunt you next year or the x year after the other 10 years from now x and and I think sometimes the biggest x mistake that we make x and getting ourselves in trouble is with x the immediate decision was okay but we x didn't really think about the long-range x consequences of something we've said x so let's see what happens here okay uh x his vow was rash x and what was he thinking x uh he couldn't possibly know x well what was going to happen what did x he expect was coming out of the door of x his house when he returned x if it was any man or woman did he really x intend to burn them alive as a sacrifice x to the Lord x I don't think so I don't think that what x happens yes it was ignorant of all those x admonitions we read earlier in this x class in Deuteronomy in fact I only x cited a few for example but there were a x couple of dozen verses over and over x again God's saying he hates x human sacrifice x it was one of the reasons he wanted to x push those people out of the land x because they had desecrated it with this x evil x if it was a domestic animal x that would have come out uh it's x unlikely that it would have been clean x and that wouldn't have been an x acceptable sacrifice anyway and we also x have to ask us something but did he keep x animals living in his house anyway that x was not usual x so what was he thinking was he really x thinking it would be a human being and x I'll offer him or be an unclean animal x and Law Firm I don't think it was any of x that x so critical to us to think about x regardless of the outcome x and which would talk talk about more x making rash vows is something we should x never do the scriptures are perfectly x clear about that x so here's what the scriptures have to x say about those x Ecclesiastes I think we just read some x of this we're in x recently do not be Hasty in word or x impulsive in thought to bring up a x manner in the presence of God for God is x in heaven you on Earth and therefore let x your Words Be Few x another Passage x do you see a man who is Hasty in his x words there is more hope for a fool than x for him I like that I guess there have x been times when I've definitely been a x fool and in the New Testament Jesus says x very plainly do not take an oath by your x head you cannot make one hair white or x black let what you say be simply yes or x no anything more than this comes from x Evil so what he's saying is don't take x anything rash your words should be good x enough x at the Counterpoint to this is God has x made about us and that is a vow we can x absolutely Trust x he says in Hebrews again x lets us hold fast the confession of Our x Hope without wavering for he who x promised is faithful so God doesn't make x rash vows x and everything that God has promised us x will come to pass x so we place this up in this position x what did happen x was he actually planning this Human x Sacrifice or not x I think because if there was a faithful x man he was definitely aware of all the x Commandments the Lord has so strongly x conveyed in the law of Moses now I have x no doubt about that x human sacrifice was strictly forbidden I x quoted something earlier in here now x here's a few more insights I mean x there's this this is not something that x was hidden away it wasn't a minor point x it was one of the major reasons that God x wanted those Canaanites and amethysts oh x out of the land because they had x polluted with among other things human x sacrifice you shall not Worship the Lord x or God in that way every abominable x thing that the Lord hates they have done x for their gods they have even burnt x their sons and their daughters and fire x to their gods it I am this to me is just x them x it's beyond the lead they shall not be x found among you anyone who burns son or x daughter as an orphan anyone who x practiced divination or tells fortunes x or interprets Omens or a sorcerer x okay I cannot in any way x imagine such a Man chapter x sacrificing another Israelites forget x about his daughter I don't think anybody x who came out of the house was he going x to offer up for a human sacrifice x let alone his daughter x such as sacrifice and sure he knew that x it was not acceptable to God x and the Lord offering a burnt offering x he couldn't even offer burnt offering x anyway that only the high priest Phineas x could do that and I can't imagine Finney x is saying okay give me your daughter I'm x going to offer as a burnt offering that x wasn't that wasn't going to happen x so I the whole idea that he there was an x actual human sacrifice is x Preposterous now I want to point out x that as a community very early in our x our history this question came up x and it was written to the magazine 1875 x uh the person who answered it was JJ x Andrew by the way uh that uh who was a x very close assistant of Robert Robbins x at the time and he gives a very very x good explanation x um x um you can look it up on if you have the x disc or you have the access to the x crystal delphium back issues uh x he says that Hebrew Scholars have x scrutinized the texts this has resulted x that the word rended it in the last x Clause of The Vow May with perfect x propriety be rendered him x referring to the Lord x in other words not referring to a person x coming out of the door offering him up a x furnished offering which represents Jeff x that is promising either to devote the x living soul that he would meet him unto x the Lord or offer up a burnt offering in x its place x okay x and x the text also is is clear in another x respect that I think if we just read it x carefully and if those those people who x will x uh Christian and Jewish Scholars who had x access to the text would read carefully x it x she wasn't weeping because she was going x to die she was weeping for her virginity x to fulfill of how the father that made x she was never going to marry and to x spend her life devoted to the Lord and I x suggest that's a suggestion perhaps as x we find Anna doing in the New Testament x who never departed from the temple and x perhaps chapter's daughter went to dwell x at the Tabernacle on thus dedicating x ourselves to the Lord's service to the x rest of her life x and in this way in some sense x um x the progenity of x chapter passed away he was never to have x anyone to inherit anything from him x okay x um x verse 40 has also been given an x unfortunate interpretation two levels x first the word lament does not appear to x be the appropriate substitute for the x Hebrew word Tana x this word appears only once more in the x Old Testament and it does not mean in x that other x case lamentation here and it's probably x it's it is interpreted a different way x judges 5 and 11 in the authorized x version it says they rehearse or praise x the righteous acts of the Lord x so x rather than lament I believe that these x women went four days x to sit with x chapter's daughter who unfortunately is x not named and praise her x for her dedication to following out her x father's vow and that's what I think x literally happened x there was no lamentation here x it was a way of honoring her father's x vow and the young women came to support x her once a year x in her x in her case x but for jephthah this was a tragedy x it wasn't something he wanted to happen x because by making this vow and x dedicating his goddaughter to God's x service he would never have any heirs x and his name was blotted out of the x genealogy of Israel so in a sense x jephthah's history died x now I just want to point out a few x excitational points in the story of x chapter because whenever I kind of do x Bible study I like to think you know x what what does it mean to me how does it x help me live better today I'm not really x super keen and and it's one of the x reasons I enjoy always hearing um uh Jim x and Steve because anytime I listen to x them I know I'm going to get insight x that's going to help me to live today x no offense to anybody else because those x two stick in my mind on who I've heard x the most x but I I love to listen to them because I x know I'm going to get something that's x going to help me now not some x theoretical Bible Exposition which is x nice but it's not always encouraging and x I always remember when Paul started up x in the synagogue the first thing they x heard he said they said have you some x word of encouragement and I think that x that's an important point we ought to x remember when we give talks x the basis of our faith lies in x strengthening each other so what what x kind of excitational points do we get x here from from person he overcame his x past he had an absolutely terrible x upbringing I mean I'm very fortunate I x had a really good family uh a brother x that was very close to me my mom and dad x were just super people I married a woman x who's just incredible and I got x wonderful children and and my x daughter-in-laws are probably x um shoot me for this but I think pretty x much we've adopted them uh this is very x fortunate but this poor man did not he x was thrown out of the house of his birth x he was a vagabond for some time x scrounging for himself his brothers uh x weren't they weren't close to him at all x I just as soon see him dead x what else x do we have that type of faith when we're x in a crisis this crisis came about it x was most there were people who would x have thought of here's my here's my x chance to get even x that is not what chapter did not at all x as we've seen earlier in this talk x he took every case here to try to smooth x things over x uh he was a man of his word even though x it cost him personal hardship and I x think that's the biggest test and trial x for us is when we say we're going to do x something if it doesn't cost us anything x that's easy but if it costs us something x then we then we go well maybe not maybe x maybe I could do something else x we need to keep our promises even when x the course of doing something might x sometimes be painful for us inconvenient x hard work Financial liability whatever x it is x it's it's really easy to be a hero when x you don't cost when the cost is zero x his vowed though not as gruesome as some x would have us believe it was still a x rash vow and he should have thought of x all the possible consequences before x opening his mouth and that's something x that's stuck sticks a second line an x awful lot you know the years when I was x a dean of engineering I'd be really x careful what I said and when when the x newspapers interviewed me you had to be x doubly careful you had to think of the x consequences what you said even x sometimes something that seemed x innocuous get you in a lot of trouble x fortunately nowadays I don't have to x worry about this because almost nobody x pays any attention to me anyway x but x when we say something don't emphasize x this I've said it before in this talk x I'll probably say it again x don't just think of the immediate moment x think what happens down the line x and if if that is x the case and we have that foresight we x will be x pretty pretty in pretty good shape x okay x and lastly x finally the life of the Jeff there's a x powerful lesson for us when we think of x the Redemptive work of our Lord Jesus x Christ x we made a vow we make a vow to him and x our heavenly father when we get baptized x it should not been a be a reshmael x the one that we had wisely taken a vow x so beautifully phrased I love this hymn x 209 Jesus I have promised to serve thee x to the end x and by thy Grace to follow my master and x my friend it wasn't to serve thee when x convenient x to serve thee to the end x okay so thank you very much x for inviting me x give me about the two minute break I x need to get a good glass of water x running a little dry and I'll I'll be x back and meanwhile let's stop the share x what time oh not bad not bad I'll be x back x all right let's let's really talk about x what he you know let's really talk about x it x hello x yes go ahead Richard yeah I'm gonna wait x till everybody else say something x because I have the answer x of course you do I know 15 years ago x there was a class did on this I did some x praying about it and did it and I got it x all written down and I know it's the x correct answer x bold words uh I was gonna say I don't x think I've ever had the x Crickets Tell me the definition of the x God okay x huh x all right welcome back John we we just x solved all the work actually it's not x water it's San Pellegrino oh x so nice that's a great humble blood but x the questions comments improvements uh x if there's anything wrong with this x overheads let me know I do have this x talk it's the first time I've given this x talk but I probably will give it again x and if there's any mistakes or additions x or ideas I would be more than welcome x um x um I used to be perfect and then I had x children x I do have one question John if I know x okay hang on x thank you you asked you you raised the x question saying about who was who was x chapter expecting to come out the door x or what he was expecting to come out the x door Mary and I marry you still having x trouble with her x computer x you suggest okay what jephthah was x expecting to come out that door x okay I'm sorry I lost lost it for a x minute because Mary you do you wanna I x can't I I can only hear you out here x forget it I can't see anything but I can x read I can only hear you out there hear x them out here I can't oh I see okay x yeah apparently um computer x um did not have the um x the zoom installed and she did not did x not remember her own her password or her x computer name and the only person who x knows that who installed it from her is x Peter Bello and he is in Bangalore India x right now x so so x she's been I I put it on um put it on x the screen in there so she could hear x all of you and she's been hearing me x back there but it's it's been a little x tough for her we will get it fixed by x next week he's back Monday he's back x next Monday x so questions comments x on my questions x Peter is did you make anything oh John x I'm sorry did you make any suggestion as x to what gyppa was expecting to come out x that door x two any suggestion is I'm sorry to catch x the last part of that Jim x as to what jephthah was expecting to x come out the door x that was going home and it x um I think that I'm certainly don't x think he was thinking of an unclean x animal but he might have thought one of x his servants or one of the he has may x have had the partners in this a slave x that he was going to ask them to to help x him dedicate a sacrifice to God I mean I x think that's the simplest answer and in x spite of the fact that it was J.J Andrew x of course got very unpopular later I x think his answer in the Christopher x magazine over x 145 years ago was pretty good by the way x Jim he raised a good point because a lot x of christadelphians that I mentioned who x still think that I was a human sacrifice x when I pointed out the article they said x well it was JJ Andrews what did he know x wow x so I think yeah I think x it's likely a servant someone else that x he was intended to dedicate to God's x service x it's what was the old action gym x simplest acclimation is usually the best x one x true x yeah simple it's like yeah speak of the x simplest explanations there is a x feature of of he said that uh x makes us a whole lot simpler x um x when he's what he said was we talk about x his vow he actually vowed two different x things and this has to be x recognized in any explanation the first x part of his vow what he says whoever x whoever what it it's just the coming out x of my house x shall be the Lord's that is not a vow of x a sacrifice that's a vow of dedication x right and I will offer x the Hebrew gets a little odd but this x where Andrew's quote was was actually x correct it does not say I will offer it x as a or for burnt offering that prep is x lacking and what he meant was x I look good I'm gonna make a vow of x dedication and I will offer a burnt x offering x no never intended the and this is x exactly by the way repeated a few x chapters later in first Samuel when x Hannah offers Samuel uh to the Lord x shall be the Lord and say what happened x when he was dedicated you're given to x Eli and they offered a burnt offering x it's in first Samuel so there's the that x that to me is uh x there's really no mystery or I don't x even think it's necessarily a rash vow x except that yeah I think he was x expecting a servant or somebody to come x out that that didn't work but uh there's x he never intended to offer a person x himself x yeah David to the point that is is what x is so shocking when you start looking up x what what other Christian commentaries x even some of our own commentaries in our x community well it was a recent article x in the tidings where someone suggested x well he wasn't expecting his daughter to x come out because she would have been x back and towed and he didn't see he x didn't expect it to be admissible that x completely misses the point x okay the point is what you said and I x think what I've been trying to say is he x was making a vow of dedication he was x not making America and I I can x understand with a guy like Rick Richard x Dawkins who's a real big atheist but x when you start reading this in Adventist x Presbyterian Jewish commentaries you x wonder what in blazes are they thinking x now if you go back to erishine for x example he makes it very clear exactly x what you've been saying I've been saying x you know so that's pretty good x commentary x I think sometimes I think people dig in x dig into it because they want them they x want them to they want to put x they want people to lose trust in the x scriptures