Jephthah the Faithful

Original URL   Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Transcript

yeah so tonight I want to talk about Jeff the the faithful a man that sacrificed his daughter or did he I I think

um this is probably one of those

incidents in Scripture that

non-believers

agnostics atheists they love to Chomp on this to show that the scriptures uh and the and in general the god of Israel was a evil God that he really required human sacrifice and that in spite of all the protestations against it uh this poor lady ended up being sacrificed at the whim of her father and of course in the in the in the Middle East uh human sacrifice was actually quite common um the Canaanites this is a kind of an image of one of the Canaanite Gods with its babies were put up in fact in in archaeologists have found in in some uh diggings in cities in the in the land of Israel that uh Canaanites some canaanized cities that they would find buried beneath the city walls the gates uh human sacrifices usually usually small children and they burn their children now

it's quite clear that God did not allow this this is not something that

ever would have been acceptable to God he he considered it Abomination it wasn't just the Canaanites uh it was um the amalekites the mobites and they in general thought that somehow

the way to gain the God's favor was to

emulify him to to say I'm giving up everything to you my children uh and this was a horrible practice

and but what happened in spite of everything God said I only quoted one particular verse here but but um you know um the the

there are so many admonitions in Deuteronomy and so on the Jews should not do such a thing and yet they ended up doing it

Jeremiah 19 and 5 is a classical uh story why um God was so dissatisfied with them that they adopted these Pagan practices thinking that somehow they had to appease God

he says they have built also the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal which I command did not nor spake it neither came it into my mind so not only did God tell them not to do it he said God says I never even would have thought of such a thing now I don't know about you but any parent has kids there were times you want to you know

kids aren't behaving too well but I would never have thought of burning my children and sacrificing them if I the thought would never have even entered my mind in fact Mary and I have actually had a pretty strict thing that we uh we have we never actually ever used any corporal punishment on our children denial of things they wanted to do was a much more effective way of reigning in excess than trying to use physical punishment because I believe physical punishment only encourages repeat physical punishment with the when the child grows and we didn't want to do that now if you disagree with me you know this spare the rod spoil the child and all that stuff but I'm going to tell you that in an Agricultural Society the rod of shepherds wasn't used to beat the Sheep it was used to nudge them and guide them and I really think that that was what was meant there and not brutalize them anyway that's a side point so what was the story here

um let's go to the next slide

so jephthah the faithful he was a man that sacrificed his daughter supposedly and and this has been wrestled uh by uh atheists it's been wrestled by Christian even Jews and a lot of sites that I looked at and talking to some Hebrew Scholars it's nice to have those kind of people around a university town I actually believe that jephthah's daughter was offered as a burnt offering

hmm

I I think we need to look at this very carefully because I think there's a a lot of lessons in this story so uh I would ask somebody I can't see the full screen on my computer but I would ask somebody if you would please read uh these verses in judges 11 12 verses 30 31 34 and 35 so we're all on the same page uh I'll I'll take that John and Jeff though unto the Lord and said if Thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house

yeah go ahead I'm sorry to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon shall surely be the Lords and I will offer it up for a burnt offering and jephthah came to mizpah unto his house and behold his daughter came out to meet him with timbrose and with dances and she was his only child beside her he had neither son nor daughter and it came to pass when he saw her that he rent his clothes and said alas my daughter thou has brought me very low and thou art one of them that trouble me for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot go back

Okay so that's that's the heart of this whole story he makes a vow and he says I got to keep it even to the length of

supposedly sacrificing his only child as a burnt offering now I want to read you a few Jewish sources this is taken from the Encyclopedia of Jewish Women it's a kind of standard Source that's used used today to dealing with the women's issues in in Judaism and their view on chapter some Jewish literary sources have severe criticism of jephthah but naturally without any reference to what's he in Hebrews in the New Testament Egypt is depicted as haughty and arrogant making inappropriate and Reckless vow after a military victory

despite his daughter's shrewd arguments her father nevertheless goes through with this vow to offer her to God and slays her every year since the daughters of Israel would weep or for four days over jephthah's daughter okay by every year I assume that was um until the uh the Romans destroyed the Jewish state

um they actually in recent years and about the last 20 years or a woman Rabbi has tried to resurrect this this uh this tradition of uh weeping and putting aside four days of the year for women and she's connected it to the metoo movement uh that uh that obviously egyptus daughter was an abused woman being sacrificed and and some synagogues do have

um a Revival of this ceremony

Okay Christian sources I I don't think have done much better and and I I found a number of them but the one that it that I'm going to show you is is a sampling pretty typical of some Christian sources and and this is particularly disturbing one because I think it's from a group that actually shouldn't have in my mind at least a fairly good knowledge of the scriptures so it was a little surprised at it so the inclusion of jephthah in this well-known chapter on Heroes of the faith has puzzled many Christian Bible scholars so I'm going to quote This One Source but it's really fairly typical of what I was able to find

and here it is

the inclusion of jephthah in this well-known chapter on Heroes of the faith has puzzled many Christian Bible scholars and he is the source chapter a prostitute son leading a gang in criminal Behavior would not seem to be a likely candidate for God to use in his service certainly some better candidates must have been available furthermore jephthah appears to vow to offer human sacrifice and to follow through with it in the light of these facts one might be tempted to wonder if the author of Hebrews was in his right mind to list jephthah as a hero of the fate and this is from Stephen Bauer President of the Adventist theological Messiah and usually the Juventus of if they use if the much better Bible scholars than on the average from what you find in in protestantism so I I was a little uh Chagrin to read this and what I when I put there in red is really startling he actually accuses the author of Hebrews of not being in his right mind hmm

well with it without arguing who the author of Hebrews was and that's that a mute point and a side issue I I cannot believe that anyone inspired by the Holy Spirit would write something that was not a god approved and I'm a little shocked that that a Christian from a group that is fairly decent Bible scholars would even make that kind of comment but it makes me think uh I have run into christadelphians who actually believe that she was offered as a burnt sacrifice and that that was just uh something that you know if you make a vow you got to keep that vow regardless of the consequences well that simply is not the case as we will see as we go along here and here's the passage that um Mr Bauer thought was uh out of his mind and I'm sure we I'm sure we're all familiar with it and I I know when I've read Hebrews every once in a while there are they're actually a fair number of characters mentioned in Hebrews and I I actually have a great Bible class on Hebrews 11 which is counter counter to the normal I don't really think Hebrews 11 is about heroes of the faith

because a lot of the heroes of the faith are not really mentioned there

every one of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews is is a it's a flawed character and I think what he was 11 is telling us in spite of everything if you do the best you can God loves you and you're a hero and and I think that's what's true with jephthah he made a rash vow but I don't believe he carried it out in the way people think he did and so what does he say what more shall I say but the time would fail me to tell of Gideon well Gideon was a man who wouldn't even go to war unless he had a woman backing him up not the most um not the most auspicious way to be a military leader a Barrack Samson Samson did some terrible things he's another one who ran after prostitutes and other things chapter got David and we know about David uh his um his uh dalliance and we know of

um uh

of many others Samuel was probably the only one we can say here is actually a person who was actually uh from what we know in the scriptures who was without full

but through faith character kingdoms etc etc

okay so I don't think we need to consider views from either the Jewish or Krishna perspective as being even part of the story I think we can all agree that the author of Hebrews was certainly in his right mind when he inspired by the spirit and he wisely wrote what he did now if anybody he does not agree with that save it until the end of the class but but I I doubt that any Christadelphian would

um doubt doubt that the author of Hebrews didn't know what he was talking about and it is a little shocking to hear that uh from any Christian all right so the question is

why is chapter included among the heroes of the faith and what lessons can we learn from that inclusion that's the bottom line when God points this man out as a hero of the faith it's our duty to reason really dig in dig in deep and say well why is that so not to gloss over this story but to dig deeply and find out what why is this man here uh

power advances said well he should have chosen somebody else well that's not so God chose he chose jepta and God knows what he was doing so let's see how this plays out as we examine her first

chipta had a miserable life I mean um

I you almost have to feel sorry for what he went through uh his father Gilead was um not a good man uh he uh went off and had a chapter via a prostitute and that's a stigma that few people in life can live down

but he did take him into his household but he even though he was the eldest and he was the very first son he was never ever

in line for the inheritance so he ends up being driven out by his half-brothers because they weren't going to take any chance of him claiming that he was the eldest and first son and we don't know if these half brothers were all by one woman they may not have been by one woman either but if apparently they were all from a mother who was legitimately married to Gilead

and then

it's interesting Judges chapter 11 verses 6 and 7 are particularly interesting he says he it makes it evident among the Elders of Israel must have been a cager of half-brothers that had treated him so badly in the past so when they called them in and they needed his help his half-brothers were there too and and they must have been pleading with them and but he says did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house

now at that point I don't know chapter must have had a very strong will to do God's will because I I'm not sure I would show up and uh my if my brothers had treated me so badly and I'm very fortunate my brother my brother and I were always very close and there was never a time uh when James and I did not sort of resonate together and it's one of the saddest moments of my life is that I was talking to him on the Saturday and he said he was going to come out and see me and he was even thinking of moving to Ann Arbor because it was a lot cheaper than living in New York I don't need to find out four days later that he had been killed in a boating accident definitely one of the saddest moments that you can uh that you can spend so

he kind of forgives them he lets him get away with it I'm actually pretty surprised that he did not um you know did not request more so

they no doubt wanted to make sure that even though he was the eldest son they didn't want to have no part in The Inheritance so they weren't going to take a chance at him right and that's why they pushed him out of the house

and then what it what happens he ends up in Tobe which is a relatively Barren area he believed to be southeast of the Sea of Galilee and he links up with what the NIV called Scoundrels a worthless man or something

I'm not sure that that's quite

twist on it because there is some Jewish commentaries that say he ended up with a bunch of outcasts so they may not necessarily have been robbers and criminals but they may have been a group of women that had a scrounge for themselves so um when the the Adventist said that he ended up with a Criminal Grant that's criminal was not actually implied in that text

um this gang of Scoundrels as it says in NIV uh could easily have be interpreted as a gang of outcasts

there certainly is no record in scripture of them doing anything evil with this gang they don't say he was robbing this or robbing that or hurting his fellow Jews so

okay

what happens

so he proceeds in a way that hardly seems the action of a scoundrel he tells the elders if you bring me home again to fight against the ammonites he says and the Lord notice this the Lord gives them over to me I will be your head he he doesn't give even the slightest hint of Pride that is something that he was going to do

and this is not the action of a scoundrel this is the action of a faithful person

and it's very remarkable we see again and again in The Narrative of jephthah his in his absolute dependence on the Lord there's never any doubt in his mind that that's where

Victory will come not from me personally

and so he reiterates a number of things he he actually forgives his half-brothers

and goes ahead and does it um there's no record of him asking for an apology there's no record of him asking for recriminations and I don't think the scriptures would have overlooked that I think there's a count on jephthah is in fact very very detailed

and then

the important does he ask for Sheriff's father's inheritance he could have said well I'll you know I'll do this and everything you know you guys but I want back what's mine no

he doesn't say that either and I think this is kind of lesson that I've learned a long time ago it's almost as important to pay attention when you're reading something and studying something not only to what is said but what is not said

so there's there's no ego in his

attempt to save Israel

he puts everything on Yahweh

and something by inference we see we consider the Elders of Israel or the Gilead apparently I had not done that they rushed to find a champion there's no indication of them all asking for a prophet or saying you know we have to rely on God

um I think by your friends uh the Elders of Gilead

uh were looking for a person to be a savior and they knew that he was a strong leader and uh apparently he must have been very physically fit and uh um their knowledge of his ability was pretty high so he he shows and this this is probably the biggest key in verse 11. japta shows his faithful confidence in the Lord when he accepts the commission without it without any

without any goodies or anything else that he attaches to it from them

he never says when I come back I want you know I want 150 000 or I want my inheritance back how about 50 donkeys or and I'm not necessarily positive if that were the case something would have been mentioned

and he spoke all his words before the Lord at misfa so again it emphasizes have jeptus trust in God and that's it was exceptional so let's take a little further look into his character because this this um passage in Hebrews is very Justified and I don't think we should ever skip it and so what does he start out to do you know he he doesn't even try to gather everybody together and say okay the Lord's with us let's attack them instead he he tries to negotiate a peaceful settlement

what did that happen in Wars nowadays wouldn't it

peaceful settlements are sometimes the last thing politicians think of and I think sometimes even when we have disputes in our own Community instead of looking for a peaceful way we look for ways for confrontation

but I won't go into that any more than that or I think I'll be upset and you'll be upset so instead of threats and plans for immediate attack he tries to settle the differences between the Israelites and the ammonites by trying to negotiate a settlement without resorting to Bloodshed he reminds the ammonites of the relations they enjoyed for over 300 years and tells them why you're not willing to undo that and go to water settle a grievance that should long ago have been forgotten yeah that's something that I think a lesson that I think is well placed upon us

don't Harbor grievances

you know

when you Harbor grievance

you don't only damage your enemy you damage yourself

forgiveness is one of the key first principles I know it's not a statement of faith but forgiveness is a first principle it is in fact the only thing that the Lord Jesus Christ expands on when he teaches us how to pray he says he's not going to forgive us if we don't forgive others

if that is in first principle I don't know what it is and I think too often we don't bear that in mind we we ask fathers to forgive us but we're really slow when it comes to forgiveness on our part and I'm probably as guilty as anybody

okay so I want to go through this rack of his

Faith demonstrated there is there's no question in my mind that the scriptures here are in effect outlining in the Old Testament every single reason why he ended up

in Hebrews being one of the heroes of the faith and if he's a hero of the faith then he's somebody we need to emulate

okay in verse 27 he says we see jephthah's faith in the Lord and his own strength he says if the ammonites would not listen Jeb to trusted that the Lord would have Israel prevail

he says the Lord the judge decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon again he puts throws this all into the hands of his faith that he had in God and when the ammonites refused to make peace we find that he says that the spirit of the Lord was upon jebeddah not his own strength

it was for the testimony of his steadfed face that the Lord would deliver Israel's enemies into his hands

now we come to the to the story and the focus of this this class

um I took this title from my ESV

digital Bible it heads up this section by saying jephthah's tragic vow well I think it was tragic but I do not think it was fatal no excuse me erase that I know it was not fatal and I'm sure that

you you you don't feel that way already you will when I'm finished all right so let's see what this vowel was

Helen

uh what follows is one of the most uh

curious scenarios and scriptures

um and uh

it is often used to illustrate

that you should keep your mouth shut not make any vows as Solomon a more or less says in Ecclesiastes

I have no doubt that this was tragic but not fatal

okay so we'll just leave that there for a second okay

and here's what it says here's the vow and jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said if you will give the ammonites into my hand and whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the ammonites shall be the Lords and I will offer it up for a burnt offering now notice I used to I know use the word it there because that is I believe the the correct literal translation of that verse

so rash vows well it's probably not a good idea to make rash vows

um

I I guess I've made one or two on my lifetime and have lived to regret it

um descriptions are pretty clear that before you open your mouth and vow something you better think not only of the moment but the consequences for the future and and I want to bear that in mind because that's something that always has troubled me myself when you say something you need to think of not only what the immediate respect but we'll come back to haunt you next year or the year after the other 10 years from now and and I think sometimes the biggest mistake that we make and getting ourselves in trouble is with the immediate decision was okay but we didn't really think about the long-range consequences of something we've said so let's see what happens here okay uh his vow was rash

and what was he thinking uh he couldn't possibly know

well what was going to happen what did he expect was coming out of the door of his house when he returned if it was any man or woman did he really intend to burn them alive as a sacrifice to the Lord

I don't think so I don't think that what happens yes it was ignorant of all those admonitions we read earlier in this class in Deuteronomy in fact I only cited a few for example but there were a couple of dozen verses over and over again God's saying he hates human sacrifice it was one of the reasons he wanted to push those people out of the land because they had desecrated it with this evil

if it was a domestic animal that would have come out uh it's unlikely that it would have been clean and that wouldn't have been an acceptable sacrifice anyway and we also have to ask us something but did he keep animals living in his house anyway that was not usual

so what was he thinking was he really thinking it would be a human being and I'll offer him or be an unclean animal and Law Firm I don't think it was any of that

so critical to us to think about regardless of the outcome and which would talk talk about more making rash vows is something we should never do the scriptures are perfectly clear about that

so here's what the scriptures have to say about those Ecclesiastes I think we just read some of this we're in recently do not be Hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a manner in the presence of God for God is in heaven you on Earth and therefore let your Words Be Few

another Passage

do you see a man who is Hasty in his words there is more hope for a fool than for him I like that I guess there have been times when I've definitely been a fool and in the New Testament Jesus says very plainly do not take an oath by your head you cannot make one hair white or black let what you say be simply yes or no anything more than this comes from Evil so what he's saying is don't take anything rash your words should be good enough

at the Counterpoint to this is God has made about us and that is a vow we can absolutely Trust

he says in Hebrews again lets us hold fast the confession of Our Hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful so God doesn't make rash vows

and everything that God has promised us will come to pass

so we place this up in this position what did happen was he actually planning this Human Sacrifice or not I think because if there was a faithful man he was definitely aware of all the Commandments the Lord has so strongly conveyed in the law of Moses now I have no doubt about that

human sacrifice was strictly forbidden I quoted something earlier in here now here's a few more insights I mean there's this this is not something that was hidden away it wasn't a minor point it was one of the major reasons that God wanted those Canaanites and amethysts oh out of the land because they had polluted with among other things human sacrifice you shall not Worship the Lord or God in that way every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods they have even burnt their sons and their daughters and fire to their gods it I am this to me is just them it's beyond the lead they shall not be found among you anyone who burns son or daughter as an orphan anyone who practiced divination or tells fortunes or interprets Omens or a sorcerer okay I cannot in any way imagine such a Man chapter

sacrificing another Israelites forget about his daughter I don't think anybody who came out of the house was he going to offer up for a human sacrifice

let alone his daughter such as sacrifice and sure he knew that it was not acceptable to God and the Lord offering a burnt offering he couldn't even offer burnt offering anyway that only the high priest Phineas could do that and I can't imagine Finney is saying okay give me your daughter I'm going to offer as a burnt offering that wasn't that wasn't going to happen so I the whole idea that he there was an actual human sacrifice is Preposterous now I want to point out that as a community very early in our our history this question came up and it was written to the magazine 1875 uh the person who answered it was JJ Andrew by the way uh that uh who was a very close assistant of Robert Robbins at the time and he gives a very very good explanation

um

um you can look it up on if you have the disc or you have the access to the crystal delphium back issues uh

he says that Hebrew Scholars have scrutinized the texts this has resulted that the word rended it in the last Clause of The Vow May with perfect propriety be rendered him referring to the Lord

in other words not referring to a person coming out of the door offering him up a furnished offering which represents Jeff that is promising either to devote the living soul that he would meet him unto the Lord or offer up a burnt offering in its place

okay

and

the text also is is clear in another respect that I think if we just read it carefully and if those those people who will

uh Christian and Jewish Scholars who had access to the text would read carefully it

she wasn't weeping because she was going to die she was weeping for her virginity

to fulfill of how the father that made she was never going to marry and to spend her life devoted to the Lord and I suggest that's a suggestion perhaps as we find Anna doing in the New Testament who never departed from the temple and perhaps chapter's daughter went to dwell at the Tabernacle on thus dedicating ourselves to the Lord's service to the rest of her life and in this way in some sense um the progenity of

chapter passed away he was never to have anyone to inherit anything from him

okay

um verse 40 has also been given an unfortunate interpretation two levels first the word lament does not appear to be the appropriate substitute for the Hebrew word Tana

this word appears only once more in the Old Testament and it does not mean in that other

case lamentation here and it's probably it's it is interpreted a different way judges 5 and 11 in the authorized version it says they rehearse or praise the righteous acts of the Lord

so

rather than lament I believe that these women went four days to sit with

chapter's daughter who unfortunately is not named and praise her for her dedication to following out her father's vow and that's what I think literally happened there was no lamentation here

it was a way of honoring her father's vow and the young women came to support her once a year in her in her case

but for jephthah this was a tragedy it wasn't something he wanted to happen because by making this vow and dedicating his goddaughter to God's service he would never have any heirs and his name was blotted out of the genealogy of Israel so in a sense jephthah's history died

now I just want to point out a few excitational points in the story of chapter because whenever I kind of do Bible study I like to think you know what what does it mean to me how does it help me live better today I'm not really super keen and and it's one of the reasons I enjoy always hearing um uh Jim and Steve because anytime I listen to them I know I'm going to get insight that's going to help me to live today no offense to anybody else because those two stick in my mind on who I've heard the most but I I love to listen to them because I know I'm going to get something that's going to help me now not some theoretical Bible Exposition which is nice but it's not always encouraging and I always remember when Paul started up in the synagogue the first thing they heard he said they said have you some word of encouragement and I think that that's an important point we ought to remember when we give talks

the basis of our faith lies in strengthening each other so what what kind of excitational points do we get here from from person he overcame his past he had an absolutely terrible upbringing I mean I'm very fortunate I had a really good family uh a brother that was very close to me my mom and dad were just super people I married a woman who's just incredible and I got wonderful children and and my daughter-in-laws are probably

um shoot me for this but I think pretty much we've adopted them uh this is very fortunate but this poor man did not he was thrown out of the house of his birth he was a vagabond for some time scrounging for himself his brothers uh

weren't they weren't close to him at all I just as soon see him dead

what else do we have that type of faith when we're in a crisis this crisis came about it was most there were people who would have thought of here's my here's my chance to get even

that is not what chapter did not at all as we've seen earlier in this talk he took every case here to try to smooth things over uh he was a man of his word even though it cost him personal hardship and I think that's the biggest test and trial for us is when we say we're going to do something if it doesn't cost us anything that's easy but if it costs us something then we then we go well maybe not maybe maybe I could do something else

we need to keep our promises even when the course of doing something might sometimes be painful for us inconvenient hard work Financial liability whatever it is

it's it's really easy to be a hero when you don't cost when the cost is zero

his vowed though not as gruesome as some would have us believe it was still a rash vow and he should have thought of all the possible consequences before opening his mouth and that's something that's stuck sticks a second line an awful lot you know the years when I was a dean of engineering I'd be really careful what I said and when when the newspapers interviewed me you had to be doubly careful you had to think of the consequences what you said even sometimes something that seemed innocuous get you in a lot of trouble

fortunately nowadays I don't have to worry about this because almost nobody pays any attention to me anyway but

when we say something don't emphasize this I've said it before in this talk I'll probably say it again don't just think of the immediate moment think what happens down the line and if if that is

the case and we have that foresight we will be pretty pretty in pretty good shape

okay

and lastly finally the life of the Jeff there's a powerful lesson for us when we think of the Redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ we made a vow we make a vow to him and our heavenly father when we get baptized it should not been a be a reshmael the one that we had wisely taken a vow so beautifully phrased I love this hymn 209 Jesus I have promised to serve thee to the end and by thy Grace to follow my master and my friend it wasn't to serve thee when convenient

to serve thee to the end

okay so thank you very much for inviting me give me about the two minute break I need to get a good glass of water running a little dry and I'll I'll be back and meanwhile let's stop the share

what time oh not bad not bad I'll be back

all right let's let's really talk about what he you know let's really talk about it

hello

yes go ahead Richard yeah I'm gonna wait till everybody else say something because I have the answer

of course you do I know 15 years ago there was a class did on this I did some praying about it and did it and I got it all written down and I know it's the correct answer

bold words uh I was gonna say I don't think I've ever had the Crickets Tell me the definition of the God okay

huh

all right welcome back John we we just solved all the work actually it's not water it's San Pellegrino oh

so nice that's a great humble blood but the questions comments improvements uh if there's anything wrong with this overheads let me know I do have this talk it's the first time I've given this talk but I probably will give it again and if there's any mistakes or additions or ideas I would be more than welcome um

um I used to be perfect and then I had children

I do have one question John if I know okay hang on thank you you asked you you raised the question saying about who was who was chapter expecting to come out the door or what he was expecting to come out the door Mary and I marry you still having trouble with her

computer

you suggest okay what jephthah was expecting to come out that door

okay I'm sorry I lost lost it for a minute because Mary you do you wanna I can't I I can only hear you out here forget it I can't see anything but I can read I can only hear you out there hear them out here I can't oh I see okay yeah apparently um computer

um did not have the um the zoom installed and she did not did not remember her own her password or her computer name and the only person who knows that who installed it from her is Peter Bello and he is in Bangalore India right now so so

she's been I I put it on um put it on the screen in there so she could hear all of you and she's been hearing me back there but it's it's been a little tough for her we will get it fixed by next week he's back Monday he's back next Monday

so questions comments

on my questions Peter is did you make anything oh John I'm sorry did you make any suggestion as to what gyppa was expecting to come out that door

two any suggestion is I'm sorry to catch the last part of that Jim

as to what jephthah was expecting to come out the door

that was going home and it

um I think that I'm certainly don't think he was thinking of an unclean animal but he might have thought one of his servants or one of the he has may have had the partners in this a slave that he was going to ask them to to help him dedicate a sacrifice to God I mean I think that's the simplest answer and in spite of the fact that it was J.J Andrew of course got very unpopular later I think his answer in the Christopher magazine over 145 years ago was pretty good by the way Jim he raised a good point because a lot of christadelphians that I mentioned who still think that I was a human sacrifice when I pointed out the article they said well it was JJ Andrews what did he know

wow

so I think yeah I think it's likely a servant someone else that he was intended to dedicate to God's service

it's what was the old action gym simplest acclimation is usually the best one true

yeah simple it's like yeah speak of the simplest explanations there is a feature of of he said that uh makes us a whole lot simpler

um

when he's what he said was we talk about his vow he actually vowed two different things and this has to be

recognized in any explanation the first part of his vow what he says whoever whoever what it it's just the coming out of my house

shall be the Lord's that is not a vow of a sacrifice that's a vow of dedication right and I will offer the Hebrew gets a little odd but this where Andrew's quote was was actually correct it does not say I will offer it as a or for burnt offering that prep is lacking and what he meant was I look good I'm gonna make a vow of dedication and I will offer a burnt offering no never intended the and this is exactly by the way repeated a few chapters later in first Samuel when Hannah offers Samuel uh to the Lord shall be the Lord and say what happened when he was dedicated you're given to Eli and they offered a burnt offering it's in first Samuel so there's the that that to me is uh there's really no mystery or I don't even think it's necessarily a rash vow except that yeah I think he was expecting a servant or somebody to come out that that didn't work but uh there's he never intended to offer a person himself

yeah David to the point that is is what is so shocking when you start looking up what what other Christian commentaries even some of our own commentaries in our community well it was a recent article in the tidings where someone suggested well he wasn't expecting his daughter to come out because she would have been back and towed and he didn't see he didn't expect it to be admissible that completely misses the point okay the point is what you said and I think what I've been trying to say is he was making a vow of dedication he was not making America and I I can understand with a guy like Rick Richard Dawkins who's a real big atheist but when you start reading this in Adventist Presbyterian Jewish commentaries you wonder what in blazes are they thinking now if you go back to erishine for example he makes it very clear exactly what you've been saying I've been saying you know so that's pretty good commentary

I think sometimes I think people dig in dig into it because they want them they want them to they want to put they want people to lose trust in the scriptures