The Road to Child Sacrifice is Paved With Good Intentions
Fun fact, you shouldn't do everything you read in the Bible. There is some pretty messed up stuff in there!
This brings up an important question: How do I know if the Bible is telling me to do something (prescriptive) or if it is just describing something that happened (descriptive)? Let's talk about it and delve into some big no-nos found in scripture.
Passage: Judges 11:29-40
The Short Story:
Deep cut.
Jephthah was filled with the Spirit of the Lord. He made a vow before God that he would kill whatever came out of his home first as a sacrifice to the Lord. 🗡️
When he got home his daughter came out of the house to greet him. He went through with the sacrifice.
WHAT?! 😦
The main question to ask ourselves after a story like this:
After reading passages such as this, we must ask ourselves is the passage I’m reading prescriptive or descriptive?
Thinking it through:
Don’t be scared when you’re coming to a book like Judges! It can feel uncomfortable when good people do bad things and bad people do good things. It’s a topsy-turvey world!
Context is king! Remember where the whole situation of Judges began: God warned his people to not marry the people of the land and not intermingle with them. Drive them out because then His people will be like them and serve their gods. But the Israelites didn’t obey. 👎
God raised up judges that freed the Israelites from their oppressors. The oppressors that God had brought on Israel because of its sin! What grace!
Clearly Quotable: “God did not have to raise up a judge! …In his kindness, in his mercy, He’s still saving the Israelites.” - Kelly
Bless his heart, Jephthah was well-intentioned. Paul refers to this idea as “zeal without knowledge” (Romans 10:2). And so, Jephthah bounces back and forth between good and dumb. One minute he does a good act for the Lord. The next, he’s making a vow that clearly goes against God’s law. He’s excited but he doesn’t know what’s right from wrong.
Jephthah’s daughter asked to grieve her virginity… What is that about? Is it about not sleeping with anyone? Not having experienced sex? This is definitely more than that. Marriage is so much more… It’s companionship, land ownership, legacy, and more!
What a tragic, unnecessary loss of life when Jephthah goes through with the sacrifice. Wow. Kelly pointed out that we can easily lose our sensitivity to Christ’s death on the cross because we talk about it so much. But then these types of passages stir up our emotions over tragedy.
Gratitude mixed with grief. A horrific awe.
This passage is so difficult because we don’t see a direct answer to what God thinks about all of this☝️! But the whole book of Judges gives a feeling of unraveling. 🧶
Israel was a united nation but then unraveled into some terrible things by the end of Judges.
Yet, this is why Jesus had to come to earth, live a perfect life, be beaten and tortured by evil people, horrifically die on the cross, and then ROSE FROM THE GRAVE three days later! Hallelujah!
Application questions:
Jimmy advises us to ask ourselves is the thing I’m reading prescriptive or descriptive?
What does prescriptive mean?
What does descriptive mean?
Judges is a warning of what life looks like when we become a law unto ourselves and when we allow ourselves to be conformed to this world. Take a moment to consider if there are ways that you’ve allowed the world to influence your worship, daily life, and priorities in life.
God holds us accountable for ‘unknown’ sins. God is that pure and cannot tolerate any sin. This isn’t to scare us! We’re all sinners and will be until we die. But every sin has already been paid for with Christ’s death on the cross. Ask God to reveal to you any ‘unknown’ sins in your life.
If you’re unsure about what this means and would like to learn more, read this blogpost by Kelly.
We couldn’t answer every question about this passage but we certainly hope that we helped! Want to ask more questions? Email question@clearlypodcast.com.
Additional resources:
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Read here on why repentance should be proactive.
If this episode made you think, we encourage you to read “God is Unfair” by Kelly. Working through Matthew 20, Kelly guides us to see just how lovingly unfair God is toward us, sinners.
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