Thank you for joining us! If you like our content, please consider hitting the like button and share the video with others. To get notifications when we post more videos, click on the bell icon and select "all". To go directly to the beginning of the sermon, use this link: 0:16:05

The God You May Not Know
Judges 11:29-12:7
Pastor Marv, Grace Bible Church
6-28-20

One of Pastor David Jeremiah’s most recent books is entitled The God You May Not Know. While it sounds like a book written for those who have not come to know Christ, the fact is that it was written primarily for those who have…but who have misconceptions or misunderstandings about what God is like. Today, we’ll see a similar thing in the life of Jephthah…the misfit, social outcast, man of violence…whom God chose to be the next judge/deliverer in Israel. With God’s Spirit resting on him, he won a decisive victory over the wicked Ammonites, who had oppressed Israel for 18 years. But his story closes with two episodes that show that he had a lot to learn about God. Let’s take a look…

The Terrible Vow He Made (11:29-40)

• Vows to God were not only permitted but encouraged in the Old Testament law. See, for example the Nazirite vow in Numbers 6. Committing oneself to a ministry or task to which God has called us for a time is a good thing. But Jephthah’s vow did not originate with God and certainly didn’t follow God’s standards.

• The battle and the details of the vow...verses 29-33…



• The fulfillment of the vow…verses 34-40…


• This is a debated event. Scholars line up under two views of what Jephthah did. Either he sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering…or he committed her to a life of service to LORD in which she would never marry or have a family.

Notes…


• Regardless of which view one takes, the bigger issue in the story was Jephthah’s view of God.


The Terrible Violence He Showed (12:1-6)

• A conflict with Ephraim…again?



• Failed negotiations…and a battle (verses 1-4)…




• The terrible violence afterward, or, Can you say “Shibboleth” (verses 5-6)?