Do you see a man who speaks in haste? Proverbs 29:20
We can’t always speak our mind and spew forth our thoughts to the world. Oh, we can technically; but there are always unintended consequences. There is an example of a man in the Bible who spoke in haste and caused horrific pain and suffering to both himself and others. He felt the need to speak his mind and now it’s recorded for future generations to learn from.
“And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” Judges 11:30
When he returned from the battle with a big victory, what do you suppose came out of the door to his house to meet him? If he lived in a barn, a ram or a sheep may wander out to meet him. But Jephthah lived in a modest house like others in his town. What came out to greet him was his daughter! His only daughter! When he told her about his vow to the Lord, both of them were brokenhearted. Both of them had to wonder—why would he do such a thing?
What happened, only God knows. There are two opinions on what occurred. One theory is that his daughter was simply dedicated to the service of God. Another theory is that he killed his daughter according to the Canaanite practices which Jephthah embraced. Regardless of what Jephthah had in mind when he made the vow, did he or did he not sacrifice his daughter? Looking further into this, some think he did and some think he did not. An important question to ask oneself is ‘Would God ever honor such a vow based on such a wicked practice’? If we look a few verses later at Judges 11:39, we see that that she never married, NOT that she died, possibly implying that she was set apart for service to God, not killed? What do you think happened?
Bottom line: All this misery could have been avoided by a little meditation and a quiet moment of reflection.
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