A Problem...
With the Premise of the Promise
Reading through the Bible…Judges 11-12/Luke 6:1-26
…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 11:30-31 NIV)
There is a problem with the premise of Jepthah’s promise.
Jepthah promises to sacrifice whatever comes out of his house. The problem is that God doesn’t want him to do that.
Whatever comes out of Jephtah’s house to greet him has to be able to walk, right? He should have known that it would be one of his own family members who greets him when he comes back from war.
Jepthah promises a human sacrifice. God doesn’t want one. Mosaic Law explicitly forbids it:
You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. (Deuteronomy 12:31)
Jepthah promises God what God doesn’t want. Jepthah promises what God doesn’t need. Jesus picks up on this theme in his sermon on the mount.
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.[a] Matthew 5:34-37
God doesn’t want or need us to promise God a sacrifice of heaven or head. God owns everything anyway. When we are making a promise to God, a simple yes or no will suffice.
Writing…
Jepthah makes the wrong promise, based on the wrong premise. He assumes God wants him to sacrifice his only daughter. God doesn’t.
I wonder if our Secretary of Defense (War) makes a similar mistake. I wonder if he assumes that God wants him to sacrifice not only our daughters, but also our sons in war. I wonder if God doesn’t.
Heather Cox Richardson reports that last Wednesday Hegseth promises (in a prayer no less) “…overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy…”
This promise might make sense if his premise is that he would be doing what his commander-in-chief wants. However, Hegseth claims to be making his promise “with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ.”
Jepthah makes his promise to the Lord. Hegseth makes his promise to his self proclaimed Lord Jesus. Hegseth promises “overwhelming violent action against those who deserve no mercy” with the premise that Jesus want it.
Wrong promise (violent action). Wrong premise (that Jesus somehow approves of it).
As one who also claims Jesus as my Lord, I do not believe Jesus smiles on Hegseth’s promise of overwhelming and violent action. I don’t even think Jesus is all that fond of the President’s promise either:
The White House is standing by President Donald Trump’s threat to cripple the desalination infrastructure that supplies Iran’s population with drinking water and downplaying the possibility that bombing such civilian targets would constitute war crimes under both American criminal law and international treaties to which the U.S. is a party. (see link for source)
Again. Wrong promise. Wrong premise.
Building…
On July 5, 1980 I make a traditional for better or for worse promise to my late wife Jeannette. However, I preface my promise with a premise….
”With the assurance that God is calling us to walk together…I Jonathan take you Jeannette to be my wedded wife.”
I promise, Jeannette promises, based on the premise that God wants us love each other for the rest of our lives.
It’s not a bad way to start a marriage. It just might be an idea for how to stop a war.
It always amazes me that those who promise evil and destruction on others in the name of Jesus, never consider they are in the wrong and they will receive what they promise to do to others. Reminds me of Pharoah and his command to kill the male babies of the Jews. In the end he was punished by his own words of violence toward others.
On July 5, 1942 my father married my mother in St. Louis. Ten days later he shipped out to North Africa and wouldn’t return home until November of 1945.
I was born in September of the following year. Both of them kept their promises through the long years of war. Both felt it was good not to be alone in trying times, but both were physically alone just the same. But they started from a right premise and were faithful in their promises.
God honors premises and promises that follow His plan though it may take years to come to fruition.
Does God punish wrong premises and wrong promises? I think perhaps so. But I cannot pray for this to happen because broken promises always hurt more than the oath breaker. A lot of people will feel the pain. Much fewer will repent their actions that put an oath breaker in power.
Power is a dangerous thing to hand to anyone. It makes people more of what they already are.
And the pain tthose power brokers bring whether physical or spiritual will burn like fire and take a while to reveal to many that not all that glitters is gold.
Even so, Lord Jesus, come.