Judges 11

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions. This morning we are at Judges chapter 11. We're going to talk about an interesting fellow. His name is Jeepa. Jeepa. Yep. Uh let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll figure out who this Jeepa dude is. And no, I don't want any coffee. Even if you were going to offer it to me. Maybe I wasn't going to offer it to you. No, I'm going to take it. Okay. Well, let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for this day. Thank you for the opportunity we have by your spirit and because of your grace to read your word. Lord, we pray that as we read that we would understand it. We pray that your Holy Spirit would enlighten our eyes but also soften our hearts. Lord, that we would not just understand it intellectually, but that we would learn how to live it in our hearts. Father, teach us, correct us, reprove us, and train us in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, here we go. Judges chapter 11. Oh, you didn't have your Bible opened. Oh, you're way behind, man. I'm way past Judges chapter 8. We're at Judges chapter 11. All right. So, we'll go paragraph by paragraph. Okay. So, you'll read. I'll ask you what it's about and I'll read and we'll ask what it's about and back and forth. All right. So, you can start. Now, Jeepa Gill was many man, but he was the son of a Holland and Gideon Gilead begott Gilead's wife. Gilead's wife son. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jeepa out and said to him, "You shall have no inheritance in our father's house, but you are the son of another woman." Then Jeepa fled from his brother and dwelt in the land of Tob and Was men banded together with Jeba and went reading with him. All right. So, uh, Jeba is a Gileadite, right? So Gilead is on the other side of the Jordan. And what's the background history of this guy? Um his Right. So that would be his father. So his father then some stuff he wasn't supposed to. Yeah. He sleeps with a Harley right across from And then they have Jeepa. Mhm. And then he gets married. But then the other sons say, "No, you can't." All right. Yeah. So, you're not gonna get nothing. Yeah. So, the brothers drive him out, right? All right. And so, uh he and he gets all these worthless men. I got You weren't in here for chapter 8, but this was the same or chapter nine. Sorry. But this is the same thing that Aimilec did. Did David do assemble? Well, David didn't assemble worthless men. But yeah, people came together to behind David. here like a bec before him. Now worthless men are kind of gathering together. Okay, so here we go. It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. And so it was when the people of Ammon made war against Israel that the elders of Gilead went to Jeepa from the land of Tob. And they said to Jeepa, "Come be our commander that we may fight against the people of Amnen." All right. So what happens there? We were Gilead. It's like we kind of need you now. Yeah. Right. Good. You want to read verse what's Jeepa say? Verse seven. So Jetha said to the elders of Gilead, "Did you not hate me and explor me from my father's house? Why have you come me to me now when you are in distress?" Right? So what's what's Jeepa's answer to the saying, "Hey, come be our commander." Uh it's kind of all of a sudden you wanted me to do this. Like why you want me to do this now? Yeah. And the elders of Gilead said to Jeepa, "That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon and be the our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead." Like, what would you offer? You just Okay. Yeah. So, they're kind of changing course, right? All right. What's Jeffa say in verse 9? So Jeeps said to the elders of Gilead, "If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon and the Lord delivers them in to me and shall shall I be your head." Right. So what's Jesus's answer? Uh asked them like a second time. Sure. This is what's going to happen. Yeah. Right. Am I really going to be your head? I go with you. I go to war. Is are you really going to make me your chief? You really going to make me your head? And the elders of Gilead said to Jeepa, "The Lord be a witness." Flip the page. "The Lord be a witness between us if we do not do according to your words." Then Jeepa went with the elders of Gilead. And the people made him head and commander over them. And Jeepa spoke all his words before the Lord in Nispa. Right. So they they do it, right? Can you keep your feet down for me? Yeah. So they actually make him commander over the armies, right? And so what's Jeepa going to say now in verse 12? Now Jeff sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, slow down to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, "What do you have against me that you have come to fight against me in my land?" And the king of the people of Ammon answered and and the messengers object them because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt from the Arnon as far as the Jabok and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore those lands peacefully. All right. So Jeepa sends message and what's the messenger say? Like why are you fighting against us? Yeah. And what's the king of Amnan say? Huh? Because you took the land from us and you want it back still. After a few years, you still want it back. This is a couple hundred years at this point now, right? But yeah, it's right. There's old beef. That's our land, not your land. Lord didn't give that to you. That's ours. Give it back peacefully. Jeep. What is Ammon again? That was one of the pagan people. The Ammonites. Yeah, the Ammonites. Right. So, uh, let's see. How does Jeepa answer? You want to go through that in verse 14? Start in that verse 14. So Jeepas again sent messages to the king of Ammon and said to him to the king of the people of Ammon slow down and said to him thus says Jeepa Israel did not take away the land of Moab nor the land of the people of Ammon. But when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kdesh. Then Israel sent Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, "Please let me pass through your land." For the king of Edom would not heed, and in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. Israel remained in Kadesh. And they came and went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom in the land of Moab and came to the east side of the land of Moab. and encamped on the other side of Aaron. Arnand but they did not enter the border of Moab. Aaron was Aron Arnan was the border of Moab. Then Israel sent messengers to Zion, king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon. And Israel said to him, "Please let us pass through your land into our place." But Zion did not trust pass through hysteria. So Sihon gathered all his people together in camp in Jzah and fought against Israel. And the Lord God the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all the people all his people into the hand of Israel and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land the Amites inhabited that country. They took possession of all the ter territory of Amorites from Aaron to Jabba, the wilderness to the Jordan. Okay. So, what's Jeepa's answer to this king of Ammon who says that's our land, not yours. Let's go back to the history books. That's not what happened. Yeah. So, what did happen? Defeated that. We defeated you. Did they even want to come into into fighting with them? Nope. No. At first, it was just let us pass through your land peacefully. And how did the king of Ammon respond? This, right? They gathered an army. And so what did the Israelites was the king of Yeah. Son, king of the Amorites. Oh, and Og, the king of the Bashanites, right? A little bit south. But we tried to go through peacefully. You guys are the one who tried to fight against us and we won. So it's not your land anymore. Exactly. By Cuz I bet back then there was just like you take somebody's land because you fought against them. That's your land. Well, yeah, it still works today. That's what Russia is trying to do with Crimea and the eastern part of Ukraine, right? Like that's that's literally how wars are. A lot of wars are fought over sovereignty over a territory, right? So he says, uh, hold on. Remember how this happened, right? All right. Uh, and now the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel. Should you then possess it? Would you not possess whatever chammos your God gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. And now are you any better than Bailo, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them? While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Auror and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Orin for 300 years, why did you not recover them within that time? Therefore, I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the Lord, the judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon. However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jeepa sent him. All right. So, what happens on the last section? Like, you know what? If you really wanted this, it's been open for about 300 years and you haven't took it. So, you kind It was kind of your own fault. Yeah. So, who's in the wrong? You guys. You guys are in the wrong, right? Cuz you had 300 years to do this. And now we finally like, you know, Back. Exactly. Yeah. Right. So, it's like you've forgotten your history. You've forgotten the treaties, right? Like we we won this land. You could have made a claim against it long before this, but you didn't. All right. So, so that's kind of the whole section that we're going to deal with. Oh, no, no. I'm not What are we talking about? We got a little bit more to do. Sorry. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jeepa and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed through Mispa of Gilead. And from Mispa of Gilead, he advanced towards the people of Ammon. And Jeepa made a vow to the Lord and said, "I will indeed deliver the people of Amnen into my hands, or sorry, if you will indeed deliver the people of Amnen into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." Right? So what does he say there? So whatever God I think in his mind he's saying oh whatever God chooses to be a born out that's what I'm going to do. Yeah. Right. What so the first thing that comes out of my gates it's a lords. Right. You give me this victory god I'll give you the sacrifice. Right. So what's it that she prepared my house that's whatever you Yeah. Right. So verse 32. So deatha advanced to the people of A to fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from a as far as menace 20 cities and to Abel K mean with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon was subdued before the children of Israel. All right. So what's the outcome of this? It was Yeah, he wins. It's good. Well, when Jeepa came to his house at Mispa, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with 10 brothers and dancing as she was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass when she saw when he saw her that he tore his clothes and said, "Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low. You are among those who trouble me. For I have given my word to the Lord and I cannot go back on it. Uhoh. What happens? You shouldn't have said that. Yeah, cuz he made that vow to God, right? If you give me this victory, I'll give you whatever comes out of my house. And what's what comes out of this house? This daughter. spoken a little bit of a haste. Yeah, he spoke in haste, didn't he? Well, you want to read verse 36? I'm going to shut this door while you start reading verse 36. So she said to him, "My father, you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Amna." Then she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me. Let me alone for two months that I may go and wander on the mountain. and beware my royalty my friends and I said well so so uh what's Jeepa's daughter's response let me have a quick vacation over there it's kind of like a morning time right okay I guess it's got to happen but give me a couple months I'll never get married I'll never have kids my life is over so he said go and he sent her away for two months months and she went with her friends and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father and he carried out his vow with her which she had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jeepa the Gileadite. So here's the question. So it just says uh that he carried out his vow with her which she had vowed. You think he actually sacrificed her? I don't know. Well, part of me was also thinking I could see how somebody would like to use this as well. See, God God purposely did this. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it's the Lord's providence that that's what happened, right? But here's right. There's a lot of arguments about this. Some people think, well, she mourned her virginity. So maybe he offered her up to the Lord like what was going to what Samuel's mother Hannah would do, right? Where she has the baby, she nurses the baby, and then she offers the baby to the service of the Lord in the tabernacle, right? Uh what's that? Okay. Well, it makes a lot of noise if you touch it. So, uh we got microphones on, so um Yeah. Right. And so it's uh maybe it's it's that makes you shaking a lot. Yeah. Um I'm of the opinion I think he probably did do it. I'm of the opinion that this was a rash vow. Now I can't prove that for certain but how it says right and he carried out his vow with her which she had vowed. I think that he actually probably went through with it. I think this is a despicable thing. I don't think the Bible always gives us stories to tell us this is the perfect thing but just tells us the thing is this is what happened right and so it's this ugly thing in a weird way right she becomes this sacrifice that is supposed to be this rejoicing in the victory and that's evil and ugly Right. Was it her willing to do this? I don't think it was. She laments. She weeps. She mourns. Her dad is sorrowful of this. I don't think this is a good thing. But yet we find Jesus on the other end, willingly going, willingly submitting, being perfect, and laying down his life. And he wins the victory by laying down his life. I think Jeepa actually almost uses the Lord as like almost like a totem, right? Almost how the pagans would treat their gods like, "Oh, I'll go to war and if you do this, I will do these things." Wait a minute. But yeah, right. So, there's a number of things we can learn about here, right? Rash vows, right? Don't make don't make vows quickly. Yeah. Uh but I don't think also the Lord makes us live up to horrible sinful vows. Um but there's a whole lot we've covered because of uh it was I forget who told me this but the thing is that when God makes a covenant with us is always a lopsided covenant because he always keeps his end of the covenant and we never keep ourselves. It sure seems like that doesn't it? Yeah. Um, God always has to figure out how to keep our end of the covenant and his end of the covenant. Yeah. God keeps both sides, right? Yeah. It's very different here, isn't it? Because there's another time in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis where one of the patriarchs is told by God to offer up his son. Do you remember that? Right. Abraham's told to offer up Isaac, his only son. And as he goes and he's about to sacrifice him, he's got the wood there. He's got everything set up. His son Isaac is laying on it. He picks up the knife. He's about to pick up the knife and he's about to plunge it into his chest. And what happens? The angel's like, "Nope, stop. Don't do it." Abraham believed God and was doing it. Jeepa, I think, is using God. I don't think he's totally godless, but I think he he does something foolish here. Even though he's sincere, I think it's wrong most likely. So, it's a difficult thing. Is he a man of faith? Yeah. Is it a foolish faith? Very possible. Yeah. Uh he's a complicated subject. Yeah. There's no like perfect way to wrap up depth though. He was a judge born of a harlot. Every everything about this story is weird, isn't it? And isn't that somehow like how God does things? Uses unlikely people and unlikely places and even with all their sin and yet that's how he's bringing about things. Doesn't it leave you a little bit unsatisfied? Like really Jeff the judge? Aren't you glad that he's not the supreme judge? Yeah, that would be good. Yeah, he's not the ultimate ultimate judge ultimately. Does God use foolish stupid pastors, elders, dads? Yes. Sometimes I am. Hold on. I was talking generally. You're talking about me. Yeah. Oh, okay. Wow. Well, you feel like like I was like, "Well, you're not always stupid in your life." Sometimes I Yeah. Yeah. Right. Sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. And yet, is God somehow using even sinful, silly, stupid people? Yeah. Somehow he is. But doesn't make us long for the perfect elder, the perfect shepherd, the perfect judge. Yeah. Ready to pray? Yeah. Father, we pray that we would not be content with any judge or ruler in this life. We pray that we would follow after you and love you. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for your love for us in Jesus's name. Amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. And I'll see you next time. Bye bye.