-“And a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) Jesus has just been baptized by his cousin John. Now a thirty-year-old adult he is about to enter 40 days of severe testing and three years of rigorous ministry that will culminate with the humiliating criminal’s death on a cross. The Father knew what lay ahead of Him and He knew that He needed to hear these words from Him. “This is My Son” reminded Jesus of His identity, “whom I love” reminded Jesus of the Father’s love for Him, even when He would seem far away, and “with Him I am well pleased” assures Jesus of His Father’s pride in Him. Dear Father, my kids will face rough times ahead in fulfilling their callings, may I speak these same words of belonging, love and pride into their lives. http://fatheringforum.blogspot.com/2006/02/fathers-words-of-affirmation.html

 

"Father's Words" - Wisdom of the Ages

compiled by Jala Garibova, sketches by Iraj Esfandiary

The Azerbaijani version of these proverbs in the new modified Latin script are available in the magazine Azerbaijan International 4:3, Autumn 1996.

You are welcome to reproduce these language learning articles for individual or educational study.
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In the Azerbaijani language, the translation of "proverb" is "father's words." For many generations, "father's words" have been valued as an extremely rich inheritance of the collective thought and experience of the community. These short sayings encapsulate the wisdom of the past, making it available to both present and future generations. There are thousands of Azerbaijani proverbs. Who knows how old some of them might be-centuries, possibly even millennia. Azerbaijanis are extremely fond of spicing up their conversation with these pithy sayings to convince others of the "rightness" of their opinions and actions.

http://azeri.org/Azeri/az_learn/az_expressions/articles/43_proverbs/43_proverbs.html

 

 

 

Judges 11: Jephthah & a Father’s Words

Father’s Day, June 15, 2008

 

As Jesus came up out of the water after being baptized by John signifying the beginning of His public ministry, Scripture records that a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).  Later, as Jesus turned his face toward Jerusalem from the mount of transfiguration to His waiting death on the cross, this same voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.  Listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5).

 

God took time to publicly identify with Jesus at these key points in His ministry.  His words were words of encouragement, affirmation, love, and identification.  If our Heavenly Father knew the importance of speaking the right words to His Son at the right time, why haven’t we mastered this lesson?  Or at least, why isn’t it a life-long quest?

 

Most of us would excuse ourselves saying, “That’s why He’s God and I’m not.”  By looking at another Biblical father, one I hope we don’t identify with, I hope we can see what can happen if we continue to make excuses and refuse to learn the significance of a father’s words.

 

Jephthah’s story can be found in the book a Judges, a time of great disarray in the history of the nation of Israel.  Judges 11:1-3 is blunt as it introduces him: “Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman." So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him.”

 

We can assume Jephthah did not have the best of all fatherly examples.  His conception occurred outside of wedlock with a woman his father did not love.  Since he did grow up in his father’s household we can assume the mother of his half-brothers was not as pleased to serve as his mother as she was for her biological sons. The fact that as soon as his brothers grew up they were able to drive him from the family home without any opposition from either parent supports these suppositions.  On the other hand, this background strengthened his leadership and fighting skills. Interestingly, he also became a master diplomat. 

 

After 18 years of oppression at the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, the elders of Gilead approached Jephthah in Tob hoping he would deliver them from their enemies. Their first offer was minimal and not too appealing to Jephthah: "Come," they said, "be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites" (11:6). Jephthah negotiated for more; he was concerned that they would forsake his leadership when the crisis was over. He demanded to be “head over all who live in Gilead" (11:8).

 

Jephthah, despite his background, shows he did have a personal relationship of sorts with the God of Israel.  He did not trust the words of mere men, he demanded that any agreement be made in the presence of God. Scripture says, “And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah” (11:11). He would only trust their vow made before the God of Israel who would enforce their vow if they later refused.

 

With this agreement in hand, Jephthah began negotiations with the Ammonites. While Scripture records that “The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him” (11:28), the time the back-and-forth negotiations took gave Jephthah the time he needed to prepare his army. 

 

The two things that happen next are the reason for our studying Jephthah this morning: “Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah” and he “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." (11:29-31).

 

Remember the setting of this story is the book of Judges, the time when “Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” (21:25). The worship of God lacked organization and the Scriptures were not readily available. Priests were corrupt and under the influence family leaders. Jephthah knew God and served him, but his worship was influenced by the pagan cults that surrounded him and possibly the gods of his biological mother. The Ammonites Jephthah was going to war against sacrificed children to the pagan god Chemosh, and Israel’s other relative, the Moabites, also practiced child sacrifice (2 Kings 3:27).

 

Many of us, when we face difficult decisions, will often attempt to bargain with God.  We will promise God something if He in turn does something for us. There are numerous verses in Scripture addressing the use of vows in service to God.  Samson’s whole life was built around the Nazirite vow. The Apostle Paul took a vow (Acts 18:18) to strengthen his commitment. But Jesus, in Matthew 5:37, taught us “Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” His earthly brother James said something very similar (James 5:12): “Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned.”

 

The significant number of verses discussing the vows and the importance of keeping our word should be enough to tell us to be careful before we speak. Jephthah in his enthusiasm and probable ignorance, soon made the most unfortunate vow recorded in Scripture. Jephthah says he will sacrifice to the God of Israel “whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me.” Please understand animals did not live in Jephthah’s house.  No matter what his hope or intent, please understand Jephthah was vowing to sacrifice some human in order to gain favor with God.

 

Scripture is very clear about the result and the reason for his victory: “Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon” (11:32-33). Scripture is clear Jephthah’s vow had nothing to do with the outcome of the battle.

 

Had Jephthah understood Scripture better or known God better, he could have listened to verses like Proverbs 26:2 to get out of the mess he was about to find himself in: “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.” If he had lived later or had better companions he could have followed the example of King Saul who backed down when his men confronted him as he prepared to kill Jonathan because Jonathan had gone against the vow of Saul (1 Samuel 14:24f). If he had paid attention in Sunday school class or kept up his devotions, he might also have avoided this mistake.

 

The story continues: “When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.  When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break" (11:34-35).

 

Jephthah found himself caught between keeping his vow, his word, and his love for his daughter. For whatever reason, his daughter response is interesting: "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry"  (11:36-37).

 

The story concludes: “After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. (11:39-40).

 

Jephthah chose to keep his stupid and irresponsible vow instead of admitting he made a mistake.  He sacrificed his daughter not to our God, but to the gods of the Ammonites, instead of glorifying God for his miraculous deliverance and praising the might and power of the Holy Spirit. The young women of Israel did not celebrate God’s goodness in delivering them from foreign powers, but they lamented the death of Jephthah’s daughter.  No one stopped him.  In the two months he had to reconsider and admit his mistake, he remained steadfast in his “false honor.”

 

This is a lesson so many of us as men have to learn.  All of us will say wrong and hurtful things in the course of raising our children.  All of us will fail to understand theology or Scripture properly at times. We will all fail to hear the word of the Lord and listen to our own hearts. We will all face times when our words get us into trouble.  The self-righteous part of a man’s heart that keeps him from refusing to admit he made a mistake is the reason so many of our children are crippled and emotionally damaged today.  I hope all of us understand God would never ask us to sacrifice our children to curry his favor.  But I wonder how many of us, even ministers, have sacrificed our children on the altars of work or “providing” for them. I wonder how many times we have failed our children because of our need to be “right” or to “take a stand.” How many wrong lessons have we taught them attempting to “teach them a lesson?”

 

We need to learn the importance of the saying the right thing at the right time.  We need to learn how powerful our blessing can be.  We need to understand how damaging withholding or just never saying the words they need so desperately to hear can be. Have our children heard us say we are sorry or that we were wrong?  Even if it takes two months or two years, can we set aside our manly pride and tell our children—in public so that people hear— how much we love them and how important they are? Being a man, I will say, we need to learn to crucify our pride and teach our children what our Heavenly Father has spent all of time teaching us—all of time is about redeeming what has been lost. Redeeming our children cannot be done by insisting the world know how righteous we are.  Defending our need to be right cannot come at the expense of our children knowing we love them.

 

God offers every one of us as men the great opportunity to redeem our children.  We must see their redemption as the greatest accomplishment of our lives.  Our pride should be what is sacrificed, not our children.