Have you
ever said something you wish you hadn’t? Perhaps they were foolish words you shouted in anger. Perhaps they were frivolous words spoken in zealous love. Perhaps you’ve spoken some meaningless words just to keep someone happy, or perhaps you’ve cleverly disguised words just to deceive someone. Maybe there were words you should have spoken but never did.
People who can control their words should be admired. Too often we thoughtlessly spew out choice morsels that we wish we could take back.
Jephthah judged Israel for six years. He had a very difficult life. The Bible tells us that his mother was a prostitute and his half brothers cut him off from the family home and inheritance. Finally, he left his past behind him and traveled to a distant place where “a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him” (11:3). As a result, Jephthah became an experienced street fighter. Yet it was his warrior skill that caused the elders of Gilead to come to Jephthah and beg him to become commander over the army of Israel.
Jephthah’s first test was against the mighty Ammonites. However, before he went into battle, Jephthah made an outrageous 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” (11:30,31).
As you might imagine, the victory was Jephthah’s. God delivered the Ammonites into the hands of Jephthah and his Israelite army. And what a victory it was! Or was it?
As Jephthah neared his home, “who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child” (11:34). Jephthah=s heart must have sunk to his knees. The victory celebration was over!
Why would Jephthah have made a foolish vow like that? What could he possibly have been thinking? Who did he really expect to wander onto the front porch? What would possess a man to make such a bold, irresponsible statement? Perhaps it may have been the thing to do in those days. Vows for military successes were spoken rather cavalierly then. Even animal or human sacrifice may have been common at that time, but for someone to promise what he did is almost inconceivable.
What was Jephthah thinking? He wasn’t! He did exactly what we do when we make foolish promises, say things that hurt, things that burn, things that embarrass, things that we can’t take back, or things that never can be erased from another’s mind.
Words are not recipes that we try out on our friends and family. They aren’t kites that we let out into the open air only to try to reel them in again. They aren’t beakers that are used for experiments, and ill-spoken words can never be erased.
Jephthah paid a horrific price, and so did his daughter! God’s lesson concludes, “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” (11:39,40). Perhaps during those days these young women considered the power and consequences of ill-chosen words.
Maybe we could follow that custom by beginning each day with a moment of commemoration for Jephthah’s daughter, asking God to help us bridle our tongues! Maybe we should begin each day fixing our eyes on Jesus, the master of words, who assured us, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).
Personal goal: Learn to train your mouth just as an athlete trains the body.
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