Sermon Tone Analysis

Date: 2021-10-24

Audience: Grass Valley Corps

Title: A Horror Story

Text: Judges 10:17-12:7

Proposition: There is always a right choice

Purpose: Sacrifice your pride, not your people

Grace and peace.

Bible Horror Stories: The Return

Before I start, one quick word about Bible translations.

Translating anything from one language to another is a tough job.

Some languages have one word for something that can take a dozen sentences to describe in another language.

Some are complicated the other way.

In English, when frozen water falls from the sky we call it snow or hail or ice.

In the language of the Sami people of Scandanavia, there are over 180 words for the same thing.

Of course, Sami language has over a thousand different words for reindeer, including one, njirru, which means a truculant female who resists the rop, and another, busat, which means a reindeer bull with a single, oversized testicle.

As if that weren’t complicated enough, translators also need to decide whether they are trying to translate to the closest word equivalent, what we call a word-for-word translation, or to the closest idea, a thought-for-thought translation.

So does one translate njirruword for word by saying that it means “reindeer” or does one translate the idea it is trying to convey by saying that it means “truculent female”?

Either is correct, but in English they can be taken to mean very different things.

It’s the same with Bible translations.

We usually use the New Living Translation here.

It’s a modern English-language translation of the best Bible manuscripts we can find.

The translators tried to combine word-for-word and thought-for-thought translations in a way which would be understandable to this generation of English readers.

As a general rule, I think they did a fantastic job of wrestling the text into a form we can read and understand.

BUT…

(You knew there was a BUT coming.)

Every once in a while, we hit a section where the folks who put this together into a form we can understand seem to go a little sideways.

The way they translate isn’t wrong, but it is slanted a bit towards a certain interpretation which may or may not be supported by the text.

I’m certain that it is not their intent – they are just trying to make sure the reader is clear, even when the text may not be.

Today, in Judges chapter 11, we are in one of those places.

I found myself making so many notes about how the NLT says one thing and the original text says something slightly different that I have decided to set aside this translation for the day and use another one which is a little better at capturing the intent of the original author.

So, the words which I use today will be the ones from the New Revised Standard Version – it’s a bit more academic, but I think it will serve us better.

Please still follow along in your own bibles!

We’ll start today at:

Judges 10:17-18

17 Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead; and the Israelites came together, and they encamped at Mizpah.

18 The commanders of the people of Gilead said to one another, “Who will begin the fight against the Ammonites?

He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”[1]

The situation is that Israel was mostly on the west side of the Jordan and the Ammonites lived on the eastern side.

To get to the best place for an army to cross the Jordan, the Ammonites moved north into the Gilead region which Israel controlled.

Mizpah – which means watchtower – was a defensible location on the east side which Israel used to protect the fords across the river.

The armies drew together and the people of Gilead began to look at their leaders and realize that they didn’t really have any war leaders who could handle this kind of battle.

So, they offered the top position in their society to whomever would lead them to victory.

I know it doesn’t say victory in the text, but if the army was defeated, the leader would be dead or discredited and wouldn’t be leading anything.

Judges 11:1-3

Now Jephthah the Gileadite, the son of a prostitute, was a mighty warrior.

Gilead was the father of Jephthah.

2 Gilead’s wife also bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away, saying to him, “You shall not inherit anything in our father’s house; for you are the son of another woman.”

3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob.

Outlaws collected around Jephthah and went raiding with him.

[2]

The region of Gilead was named after a powerful clan leader in the earliest days of the tribe of Manasseh, which was one of the Israelite tribes, along with Gad and Reuben, which also lived there.

Jephthah’s father seems to have been a clan chief as well, and he was named after the original.

Jephthah’s mother may be getting slandered here by being called a prostitute.

The Hebrew word being translated is zonah(Zone-ah) and while it could refer to a prostitute, it can also refer to any woman who has had sex outside of marriage.

From the story as we are told it, we can tell that Gilead claimed Jephthah as his legitimate son, even though he was not the son of his wife.

We can also say with reasonable certainty that Jephthah was the oldest son and that Gilead had intended for him to be the primary heir.

What it sounds like happened was that Gilead died and his sons by his legal wife brought the matter to court, claiming that Jephthah was illegitimate and should be disinherited.

They won and Jephthah found himself with no home, no land to work, and no means of support.

He ended up living in the hills, raiding others to make a living.

Probably the Moabites and Ammonites, the two main enemies in the region.

He became exceptionally good at what he did.

Judges 11:4-5

4 After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel.

5 And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.[3]

This bit overlaps the first couple of verses.

The Ammonites came against Israel in Gilead; the elders in Gilead made an offer that anyone who came forward to lead the army into battle would – if he survived – rule over them.

Apparently, they had no takers, because here they are, hat in hand, going to get Jephthah.

Judges 11:6-7

6 They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, so that we may fight with the Ammonites.”

7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Are you not the very ones who rejected me and drove me out of my father’s house?

So why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?”[4]

Hey, you took everything I ever had or knew and chucked me out of your little glee club.

What are you thinking coming to me for help?

We don’t know exactly how much time has passed since Jephthah had been exiled, but it seems to have been awhile.

These elders?

Probably a combination of old timers who had been part of the council that had Jephthah stripped of his rights and sent away and new men, including one or more of his brothers.

So, the very people who rejected him and stole his life from him.

And now they are trying to use him.

Judges 11:8

8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Nevertheless, we have now turned back to you, so that you may go with us and fight with the Ammonites, and become head over us, over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”[5]

Yeah, sorry about the whole rejection thing.

Come on back and save us and we’ll let you be in charge.

This sounds a lot like how the Israelites had been trying to deal with God throughout the book of Judges.

They rejected him, ignored him, broke their promises to him, until they found themselves in trouble, then it was, “Oh, please come back.

We really will follow this time…”

Judges 11:9-11

9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight with the Ammonites, and the LORD gives them over to me, I will be your head.” 10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be witness between us; we will surely do as you say.”

11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them;

and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah.

[6]

Don’t miss what’s happening here.

Verse 9 isn’t Jephthah being surprised by their offer.

This isn’t, “Wow, you’re going to make me the head?”

It’s a calculated restatement of what they said.

“If you do this, you will answer to me.” He’s making sure there is no wiggle room in the deal they just offered.

The elders respond by making a sacred oath.

This isn’t manipulation – or at least it isn’t JUST manipulation.

This is a serious vow and they’ve opened themselves up to retribution from Jephthah and from the LORD God if they fail to follow through.

Verse 11 is the same thing being done publicly back in the town of Mizpah.

That binds them even further because everyone knows.

Jephthah rules here, at least until the Ammonites attack.

Judges 11:12-13