keeping your word

Last Friday (10/12/07) we had a devotional about making oaths and keeping our word. Before that, we played an old childhood game that I loved playing back in the day. One person is "it" and goes on a line. The rest of the players line up on a line across from who's it about 15 feet away. The person who's "it" has to think of a movie title, TV show, or band name, then tells everyone the initials. Whoever guesses the correct name races with the person who is it to the opposite line and back to where they started. Whoever wins gets to be "it" next. It's a bit shaky when the game is new for everyone, but after awhile, you get in sync with the movies, shows, and music that people are entertained by.

Afterwards, we had our bible study lesson. We flipped to an interesting story in the middle of Judges about a man named Jephthah. Basically, he makes an oath to the Lord saying that if he wins in battle against the Ammonites, whatever comes to greet him out of his house upon returning will be sacrificed and offered to the Lord. Well, turns out his only daughter comes out to meet him when he returns.

There is a debate about whether Jephthah actually sacrifices his daughter. Did he consider a person might come out to greet him? Did he not consider human sacrifice a sin along with the pagan religions of his area? He was a leader of the Jews so didn't he know that God's law forbade it? Verse 39 also makes it confusing because it stresses that she was a virgin, meaning he may not have killed her. After all, why would God honor a vow that went against His laws? But is also says that "he did to her as he had vowed" in the same verse. That, along with next verse, makes me think he went through with the vow and sacrificed his daughter.

All this goes to say we should watch what we promise, vow, and even say. What does Jesus say about this? During his Sermon on the Mount he preaches about vows (Mt 5:33-37). He says do not swear at all (v. 34). It all comes down to being a person of your word. That makes a person of integrity. If we say we'll do something and we do it ("let our 'yes' be 'yes'") then we wouldn't have to emphasize something we really mean to do with an oath or promise. Just watch what you say. That is my prayer for us all.