Strange Tradition

Judges 11:39 After 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 tradition…

I heard the story of a family that would purchase a very nice cut of roast beef, and then they would cut half of it off and throw it away. No one seemed to question the practice. But then there was a daughter-in-law who asked the question of the mother-in-law, who asked her mother, who asked her mother. The great grandmother replied, “I had to throw half away because it didn’t fit in my roasting pan.”

Traditions are those things that get handed down, often over generations, that had meaning to that original generation. A large part of the written history in the Scriptures is about handing down those traditions. Think about the Passover. It was deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The laws passed along how they were to conduct themselves when then lived in the Promised Land.

Traditions often separate neighboring peoples from each other. They commemorate significant events that helped shape them as a people. They provide identity.

The Israelite young women had a tradition of a four day vacation to remember a woman who never married, a very sad thing indeed in that day and age. She remained without a husband because her father had made a rash vow to the LORD. It was a rash vow because the LORD had already promised to give him what the vow sought.

The LORD had already promised him victory in battle. The vow didn’t bind the LORD to anything. It only bound him. And it cost him dearly.

You see, this man had only one daughter and no sons. Without grandchildren, his line would end. His family name would fade into the history books. Unless his daughter had children, there would be no more generations of little ones around the family campfire.

So the very thing this man wanted, a future and a hope, was the very thing he lost in his vow. His daughter never married. His family line died.

But this doesn’t seem fair. He was the one who risked everything to rescue Israel. Shouldn’t he have been protected? That is the point. The LORD had already promised protection and later provided it. His vow was out of place.

I wonder if there are times when we vow things as a way to demonstrate our dedication to something. Our word is not enough, so we up the ante in order to prove we are serious. All such actions are useless. The LORD has already promised. Take Him at His Word!