(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Judges 11:29–40, “Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands. And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.”
The book of Judges is an historical record of the time period between Israel’s entering the Land and the time of Samuel the Priest. The record in written showing what the happened to Israel during this time as they chose to keep or ignore the contract that they had made with the Lord. The major issue is how Israel survived without a united identity for most of that time and how they chose to accept or reject the Lord. This doesn’t mean that the Lord approved of all their actions or was in any way responsible for their choices. If Israel chose to reject the Lord they chose to live in random and arbitrary circumstances, without the Lord God’s Divine protection and care. There were times when people were sincere in their desire to follow the Lord but were uneducated in the Lord’s way and did things that the Lord did not approve of or support. However, the Lord still supported them if they obeyed Him and did what He commanded. Jephthah wasn’t trained to understand all the Law and all its details. He grew up away from his family home and lived by his wits until the people of Israel came and asked him to lead them. He obeyed the Lord and came to resist the Ammonites when they came to attack Israel. He went out in the Lord’s Name and defeated the enemy comprehensively. In his zeal for the Lord, Jephthah made a vow that wasn’t really supported by the Law and said that he would offer the first person who met him as a burnt offering to the Lord. It is important to remember that the Lord specifically rejected human sacrifice. (Deut 18:10, “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,”) In spite of this Jephthah made a promise and felt obliged to keep that promise even though it was his daughter, his only child. There is some argument among experts as to whether Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter but it is probable that he did. There is an important lesson here: we should find out the Lord’s will from His written Word and not assume we know what we are talking about. The Lord isn’t interested in our definition of what is right and wrong, that is why He gave us the written scriptures so that we would know exactly what his definition of good and evil is.
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