“A Hasty Vow”

Thursday, January 05, 2017

In Judges 11:29-40, Jephthah made a vow that he would sacrifice whatever came from his house when he arrived.  His daughter came out to greet him.  Did he actually sacrifice his daughter, or did he not?  I think that he could get out of the vow because it involved human sacrifice, and according to God, that would be an abomination to Him.  What say you?  I refer you to Lev 5:4-6.

Sincerely,
Back Away From The Torch

Dear Back Away From The Torch,

Your Lev 5:4-6 reference is spot on.  We will deal with whether or not Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter in a moment, but first, we need to be clear that no matter what Jephthah did – God doesn’t condone human sacrifice (Deu 18:10).  God makes it quite apparent that human life is sacred, and murderers will not be tolerated (Num 35:31).  The Old Testament is full of people who made both good and bad decisions… the book of Judges is no exception.  Judges tells the history of what actually happened; it doesn’t necessarily condone it.

With that said, let’s look at the story of Jephthah.  Jephthah made a rash vow that he would sacrifice as a burnt offering whatever came out of his house first (Judg 11:30-31).  Jephthah was a faithful man and is even recorded in the New Testament for his faith (Heb 11:32).  However, in this circumstance, Jephthah made a very rash decision because the first thing to come out of his house was his daughter (Judg 11:34-35).  All but one verse points toward Jephthah sacrificing his daughter – especially the ominous tone of Judg 11:39.

There is only one argument that we know of that gives credence to her not being sacrificed.  In Judg 11:37, Jephthah’s daughter asks for time to mourn over the fact that she would always be a virgin.  The argument can be made that because she was mourning over the fact she would never marry, she was placed into temple service – similar to Samuel (1 Sam 1:11).

We believe (now we get into opinion) that the best explanation of that passage is that Jephthah did offer his daughter as a burnt offering… exactly as he had vowed.  The fact that Jephthah’s daughter mourned over never being able to marry doesn’t mean she wasn’t put to death.  Marriage is one of the greatest dreams a young woman has.  Her life being cut short destroyed that dream.  Jephthah was wrong to sacrifice her, but he did it nonetheless.

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