Judges 11:35-40

Judges 11:36

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.

 

Jephthah obviously had told her what the vow was and since he made the vow to God by requesting that he have victory over the Ammonites and God delivered the Ammonites into his hands, his daughter believed that he must keep the vow.  Now Jephthah had been an outcast for many years and lived in the area where pagan religions ruled and he was probably making a vow as if he was still in pagan country and his daughter would have understood it because she probably was brought up under the same false teachings and knew what pagan gods required of their followers.

 

Judges 11:37

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.

Before her father was to perform his vow, she had requested that she be allowed to bewail her virginity. The idea that she will not leave any children for her family was a very reprehensible thing to the Israelite women. This is especially true since the promise of a Messiah was given in Genesis and each Israelite woman believed that they could be the chosen vessel to bring forth the Messiah. For a woman not to have a baby was thought to be almost like a curse. Remember how Hannah prayed for a child to be born to her and how Sarah wanted to give Abraham the promised child. She would leave no progeny for her father’s house.

Judges 11:38

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.

 

So Jephthah gave his daughter her request and went and mourned for her virginity for two months along with her friends.

 

Judges 11:39

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,

 

This shows the foolishness of a sudden vow without thinking. Now with the history of Jephthah going back to all the paganism with their rituals of human sacrifice, he would have had no problem following through with what he said, albeit in severe sadness. Now many say that instead of him sacrificing his daughter in a burnt offering, he prevented her from bearing children. Many believe this idea simply because they cannot believe that God would not accept a burnt human sacrifice.

 

That is absolutely correct since the Bible states that God called those false religions and their practices abominable. But let us look at it from a different point of view. Just because man does something, does that mean God accepts it? The answer is no! Look how many people are steeped in false religions and doing good works thinking they are pleasing God. The bottom line is that just because we do something, does not mean God accepts it. In the case of a human sacrifice, God would never accept it because the only sacrifice He sees is the sacrifice of his Son.

 

These passages of Scripture shows how bad Israel had become in following false religions. Jephthah, because of being outcast from Israel, did not have the spiritual training others had. He was called on to do a job and that was it. In his world of having contact with false religions, burnt offerings were a common occurrence and that is probably why he shot off his mouth so quick without thinking. Basically what Jephthah did was engage in foxhole religion. If God gets me out of this then I will dedicate my life to God! Foxhole religion lasts as along as the battle does. He made a compromise with God and it cost him his daughter’s life.

 

Judges 11:40

That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

 

Now here is an interesting custom that once every year for four days the daughters of Israel would lament the daughter of Jephthah. If she was just to remain a virgin for the rest of her life, then why would there be lamenting by the daughters of Israel. One other thing, if she was still alive, why didn’t the daughter of Jephthah go with them? Simply because she was not there! She was dead and that is why the daughters lamented her. If she would have been alive, the Bible could have said, that the daughters of Israel went with her to lament.

 

Summary on Jephthah

I realize there are opposing views to this portion of Scripture and I don’t claim to have the final word. However, the pieces of the puzzle come together when we see the type of people that Jephthah befriended. He headed up a rebel army which no doubt contained many men from the surrounding regions which were steeped in the false abominable religions that God denounced. The Bible is clear that Jephthah said he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house and he did it. God condemns cannibalism yet in Deuteronomy he tells Israel that things were going to get so bad that they were going to eat their own children, which they did. This was not acceptable to the Lord but we must remember that human beings who are unsaved will act out of the flesh. Now Jephthah is listed in faith’s Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11 and maybe he did become saved at a later date but I don’t know. The bottom line is all the historical evidence in Jephthah’s life points toward the fulfilling of his vow to God by sacrificing his daughter. God does not accept human sacrifice but that does not mean it didn’t happen. Look how fast Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac to the Lord. Abraham came out of a very pagan area namely the Fertile Crescent, so those who dwelled in that area would be familiar with human sacrifice and that is why I believe Jephthah carried through and killed her. Let us look at this story and remember it, so we will prevent ourselves from making a rash vow. With Jephthah’s foolish vow, we can understand this verse a little better. In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judg 21:25, KJV)

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