Judges 11:29-39a
Chapter 11
Jephthah vowed to the Lord:
“If you make me victorious,
I shall sacrifice to you whoever first comes out of my house to meet me when I return from battle. He shall be for the Lord, and I shall offer him up through the fire.”
Jephthah crossed the territory of the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave him victory.
He pursued them from the city of Aroer to the entrance of Minnith and Abel-keramin, seizing twenty towns. So he defeated the Ammonites.
When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter met him. She was so happy to see her father that she danced to the sound of her tambourine. She was an only child; he had no other daughter or son besides her.
When Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and cried out:
“My daughter, you have shattered me; you have brought me misfortune. I have made a foolish vow to the Lord, and now I cannot return it.”
She answered him:
“Father, even if you have made such a foolish vow, you must do to me just as you promised, for the Lord has avenged you and crushed your enemies.
I beg you to give me two months to live with my companions in the mountains. There, I shall lament because I will never marry.”
Jephthah said to her:
“Go then.”
And he sent her away for two months. She and her companions went to the mountains and wept because she would never marry.
At the end of two months, she returned to her father, and he fulfilled his vow. The young girl had never known a man. From this comes the Israelite custom
Commentaries
The Sacrifice of Jephthah’s Daughter – War with the Ephraimites.
The Spirit of God comes upon Jephthah only after he defends God’s plan before the king of the Ammo-nites (29). Unfortunately, even with God’s help, Jephthah is unable to act wisely. Jephthah confuses the deities with the Lord: human sacrifice may be acceptable to pagan gods, but it is never permissible to the God of Israel, who strictly forbids such sacrifices (Lv 18:21; 20:2-5; Dt 12:31; 18:10). Although Jephthah “believes” in the Lord, he does not worship him as the God of life; instead, he attempts to assume God’s role by sacrificing his daughter. Jephthah’s foolishness reaches its peak when he offers as a sacrifice the first person to come out and greet him at his door (11:34). And this person is his daughter. How many wrongful acts are carried out in God’s name? Maybe it’s time to seek forgiveness and acknowledge that God has never supported oppressing the poor or accepting sacrifices of death.