Understanding Jephthah
The Book of Judges has some unique stories. First, there is Ehud, the left-handed assassin. He stabs a fat king through the belly and sneaks out through the bathroom window. Then there is Gideon, the “mighty man of valor” who hid from his enemies while threshing wheat. He then puts God to the test repeatedly, and finally follows God and defeats his enemies.
The one that might bother me the most is the story of Jephthah. He is an outcast warrior who is asked to lead Israel in battle against the Ammonites. Jephthah agrees, and after trying to broker peace, finally leads his army to war. As he was leaving for the battle, he made the following vow to God:
If you will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering. (Judges 11:30–31)
I don’t know who he was expecting to meet him after the battle, but much to his horror it was his one and only daughter who ran out to greet him, dancing to the sound of timbrels (aka tambourines)!. Seeing her, he tore his clothes and cried out, ““Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.” (Judges 11:35)
She calmly accepts her father’s vow, asks for tow months to mourn her virginity, and then we are told he “did to her according to the vow which he had made” (Judges 11:39).
What’s going on here? Did Jephthah kill his daughter for God?
This is the sort of story that is often ignored in the teaching of the church. Then, when we stumble across it (or when we see a skeptic mock the Bible using stories like this) it can shake our faith. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance sows seeds of deconstruction in our souls. We can’t be afraid to face questions like this face-on.
I don’t think Jephthah killed his daughter. I’ll give you a few reasons in a moment. Before we get into that, let me be clear: if Jephthah killed his daughter, it was not something God endorsed. Child sacrifice is clearly condemned in the Old Testament. Even if he made this foolish vow, the lesser sin would have been to repent of his vow; not to kill his child. Let me say it again; if Jephthah killed his daughter, it was an awful and sinful act. It isn’t something God asked him to do.
That said, there are three clues within the text that suggest something different happened with Jephthah’s daughter. I heard this first on the “Theology in the Raw” podcast and recently found them helpfully outlined by Robby Lashua.
Three Proofs that Jephthah Didn’t Kill His Daughter
The first clue is that Jephthah likely knew the Law of Moses. He explains, in detail, the history of Israel, Moab, and Ammon in Judges 11:16–26. Jephthah also seems to be well aware of what Numbers 30:2 says: “If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”
It also looks like Jephthah raised his daughter to know the Law and fear the Lord. After finding out about her father’s vow, she says, “My father, you have given your word to the Lord; do to me as you have said, since the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon” (Judg. 11:36). Since Jephthah knew the Law of Moses, and even raised his daughter to know it, it seems odd he would disregard all the passages forbidding child sacrifice (Lev. 18:21, 20:3; Deut. 12:31, 18:10) and disregard the fact that the penalty for child sacrifice was death by stoning (Lev. 20:2). It is also odd Jephthah would disobey a clear command of God so he could obey a command of God.
The second clue can be found in the vow Jephthah made. In Hebrew, the letter Vav is used as a conjunction joining two parts of speech. In English, we have many different words that function as conjunctions. Not so in Hebrew. The one letter Vav represents multiple different conjunctions. It can mean “and,” “together with,” “but,” “so,” “then,” and “or.” Many scholars have translated this Vav conjunction as “or.”
If that’s the case, then Jephthah’s vow says, “Whatever comes out of the doors of my house…it shall be the LORD’s, or I will offer it up as a burnt offering” (Judg. 11:31). This vow could be interpreted to mean that if the first thing to come out of the house was appropriate to offer as a burnt offering, then Jephthah would offer it as a burnt sacrifice. However, if the first thing to come out of the house wasn’t appropriate to offer as a burnt sacrifice, “it shall be the Lord’s,” meaning it would be dedicated to the Lord.
The third clue helps us to clarify whether Jephthah’s daughter was offered as a burnt sacrifice or dedicated to the Lord. When she heard the vow her father made, Jephthah’s daughter asked to take two months to mourn her virginity. This is odd if she was going to be killed. Why not mourn her impending death? Why not marry a man for two months?
Based on all this, it is possible that Jephthah’s daughter mourned her virginity because she was going to be dedicated to the Lord and live as a perpetual virgin. This idea is also reinforced by how the text emphasizes her virginity as part of her father’s vow. “At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she had no relations with a man” (Judg. 11:39). This would have been a tremendous sacrifice on Jephthah’s part, considering he only had one child. By dedicating his daughter to the Lord, Jephthah wouldn’t have grandchildren to carry on his lineage. Such dedication was a known practice in Israel. For example, we see Hannah make a similar sacrificial vow to dedicate her child Samuel to the Lord (1 Sam. 1)
Conclusion
I share all this, not just to help us better understand the story of Jephthah, but to show how we can approach the Bible with curiosity and open-mindedness. Don't shy away from difficult passages! Wrestle with them, research them, and pray through them. This is how faith grows stronger.
With You;
Pastor Tim
