Judges 11 tells the story of a great warrior called Jephthah who was appointed as a Judge during the time the Ammonites began their war against Israel. When the time came for him to lead the army against the Ammonites, he was so eager for victory that he made a vow to the Lord.
Judges 11:30-31 ~ And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the LORD whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
Unfortunately for Jephthah, what came out to meet him was a person, his daughter. Even worse, he couldn’t take this vow back since the Lord fulfilled his part. Jephthah had to fulfill his part too.
Did Jephthah kill his daughter to sacrifice her as a burnt offering?
No. God openly condemned human sacrifice.
Deuteronomy 12:31~ You must not worship the LORD your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.
Jeremiah 19:5 ~ They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!
This shows that God definitely did not allow Jephthah to kill his daughter in order to sacrifice her. Killing her would have been a sin in the eyes of God, it’s not a vow that God would honour. Many bring up the story of Abraham and Isaac as a parallel to this but it was never God’s intention for Abraham to actually kill Isaac and he never would have allowed it which is why he provided the ram. It was just a test. The law in Deuteronomy is something Jephthah would have been informed of if he didn’t already know since he had two months before he fulfilled his vow.
The sacrifice talked about in regards to Jephthah’s daughter was most likely in the form of dedicating her entire life to serve God, a similar vow to what nuns in Catholic churches do which requires them to be celibate for the rest of their lives. This would explain why she mourned her virginity for two months (Judges 11:37) because she would never have children (Judges 11:38). She most likely used those two months to accept the fact that she’ll never live the type of life she desired.
