Judg 11:30-40 | KingComments | STEP | Before Jephthah actually engages in battle, he does something that is not necessary. He enters into a kind of agreement with God and thereby commits himself to do something the consequences of which he does not anticipate. With this he indicates that he neither knows God nor himself well. From Jacob we read something similar ( ). Jephthah, who has shown an excellent knowledge of the history of God’s people, does not learn any lessons from what Jacob has done. By making a vow he, like Jacob, actually negotiates with God, indicating that he does not unconditionally trust God. By making a vow he, like Jacob, considers himself capable of doing what he promised without taking into account the real content of his vow. He has been too quick in entering into this agreement with God. If he had thought for a moment, he could hardly have expected an ox or a sheep to come and meet him from his house. He is guilty of a vow made too quickly. There are several warnings for this in Scripture ( ; ). There are also good vows made in the Bible, such as the vow of Hanna ( ). This is a vow that comes from a good spiritual mind and is made with a view to the honor to which God is entitled in the midst of His people. Hanna longs for that and wishes her child to be the instrument for it. God gives Jephthah a victory of great magnitude and has convincingly fulfilled His part of the agreement. The message of the victory is quickly spread and when Jephthah arrives home, his daughter meets him. She is his one and only child. This is reminiscent of what God says to Abraham about his son Isaac: “Your son, your only son, whom you love” ( ). Jephthah’s reaction is heartbreaking. He has not forgotten his vow. He suddenly realizes the disastrous consequences of his ill-considered speaking. It seems that he first of all blames his daughter for having to fulfill his vow in this way. He reproaches her for meeting him first from his house and reproaches her for plunging him into misfortune. The vow he has made is irrevocable to him. He cannot come back to it, at least this is not possible for him. Leviticus 5 mentions a possibility to return to his rash words and confess them as sin ( ). However, he must then bring a trespass offering ( ). That he doesn’t do this, shows something of Jephthah’s character. On the one hand it shows that he is a man of character. He stands for his words. On the other hand, it shows that he is a man of inflexible principles. Then we see someone in Jephthah who is not prepared to lose face. This characterizes many legal people. The consistent attitude of these people can command respect as long as they apply this attitude to themselves. However, as soon as they impose their principles on others, they cause a lot of damage to the other. They sometimes sacrifice wife and children to be able to live up to their statements. They cause a lot of mental damage to their relatives because they don’t want to revoke the vows made too quickly because of their fear of losing face. The next chapter will confirm this character trait of Jephthah. It is remarkable, however, that the Bible itself does not make a statement about Jephthah’s actions. What is said about this is an application. In addition, it is unclear whether Jephthah literally sacrificed his daughter, or whether it means that she has remained unmarried. This will be discussed in the next section. In the daughter of Jephthah a beautiful mind comes to light. She submits herself completely to her father and makes no attempt to change his mind. She urges him to fulfill his vow, even at the expense of herself. In this she is a beautiful type of Christ Who also completely submitted to the way He had to go in obedience to His Father. In the history of Genesis 22 we see the same reference to the Lord Jesus in Isaac.

‏ Judges 11:30-40

The Vow of Jephthah

Before Jephthah actually engages in battle, he does something that is not necessary. He enters into a kind of agreement with God and thereby commits himself to do something the consequences of which he does not anticipate. With this he indicates that he neither knows God nor himself well. From Jacob we read something similar (Gen 28:20-22). Jephthah, who has shown an excellent knowledge of the history of God’s people, does not learn any lessons from what Jacob has done.

By making a vow he, like Jacob, actually negotiates with God, indicating that he does not unconditionally trust God. By making a vow he, like Jacob, considers himself capable of doing what he promised without taking into account the real content of his vow. He has been too quick in entering into this agreement with God. If he had thought for a moment, he could hardly have expected an ox or a sheep to come and meet him from his house. He is guilty of a vow made too quickly. There are several warnings for this in Scripture (Pro 20:25; Ecc 5:2).

There are also good vows made in the Bible, such as the vow of Hanna (1Sam 1:11). This is a vow that comes from a good spiritual mind and is made with a view to the honor to which God is entitled in the midst of His people. Hanna longs for that and wishes her child to be the instrument for it.

God gives Jephthah a victory of great magnitude and has convincingly fulfilled His part of the agreement. The message of the victory is quickly spread and when Jephthah arrives home, his daughter meets him. She is his one and only child. This is reminiscent of what God says to Abraham about his son Isaac: “Your son, your only son, whom you love” (Gen 22:2).

Jephthah’s reaction is heartbreaking. He has not forgotten his vow. He suddenly realizes the disastrous consequences of his ill-considered speaking. It seems that he first of all blames his daughter for having to fulfill his vow in this way. He reproaches her for meeting him first from his house and reproaches her for plunging him into misfortune.

The vow he has made is irrevocable to him. He cannot come back to it, at least this is not possible for him. Leviticus 5 mentions a possibility to return to his rash words and confess them as sin (Lev 5:4-5). However, he must then bring a trespass offering (Lev 5:6). That he doesn’t do this, shows something of Jephthah’s character. On the one hand it shows that he is a man of character. He stands for his words. On the other hand, it shows that he is a man of inflexible principles. Then we see someone in Jephthah who is not prepared to lose face.

This characterizes many legal people. The consistent attitude of these people can command respect as long as they apply this attitude to themselves. However, as soon as they impose their principles on others, they cause a lot of damage to the other. They sometimes sacrifice wife and children to be able to live up to their statements. They cause a lot of mental damage to their relatives because they don’t want to revoke the vows made too quickly because of their fear of losing face. The next chapter will confirm this character trait of Jephthah.

It is remarkable, however, that the Bible itself does not make a statement about Jephthah’s actions. What is said about this is an application. In addition, it is unclear whether Jephthah literally sacrificed his daughter, or whether it means that she has remained unmarried. This will be discussed in the next section.

In the daughter of Jephthah a beautiful mind comes to light. She submits herself completely to her father and makes no attempt to change his mind. She urges him to fulfill his vow, even at the expense of herself. In this she is a beautiful type of Christ Who also completely submitted to the way He had to go in obedience to His Father. In the history of Genesis 22 we see the same reference to the Lord Jesus in Isaac.

How Did Jephthah Fulfill His Vow?

Many Bible teachers have wrestled with the question of whether Jephthah literally sacrificed his daughter. A small selection of what esteemed Bible interpreters have put forward on this subject shows that it is difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question.

Henri Rossier: She would have to spend her whole life as a separated one and would not have a husband to have relations with, so she would always remain childless. In that sense she would live on as a dead person.

William Kelly: He sacrificed his daughter, after his determined intransigent mind. The holy wisdom of Scripture avoids the details of a fact that so contrasts with the thoughts of God.

Frederick William Grant: With regard to Jephthah’s vow, with it seems to be connected haste and failure, but certainly not the human sacrifice that many have assumed. Most youngest commentators agree and believe that his daughter was simply dedicated to God to lead an unmarried life as Jdg 11:37-39 clearly show.

Martin Luther: Some maintain that she was not sacrificed, but the text is too clear to allow that explanation.

Kurtz, in Sacred History: Evidence of literal sacrifice is found in the father’s desperation, the generous resignation of the daughter, the annual remembrance and mourning of Israel’s daughters, and in the story of the writer himself, who is unable to clearly describe the terrible scene he sees with both admiration and horror.

Edersheim: The great Jewish commentators of the Middle Ages have pointed out, in contrast to Talmud, that the two expressions in Jdg 11:31 (“it shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering”) are not identical. Never is it said of an animal burnt offering that it will be “the LORD’s”, for the simple reason that a burnt offering as such already is.

But if it concerns people who are offered to the LORD, then this expression is used, as in the case of the firstborn of Israel and of Levi (Num 3:12-13). But in these cases it has never been assumed that it is a literal human sacrifice. If the loving daughter had dedicated herself to death, it is almost incomprehensible that she wishes to spend the two months that remained of her life not with her heart-broken father, but in the mountains with her friends.

Samuel Ridout: I have never been able to change my mind about the fact that Jephthah has done with his daughter what every simple reader who reads this section believes he has done. He makes himself known as a severe, self-righteous man who later kills 42,000 of his fellow Israelites with a good conscience. Such a man is also able to literally sacrifice his own daughter. He had drawn the sword to defeat the Ammonites, he killed his daughter because he had promised it, and killed his brothers. Friend and enemy were treated the same.

Personally, I tend to think that Jephthah has indeed sacrificed his daughter. That is the impression I get when I read the text as it appears. It says that he “did to her” according to the vow which he had made. In other words, to me this indicates that he took a concrete action.

After this selection still a remark is left to make about the last verse of this chapter. If the daughter Jephthah was commemorated annually, how much more is the Lord Jesus worth to be commemorated every day, especially every first day of the week.