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Jephthah’s Vow – Question from a reader

May 26, 2018 by Pastor CJ Counts Leave a Comment

Q) In judges 11:30 ,Jephthah’s vow to the lord, did he really sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering?
Isn’t God against child(human) sacrifice?

 

A) This is a great question. This story is found in Judges 11: 30-40

 
Jephthah had made a very foolish vow to the Lord that if God gave him victory in battle, he would sacrifice whatever first came out of his door, and of course his daughter was the first out of his door when he came home. Dad informed daughter of his obligation to the Lord, and they negotiated that she can have two months to travel and enjoy life before she was sacrificed. Then in verse 39 it says ” After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed.”
 
Some scholars have suggested that Jephthah did not really kill her, but instead she was given to the tabernacle to be a servant girl, and they say they can justify this idea because the scriptures do not clearly say that she was actually killed. 
 
But I do not agree with those scholars. I think those scholars are reading into the scriptures what they want to, because they would rather the scriptures not say what they do in fact say. Because if we take this at surface value, it says that Dad did in fact kill his daughter. 
 
We know that God does not in any way condone human sacrifice. God has specifically and clearly forbidden it (Leviticus 20: 1-5), (Jeremiah 7:31), (Jeremiah 19:5), and (Jeremiah 32:35). Therefore God would never have wanted Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter.
 
The story of Jephthah should serve to remind us not to make foolish vows and oaths. 

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