Did God Allow Jephthah To Sacrifice His Daughter?
Posted: Thursday, November 20, 2008
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
The account of Jephthah and his daughter is a very unusual and moving one. It is contained within the eleventh chapter of Judges. You need to read it so you will understand what we are talking about. It contains only 40 verses and takes only a few minutes to read.
To condense the story down to what our question concerns, involves two biblical factors which are seemingly incompatible when viewed together.. One, is under the Old Testament Law, if a man made a vow, it was absolutely essential that he keep it. The other concerns offering human sacrifices which was/is never allowed by God from His people.
And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
Now this appears to be a very crucial and awful thing to consider. But things are not as they might seem. First of all, God would never find it acceptable to offer unto Him a human as a burnt sacrifice. Read with me the explanation by my favorite old time scholar, Adam Clarke:
Verse 31. Shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering.
The text is vehayah layhovah, vehaalithihu olah; the translation of which, according to the most accurate Hebrew scholars, is this: I will consecrate it to the Lord, or I will offer it for a burnt-offering; that is, "If it be a thing fit for a burnt-offering, it shall be made one; if fit for the service of God, it shall be consecrated to him." That conditions of this kind must have been implied in the vow, is evident enough; to have been made without them, it must have been the vow of a heathen, or a madman. If a dog had met him, this could not have been made a burnt-offering; and if his neighbour or friend's wife, son, or daughter, visit to his family, his vow gave him no right over them. Besides, human sacrifices were ever an abomination to the Lord; and this was one of the grand reasons why God drove out the Canaanites, the fire, i.e., made burnt-offerings of them, as is generally supposed. That Jephthah was a deeply pious man, appears in the whole of his conduct; and that he was well acquainted with the law of Moses, which prohibited all such sacrifices, and stated what was to be offered in sacrifice, is evident enough from his expostulation with the king and people of Ammon. Therefore it must be granted that he never made that rash vow which several suppose he did; nor was he capable, if he had, of executing it in that most shocking manner which some Christian writers ("tell it not in Gath") have contended for. He could not commit a crime which himself had just now been an executor of God's justice to punish in others.
It has been supposed that "the text itself might have been read differently in former times; if instead of the words I will offer IT a burnt-offering, we read I will offer HIM (i.e., the Lord) a burnt-offering: this will make a widely different sense, more consistent with everything that is sacred; and it is formed by the addition of only a single letter, ( aleph,) and the separation of the pronoun from the verb. Now the letter aleph is so like the letter ain, which immediately follows it in the word olah, that the one might easily have been lost in the other, and thus the pronoun be joined to the verb as at present, where it expresses the thing to be sacrificed instead of the person to whom the sacrifice was to be made. With this emendation the passage will read thus: Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors or my house to meet me-shall be the Lord's; and I will offer HIM a burnt-offering." For this criticism there is no absolute need, because the pronoun hu, in the above verse, may with as much propriety be translated him as it. The latter part of the verse is, literally, And I will offer him a burnt-offering, olah, not leolah, FOR a burnt-offering, which is the common Hebrew form when for is intended to be expressed. This is strong presumption that the text should be thus understood: and this avoids the very disputable construction which is put on the vau, in vehaalithihu, OR I will offer IT up, instead of AND I will offer HIM a burnt-offering.
"From Judges 11:39 it appears evident that Jephthah's daughter was not SACRIFICED to God, but consecrated to him in a state of perpetual virginity; for the text says, She knew no man, for this was a statute in Israel. vattehi chok beyishrael; viz., that persons thus dedicated or consecrated to God, should live in a state of unchangeable celibacy. Thus this celebrated place is, without violence to any part of the text, or to any proper rule of construction, cleared of all difficulty, and caused to speak a language consistent with itself, and with the nature of God."
Those who assert that Jephthah did sacrifice his daughter, attempt to justify the opinion from the barbarous usages of those times: but in answer to this it may be justly observed, that Jephthah was now under the influence of the Spirit of God, Judges 11: 29, and that Spirit could not permit him to imbrue his hands in the blood of his own child; and especially under the pretence of offering a pleasing sacrifice to that God who is the Father of mankind, and the Fountain of love, mercy, and compassion.
So, we learn by this that any female who was consecrated to God was devoted to a life of celibacy which was a shameful estate among the Israelite women. She thus, mourned the fact that she must remain a virgin and childless.
Scholars also believe that the wording of verse 40 has been distorted slightly in that it was customary for those women who also had been consecrated unto God would gather once per year to comfort one another in their plight. May God help us to understand His word more thoroughly.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Great article. I have much to learn.Don't we all? I retired in 1997 at age 67. I would imagine that at least 30 to 40 hours per week of my time has gone into reading the Bible and related materials, reference books, etc., as well as producing a bi-weekly ezine. And every day I learn that I know less than I thought I did. I have concluded that no one will ever master the all the mysteries of the Bible but the more we can grasp, the nearer we will be able to please him."But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)
Hi Joel, great explanation. I always believed it to mean set apart for the service to the lord. A sacrifice to the Lord in the sense that he would have no grandchildren, nor would she have family of her own. I didn't even know that some considered this an actual sacrifice as the pagans killed their children on altar's to false gods. You are an excellent communicator.Thanks Teresa, I appreciate your comment. I'll have to admit that, for years, I could not read anything into this scripture other than that he offered her as a burnt sacrifice but I found that very troubling and never stopped looking for a solution. I love Adam Clarke's Commentary. He was not pefect in his understanding but I believe he was extremely honest as well as brilliant. I purchased a set of his commentaries back in the1960's. They are a huge set...6 volumes as big as an old time Sears and Roebuck catalog. But I chose the set after I had an opportunity to read some of his works on Revelation. From the start, he said that he did not understand the book. But he gave several others views and his own critique which was enlightening but I wound up just like him, I don't understand a lot of the book of Revelation.Hi Joel,It is interesting how each of read and learn. This is why I love discussing Scripture with others of all different levels of study. We learn and we grow and we see something that we might have missed. It is was God desires of us. As his word says, iron sharpens iron.I have not heard of Adam Clarke. Have you ever studied with John Courson, Steve Matheson, or Chuck Missler or Chuck Smith?They are scholars of today and the insight they have is awesome when put together with those they studied under--Charles Spurgeon, D L Moody, and some of the others.If you are willing--I encourage you to go to equiptthesaintsdotcom and order Steve Matheson's teaching through the book of Revelation. It is the most honest and makes the most sense to me. I'll admit, he will challenge your thinking quite a bit, but I think it would do you well. It did me, I have never studied Rev the same since. And I have come to understand a few more things about it. Anyway, I can give you more info if you write me a personal email.I love this forum that we have to come together with like-minded people who genuinely want to grow in faith. Keep it up, brother. I am finally feeling a little better and will be posting my next article in the morning. I look forward to your insight.Hi Teresa, I agree this is a great forum. Maybe all will learn something. I know I will as I read the comments and articles and also dig in to see what the Bible says concerning them.Adam Clarke was a Methodist minister back in the seventeen hundreds. He spent 40 years compiling the most extensive "one man" Bible commentary ever written. I don't agree with all his findings and beliefs but mostly I do agree.I am not familiar with those names you mention. I'm sure that Matheson has a good book and I may give it a try sometime, but right now, I have a loaded schedule and just can't seem to find any extra time. I have read several scholarly books on Revelation, one of which contends that the majorityof the book is in reference to the coming fall of Jerusalem. Interesting but I have another which insists that it was written after the destruction of that great city.I hope you continue to feel better, and thanks for the comment.
Interesting perspective.Makes me want to go and check my Hebrew Bible and translate it myself.Hi Jennifer, thanks for reading and commenting. I know exactly what you mean, however, I could not read a word of Hebrew or Aramaic. I do know what they mean when they say "Allah Akbar" but that is about it. There is a good and bad side to this situation. It is bad that there have been so many small but confusing mistranslations. They are quite numerous. But! The good part is we have had numerous highly intelligent and learned men who have devoted their life to digging up manuscripts and trying to determine which is correct and which is error, so that many of them have been explained. And by far, the best part, most of the scholars agree that the places such as our article subject, are concerning things which will not affect our eternal salvation as long as we do not become adamant and teach one way or another concerning it that is wrong! God's plan for man's salvation through Jesus Christ is clearly taught if people will only study it out and not take my word, or someone else's.
Joel, I've never heard it explained like that before. Excellent job! Even many pastors are too "chicken" or perhaps lazy to tackle this one.Well, thanks a lot Terry, but don't give me a swelled head :o). One thing that has been good for me perhaps, is that I'm a curious fellow. When I run upon something that puzzles me, I am very displeased until I can find something that can at least partially satisfies me. There are several things in my past that have shown me the urgency of finding out all I could.I had a good friend, a couple of years older than I, who was an apparently good and faithful Christian, but something went awry and he became atheistic. We were close enough that I could talk to him and did all I could, actually did successfully refute several of his accusations towards the Bible but he hit me with one thought that I was never able to convince him otherwise. He is now dead. I felt really bad and I studied the subject more and finally, to my chagrin, it became perfectly clear. And I felt even worse that I could not see it in time.
Great article, Joel. There are many chapters of the Bible that are hard to understand. I try not to put too much physical attributes to the verses I read and read them several times, knowing that there is usually a much deeper meaning than I might first comprehend. Thanks for bringing insight to this chapter for us.SandraThanks for reading and commenting Sandra, I really appreciate it.
Maybe we all should go and get the translations. We may find more common ground then we think? Good job.Hi Robert, yes you may be right. However, I am kindly hesitant to give too much credence to some of the more modern versions. One refers to Mary as a "young woman" rather than "virgin". And such things. Some are actually more commentary than translations. But it is still good to refer to some of them. Sometimes it will open your eyes a little. Thanks for commenting.
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