Scripture: Judges 11:34-40
Any devotional (I use the Word of Life Quiet Time) gets you to look at a small portion of Scripture each day. Over the course of multiple days, the whole story will come together, but it’s difficult to grasp the entire story in a short devotional. It’s more difficult to make your one specific online post this week about 6 verses that don’t fit into the context of the rest of the story, especially this story! But that doesn’t mean we skip it and forget about it.
In the following paragraphs, I will do my best to explain this difficult story and draw some practical applications from it. This story is a good reminder that not everything in the Bible is easy to understand. We are learning about people who lived in a very different culture and time than we live today. Yet, it is amazing to think that our God is able to span so much time and culture. We worship the same God as Jephthah did. And just like Jephthah, we don’t always make the best decisions. Yet God is still God. His Word is still true. Our actions do not get in the way of God’s plans. These verses in Judges 11:34-40 record a situation in the life of a man who appears to do something horrible. Yet we know that God loves each person no matter what decisions they make. He demonstrated that by sending his son Jesus to die on the cross for every person (Romans 5:8). I believe this story is an example of someone who tried to do a good religious thing for the wrong reason, and ended up being more concerned with his own honor and life than the life of the daughter he loved.
Israel was being attacked by the Ammonites because the Ammonites thought the land Israel was living in was their land. The people wanted Jephthah to be their leader in their battle against the Ammonites. Jephthah first tries to convince the Ammonites to accept what their god has given them and Israel will accept what their God has given them. The king of the Ammonites does not listen to Jephthah story. He doesn’t see history the same way Jephthah does. As a result of this, Jephthah was empowered by God to lead an army against the Ammonites and defeat them. (This section of the story is why I believe he is included in the list of people of faith in Hebrews 11, see below).
After the Israelites are victorious in battle, Jephthah’s daughter meets him when he returns home and she is celebrating. This is a great scene, except for one major detail that the daughter did not know. Her dad, Jephthah, made a vow to God that he would sacrifice whatever was the first thing that came out of his house after the victory. (This section is not the reason he is included in Hebrews 11. I believe that this promise he made was not a good decision).
In a heartbreaking scene, Jephthah is “destroyed” (v.35). He realizes what he promised, and what has just happened. His daughter needs to be the sacrificed to keep his vow with Lord.
His daughter responds, in a way we do not understand in our culture, that she is ok with her dad doing what he needs to do because he made a vow to God. She just asks for some time away with her friends for 2 months. When she came home, “her father kept the vow he had made (v.39).
As a result of this story, the Bible records that at the time of writing, it had become a custom in Israel for young Israelite women to go away for four days each year to lament the fate of Jephthah’s daughter.
What makes this story even more difficult to understand that is that Jephthah makes it into the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11:32. He is listed in the same sentence as Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets who had faith.
In the end, I think this story is about a man of faith who allowed his own pride to lead him to a bad decision. What if Jephthah decided that he would rather take the punishment for breaking a vow than to kill his own daughter? Leviticus 5:4-6 (NLT) gives us what the consequences would be for breaking his vow:
Leviticus 5:4-6 New Living Translation (NLT)
4 “Or suppose you make a foolish vow of any kind, whether its purpose is for good or for bad. When you realize its foolishness, you must admit your guilt.
5 “When you become aware of your guilt in any of these ways, you must confess your sin. 6 Then you must bring to the Lord as the penalty for your sin a female from the flock, either a sheep or a goat. This is a sin offering with which the priest will purify you from your sin, making you right with the Lord.
What if Jephthah confessed his sin? What if he chose to take the penalty instead of giving it to his daughter? Would the people of Israel remember him for what he did instead of remembering his daughter (Judges 11:39-40)?
What if Jephthah made a vow with God that he would give to God the first and the best of all that he had and trust God to give him the victory over the Ammonites instead of bartering with God? It sounds like Jephthah’s worship of God was conditional based on whether or not God would come through for him in the battle. It sounds like Jephthah was more concerned about his own pride and honor in the community, than his daughter’s life.
What can we learn from this story?
May we be quick to confess our sin (James 5:16).
May we be careful about the promises that we make (Matthew 5:34).
May we truly love others by laying down our lives for them (John 15:13).
Articles to consider about what Jephthah did:
Good quote to consider from the above Answers in Genesis article –
“While the sacrifice view is certainly disturbing, we should not dismiss it because it repulses us. Remember, we must base our thinking on the text of Scripture and allow it to instruct us, whether we like it or not. I am open to changing my thoughts on this matter if it can be demonstrated from the text that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter, and if the other objections to the dedication view discussed above are adequately addressed.”