In Judges chapter 11, we read of the account of Jephthah. Recognising his need for divine intervention to win the war against the Ammonites, he made a vow to the LORD:
“And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, ‘If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatsoever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.'” – Judges 11:30-31
Unfortunately, to Jephthah’s shock, it was his daughter, his only child, who came out of the house first (v.34). Having learned of the vow her father made to the LORD, she humbly submitted herself.
“And she said to him, ‘My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.’ So she said to her father, ‘Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.’ So he said, ‘Go.’ Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She knew no man.” – Judges 11:36-39a
THE ARGUMENT
1. Human sacrifice was clearly forbidden by the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 18:10). So God would not have honoured Jephthah’s vow had he offered up his daughter as a human sacrifice because that went against His own law. Furthermore, the vow was made right after Jephthah was clothed with the Holy Spirit (Judges 11:29) which mitigates against this vow being a human sacrifice.
2. When Jephthah first thought of making the vow, he had an animal sacrifice in mind because the first floor of ancient Israelites had four rooms, and one such room was for housing animals.
3. There is a constant, strong emphasis on Jephthah’s daughter’s virginity, not on her death. If she were killed, there would be no point in emphasising her virginity, that “she knew no man.” Yet she was allowed two months of mourning to “bewail her virginity,” not her coming death. The implication then is that she lived the rest of her life as a virgin.
4. A burnt offering was something totally given to God, and the offerer received no portion of it back, and could not derive any benefit from it. With other offerings, the offerer often did receive some benefit or got part of it back, but not with a burnt offering. If viewed spiritually, when a virgin was set apart as a ‘spiritual burnt offering,’ she totally belonged to God and remained single for life. In Jephthah’s case, he derived no benefit from offering his daughter as a spiritual burnt offering because it resulted in the sure extinction of his line since she was his only child.
5. Jephthah’s daughter would have spent the rest of her life as a virgin working in the Tabernacle, as there was an order of devoted women for this ministry (Exodus 38:8; 1 Samuel 2:22). And she would have still been working in the Tabernacle when Hannah brought the child Samuel there to be raised. Although according to First Samuel, some of the women working in the Tabernacle were not chaste, Jephthah’s daughter was. Therefore, Samuel would have been around a spiritual woman as he was growing up in the Tabernacle.
In conclusion, Jephthah did not offer up his daughter as a human sacrifice but offered her in full-time service to the LORD.