3280.-Jephthah's Daughter. Judges 11

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 8, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 44.

3280.—Jephthah's Daughter. Judges 11

Was Jephthah's daughter offered as a burnt offering?

We do not think so. (1) Because it was unlawful for God's people to offer human sacrifices. If a vow included that which it was unlawful to offer, its value was estimated, and the value given. Lev. 27:2-8, 11, 12. Jephthah's vow was, "Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, . . . shall surely be the Lord's, or I will offer it up for a burnt offering." Judges 11:31, margin. As it was his daughter that met him, he could not offer her as a burnt offering, but he could dedicate her, his only child, to the Lord as a perpetual virgin. This he did, and thus yielded all hope of having any descendants; hence his lament in verse 35; hence also her period of mourning, not because she was to be made a sacrifice, but because she was to be deprived forever of being a mother in Israel. Verses 37, 38. Then her father fulfilled his vow, and she knew no man; that is, she never married.

To honor that sacrifice the daughters of Israel went four days a year to meet and comfort her. Verse 40, margin. All depends on the understanding of his vow, and its nature. It would have been sin to burn his daughter. God did not want rash, wrong vows fulfilled. Lev. 6:4, 5.