Judges 11:37, commentary and pictures

She accepted her father's vow and asked to be left alone for two months with her companions to go up and down upon the mountains before it was carried out. What she went to bewail was not impending death but lifelong virginity, the loss of marriage and motherhood and of continuing her father's family line and house in Israel. She was not slain as a burnt sacrifice but was devoted to the Lord in perpetual virginity and lifelong religious service in seclusion, never knowing a man. A human sacrifice could not have been the fulfillment because the law condemned it as an abomination offensive to God, and an unlawful vow gives no liberty to perform an unlawful act. Her sorrow stands as an example of the sad suffering brought by a rash vow and a warning against the folly of such promises.

The Daughter's Request

She accepted her father's vow and asked to be left alone for two months with her companions to go up and down upon the mountains before the vow was carried out. She asked for the two months in the mountains with her companions to mourn her virginity. She then returned to her father for the vow to be fulfilled.

What she went to bewail was lifelong virginity, not impending death. Her mourning was for the loss of marriage and motherhood, because she was dedicated to remain unmarried and childless in perpetual virginity. She grieved that she would never marry, never establish a household, never become a mother or rank among the mothers in Israel, and never continue her father's family line and house.

The mountains provided the solitude and modesty for lamenting that loss. The two-month interval allowed time for reflection before the vow was carried out. Her sorrow was the sad, innocent suffering brought by a rash vow, mourning that she would die unmarried as its unexpected consequence.

Dedicated Not Sacrificed

She was not slain as a burnt sacrifice but devoted to the Lord in perpetual virginity and lifelong religious service, living on afterward in seclusion, probably in service at the tabernacle, and never knowing a man. What she asked two months to bewail was that virginity itself, the loss of all hope of marriage and motherhood, because her father's vow meant she would belong to the Lord and never marry. Her grief was not for death but for remaining unmarried and childless in the Lord's service for life.

Her asking to bewail virginity rather than death proves the vow was fulfilled by doom to lifelong virginity in the Lord's service. Her return to her father and the statement that she knew no man confirm she was not offered as a burnt sacrifice but devoted to perpetual virginity. The yearly coming of the women afterward was to talk with her while she lived, not to mourn her death.

A human sacrifice could not have been the fulfillment, because the law condemned it as an abomination offensive to God. The priests would not have offered it, and such an impious vow could not have been performed. The vow meant the offering would be given to God in whatever way was lawful: the person who met him would belong to Jehovah forever in lifelong service, while he himself would offer a burnt offering to Jehovah, as Samuel belonged to Jehovah after Hannah dedicated him before birth.

Because she was his only child and remained unmarried and childless, Jephthah's lineage ended and he would have no descendants to carry on his house in Israel. By her lifelong virginity and seclusion her hope of marrying and establishing a household, of ranking among the mothers in Israel, and of being among the ancestors of the promised Messiah was destroyed. This was especially grievous because it ended the hope that the Messiah might come through his line. Her companions afterward visited her yearly while she lived to talk with her in sympathy for her seclusion and esteem for her filial obedience.

Vow's Warning and Parallels

Jephthah's vow was rash, unlawful and godless, staking his child on one cast, and it stands as a standing example of the folly of making rash vows or promises. The same folly appeared in Herod's oath that led to the beheading of John the Baptist. It brought sad and unexpected sorrow upon his innocent daughter, who asked for two months to go with her companions into the mountains and mourn that she would die unmarried. Her innocent suffering came through yielding to social fashion.

An unlawful vow gives no liberty to perform an unlawful act, for prior obligation to God precludes the right to make unlawful vows or oaths. The sin is therefore in making the unlawful vow, not in breaking it. Even when fulfilling an unrighteous vow feels like duty, God accepts no action that comes into His presence charged with the murder of other duties. The two months she sought with her companions in the mountains to mourn her virginity before the vow was carried out allowed time for reflection, and release from the vow could have been sought during that interval rather than carrying out a human sacrifice.

The true Old Testament history of Jephthah devoting his daughter, including her asking to be let alone two months to go up and down upon the mountains and bewail her virginity with her fellows, became the original from which the heathen story was taken of Iphigenia being sacrificed by her father Agamemnon. It was one of the Old Testament occurrences that became the foundation of monstrous stories among the ancients.

Jephthah stands among the Gideons, Davids, Barzillais, Joshuas and other mighty men of war that arose to deliver the Israel of God, valiant people whom God helped in strength when they kept His statutes. He was alone when commissioned to deliver Israel. That aloneness fulfills the promise that the Father who sees in secret rewards openly, and proves that those who prevail in prayer when alone with God draw nearest to Him and receive the richest blessings for themselves and others.