Difficult Questions: Did Jephthah Sacrifice His Daughter?

From time to time, we dig into Scripture and seek answers to difficult questions from the Bible. Today, we are asking the question: “Did Jephthah sacrifice his daughter to the Lord as a burnt offering?”

We see in Judges 11 that the Israelite Jephthah promised God that he would sacrifice as a burnt offering whatever came out of his door when he got home if the Lord would give him victory over the enemy. The Lord gave him victory, but he was dismayed at what he had to sacrifice.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon. When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.” “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.” “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite tradition that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. Judges 11: 29-40 (New International Version, NIV)

Jephthah had made a promise to God, which He had to keep. His daughter, an only child, was the first thing to come out of the house. However, he did not offer his daughter’s life by burning her as a burnt offering because the law forbade human sacrifice (Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 12:31). He did not kill her, but he devoted her to God as a living sacrifice, like Hannah did when she dedicated her son Samuel to the Lord’s service.

According to verses 37-40, Jephthah’s daughter went and mourned her virginity for two months, and the Bible tells us she knew no man. In other words, she was dedicated to God and set apart for Him, and she never married. She was devoted to God for her entire life and remained a virgin to keep her father’s oath to God. This meant that not only did Jephthah have to devote his daughter to the Lord, but he would never have grandchildren to enjoy. They both paid a heavy price for a promise made in haste.

The lesson? Do not make rash promises to the Lord.