Judges 11

In our study of Judges 11, with the challenging passage on Jephthah's vow, questions were raised about Biblical interpretation.   There are passages in the Bible that are difficult to understand and interpret, and my approach in those situations is to allow for any interpretation that can be supported by the evidence, does not contradict the rest of the Bible, and is consistent with God's Character.

For this passage, I see two possible interpretations.  For both, it is important to account for the truth that it is stated in Deuteronmy 12:29-32, that God has clearly forbidden child sacrifice.

The first interpretation is that Jephthah really did offer his daughter as a sacrifice, in order to keep his vow.  So, this would mean that even though Jephthah appeared to have a good knowledge of God and what He has done for Israel historically; and that he wanted to honor God through offering a sacrifice; we would somehow have to account for why he went ahead with something that is considered sinful and evil.   The case could be made for him being surrounded by nations that kept the practice; and that he may not have known that God had forbidden it; but, that could then raise the question of why God did not stop it, as He did when it happened with Abraham and Isaac; and why the women would commemorate this yearly.  So, while this may appear to be the most obvious interpretation, there are some challenges that would need to be accounted for, but can be.

The second interpretation is that Jephthah vowed to offer fully to God whatever came out of his house.   He lamented that it was his daughter since it meant that he would no longer have any descendents; but, he did offer her as a living sacrifice.  The passage does often mention being unmarried and a virgin; so, he likely offered her for consecrated service in the tabernacle the rest of her life. 

One question was raised during the discussions about the relation to Christ being offered as a sacrifice.  My answer would be that sacrifices were set up to point to Christ ultimately as the true sacrifice, the One would would die for the sins of the world.   It was never intended for human sacrifice, because no human, aside from Christ, could ever atone for sins; and only Christ, being God, had the power to be victorious of sin and death.  So, while Christ's sacrifice on the cross was God's Plan for salvation, Jephthah's sacrifice of his daughter would be considered sin, and committing a sin just to satisfy a vow is contradictory to the intention.