So, there is this crazy story from Judges chapter 11 where one of the “Judges”[1] may or may not have offered his own child as a sacrifice. This can come across as a bit unsettling, so others have put forth an explanation that is quite different than the plain reading of the text. I will give you that view (as un-bias as I can) and offer an explanation that appeases the integrity and plain reading of the text. But first, let’s get into the text and some context to the story.
The book of Joshua ends with Joshua urging the Israelites to obey all the laws of the Torah and not to forsake Yahweh[2] and serve other gods (Joshua 24:14-27), but Israel fails to fulfill their commitment and turns to serve Baal[3] (Judg 2:11-13 ESV). So at this point Israel is corrupt and began involving themselves in the practices of worshiping pagan gods. Because they abandoned Yahweh, he allowed them to be taken captive by the surrounding armies. However, Yahweh still loves his people. Que the judges, “Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. (Judg 2:16 ESV). Time and time again, the Israelites would continue to turn from Yahweh and worship pagan gods.
Ok, we are to the point where we need to get to the text, so let’s get to it and hang in there.
“Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, ‘You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.’ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him. After a time, the Ammonites made war against Israel. And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. And they said to Jephthah, ‘Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.’” (Judges 11:1-6).
Jephthah protested but eventually Israel made him their leader, a judge. Jephthah tried to reason with the Ammonites but to no avail. So, they go to war. This is where things get…unsettling.
“Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever 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.’ So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand.” (Judges 11:29-32)
We are going to just go ahead and finish out the chapter.
“Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him lwith tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.’ 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 weep for 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 had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.” (Judges 11:34-39).
Pretty straight forward, right? So, what is this view that some put forth to ease this unsettlement? This view is called The Dedication View. I am only going to bullet point this view, so if you would like to do some more reading on this view you can do so here.
So, in a nutshell:
The Dedication View
· Jephthah’s knowledge shows he knew the law, therefore, he would have known that human sacrifice was forbidden.
· His actions are not condemned in the chapter or anywhere else in the Bible.
· The Spirit of The LORD was on Jephthah, so how could such a vow have been made?
· Jephthah is mention in Hebrews 11 and is revered for his faith.
So, with all of that in the front of our mind, how do we interpret the chapter through the Dedication View? Instead of Jephthah sacrificing his daughter he simply dedicated her to Yahweh as a temple virgin for the rest of her life…that is why she mourns her virginity with her friends and why young girls continued to lament for her.
Taking on the Dedication View claim by claim.
1. Just because Jephthah knew the history of the Jewish people does not mean that he understood the law in its entirety. The claim that he should have known is overstated. In Eps 273 of his Podcast, Dr. Michael Heiser (a Biblical Scholar) had this to say about Jephthah, "He refers to Chemosh as the god of the Ammonites. That wasn’t their god. Chemosh was the god of Moab. It’s in the Moabite stone. So Jephthah even gets that wrong. This is no scholar. He’s a hack. He’s just a judge, and kind of a bad guy, too, in the end (or a stupid guy). Yes, God used him, but he’s a bit of a moron." I think it is safe to say that Jephthah didn't understand as much as the Dedication View would like to suggest.
2. His actions may not have been condemned directly, but human sacrifice is condemned elsewhere (Due 18:10). The writer of Judges intended audience would have been expected to know the Torah (the law given in the first five books of the Bible). The need to explain the abomination of human sacrifice would have been minimal.
3. Yes, the Spirit of The LORD did come upon Jephthah…and Gideon…and Samson. Read their stories and see if you can reconcile their stupidity as well using this same excuse. The Spirit of The LORD come over a person to empower them, not use them as puppets. Jephthah still had his cognitive abilities intact, meaning he could still make poor decisions. Also, the pattern given in the book of Judges is that Israel screws up, God raises up a judge to get them out of trouble, the judge screws up sometime after his/her victory, and Israel screws up again. Jephthah’s story is no different.
4. Faith is the context of Hebrews 11, not righteousness. Again, no one would agree that Samson was an upstanding character and yet was also mentioned in Hebrews 11.
Conclusion
Jephthah was the son of a concubine who was exiled from his father’s house and went to live in the land of Tob[4] with some shady people. We know that the people he lived with worship pagan gods and even had some dealings with human sacrifice, so when Jephthah takes this job as Judge he has been away from Yahweh for a long time and only knows how to interact with him in ways that are familiar to Jephthah. In pagan thinking, if you want something from a deity you have to offer it something. The greater the sacrifice the greater the chance for success of your request. Jephthah was an unfortunate product of his culture and offered a sacrifice at random. This whole story is like the show A Series of Unfortunate Events and one bad thing just leads to another as his unsuspecting daughter runs out to greet her father post-war, unsuspectingly marking herself for death. The nail in this coffin is this, "she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made." You just can't be more clear than that.
We need to let the Bible be what it is and not try to fluff it up nonsense to make it more palatable for our modern presuppositions. In my opinion the Dedication View is, well…garbage.
Bonus
There is a really great article about Jesus reversing the events of Jephthah’s story by Dr. Michael Heiser. It’s a really good read and I recommend you give it a look if you are interested in these types of things. You can read the article here.
Footnotes:
[1] “Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.” (Judges 2:16 ESV)
[2] “Yahweh is the name of the official god of Israel, both in the northern kingdom and in Judah.” Van der Toorn, Karel, Bob Becking, and Pieter Willem van der Horst. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Leiden; Boston; Kˆln; Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: Brill; Eerdmans, 1999.
[3] “Though normally an appellative, the name is used in Ugaritic religion as the proper name of a deity. Also in the Bible, the noun occurs as the name of a specific Canaanite god.” Van der Toorn, Karel, Bob Becking, and Pieter Willem van der Horst. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Leiden; Boston; Kˆln; Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: Brill; Eerdmans, 1999.
[4] In their religion they worshiped an astral deity to whom human sacrifices were offered (1 Kgs 11:5; Zep 1:5). Milcom, or Molech, their national god, was venerated at one period even in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 23:10; Jer 32:35). At the time of Jephthah’s victory over them, the Ammonites were evidently worshiping the Moabite god Chemosh (Jgs 11:24). Elwell, Walter A., and Barry J. Beitzel. Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988.
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