29Then 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. 30And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31then 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." 32So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand. 33And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.
Jephthah's vow was unnecessary. But then again, the real problem was not even with making a vow to God, promising some performance contingent on God granting a request. Others made vows to God (Gen. 28:20; 1 Sam. 1:9), and there is nothing inherently sinful in the concept. The devil is in the details, so it is said, and in Jephthah's case our concern is with the content and wording of the vow.
Jephthah's words promise a burnt offering of who- or whatever (the Hebrew is ambiguous) would come out of his house upon his return from battle. The vow is open-ended, and the question is, What was he thinking? Did he consider the possibility of having to offer a human being?
If Jephthah merely thought of an animal sacrifice, then the promised performance seems trivial, for such a sacrifice of thanksgiving would hardly require a solemn oath. It was considered the norm. Archeological evidence shows more or less conclusively that domesticated animals lived alongside humans in the house in Iron Age Israel/Canaan. But there is a textual detail that suggests Jephthah actually entertained the idea that a human could walk through the door at the crucial moment. Animals do not "go out to meet" a victorious warrior (cf. 11:31). The phrase "going out to meet" is idiomatic when used in a context describing the return of a successful warrior from battle, and it invariably implies celebration (cf. 1 Sam. 18:6-7). The wording of the vow would seem absurd if it was aiming at animals. We should also remember that the phrase is repeated verbatim in 11:34, when we are told that Jephthah's daughter "came out to meet" her father with musical celebration. This is what the language of the vow most naturally envisions. At a literary level, Jephthah's words point to humans and not animals, unless he anticipated a sheep performing a dance that would have solicited the interest of a circus director.
The possibility that Israel's judge thought of a human sacrifice is shocking. But the book's wider context puts the grisly image in perspective. The stories of Judges are replete with grotesque and absurd features, and the evidence is mounting as we approach the conclusion of the work. During the period of the settlement, Israel underwent a process of gradual Canaanization, a trend not only evinced in the nation but also its leaders. The cardinal sin of the people was the worship of idols. Molech and Chemosh were among the foreign deities (here: Ammon and Moab) to which Israel was drawn. In fact, 10:6 already included the gods of Moab and Ammon in the list of Israel's idols. The cults of Molech and Chemosh demanded the sacrifice of first-born children. Viewed in this light, human sacrifice was not beyond Israel and its leaders, and the history of the nation can only confirm the syncretistic ways of the people of God (Lev. 20:2-5; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 32:35).
What can we learn from this episode? We are not mere bystanders who shake our heads at an incredible moral dilemma. How do we worship a God who "desires mercy and not sacrifice" (Hos. 6:6; Matt. 9:13)? Any form of presumption tends toward idolatry (cf. 1 Sam. 15:23), in which case we may well be found sacrificing our children to idols. But "the aim of the commandment is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Tim. 1:5). All of this is found and available in Jesus Christ.
The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.
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