Fulfillment of the Vow

With his victory complete, Jephthah returns to Mizpah. It appears that his homecoming is a joyous affair, as the people turn out to welcome their deliverer and celebrate the end of the Ammonite oppression. But the sight that greets Jephthah instantly turns his joy to grief and reveals to him the folly of his vow, for coming forth from the door of his home is his daughter, his only daughter, dancing merrily because of the victory the Lord has given to His people. As the horrible realization of what his vow requires him to do crashes down upon Jephthah, he cries in anguish and tears his garments.

Jephthah now faces two horrible choices, each of them sinful. He can sacrifice his daughter as he said he would, though such a practice is expressly forbidden by God (Deut. 12:31; Ps. 106:38). Or he can allow his daughter to live, violating his sacred oath to God, which also is forbidden (Deut. 23:21–23). He is in a no-win situation, and he knows it. But he must choose, and so he declares, “ ‘I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it.’ ” He chooses to sacrifice his daughter. From our vantage point, this seems to be the most cold and callous decision imaginable. The prospect of sacrificing a beloved daughter strikes us as a completely adequate reason for violating a vow to God, and it is possible that a Scriptural case can be made to support that argument. However, we must also see that Jephthah’s decision, as horrible and misguided as it may be, is made out of respect for the sanctity of a vow to God. And Jephthah’s daughter agrees! Her willing submission to this hard providence in which she had no say is simply incomprehensible to us. But she, too, understands the sanctity of the vow, and she prefers to die than see her father sin by reneging on his promise. The Lord has fulfilled His part of the bargain, she says, so Jephthah must fulfill his.

Jephthah’s daughter asks for two months in which to “ ‘bewail my virginity, my friends and I.’ ” This strange request leads some to speculate that Jephthah fulfills his vow by confining her to the equivalent of a nunnery for life. More likely, however, she simply mourns the fact that she is an only child and that Jephthah’s line will end with her death. The text is clear: “She returned to her father, and he carried out his vow,” sacrificing her as a burnt offering.