Atheists often quote Judges 11, Jephthah and his daughter, as a case of human sacrifice that shows how utterly inhuman the Bible is.
Now, even if that’s what it describes, it’s naive to think that therefore Scripture is approving it; rather, it would be embodying the deepening trajectory of spiritual disaster that is the overall theme of Judges. But does it really record a human sacrifice? Maybe not at all. Here’s why; here’s the passage:
`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 11:30-40, NIV).
What strikes us here? The first thing, perhaps, is that it’s surprising that an Israelite leader could go against God’s obvious abhorrence of human sacrifice. It’s stated five times in Leviticus; and Moses had said very firmly indeed, `Be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about [the Canaanites’] gods… You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because… they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods!` (Deut 12:30-31)). Still, things have got so bad in mid-Judges that that is possible. But what would be far more surprising is if, throughout the subsequent years, Judges could record a leader of Israel (12:7) carrying out human sacrifice, and yet make no comment. (In contrast the horrors of Judges’ last few chapters are clearly narrated to show just how bad things became, but the book’s very last verse makes the overt comment one would expect.) Also, even if things had become this shameful at that time, it does seem highly improbable that future generations of Israelite girls would have been allowed to celebrate this episode in any way at all (cf 11:40).
Further, 11:31 is difficult. Admittedly the `burnt offering` bit does sound like Jephthah envisaged offering an animal; but then again, `whatever` in v31 sounds like some sort of human, rather than animal, sacrifice – would he have been expecting a sheep or ox to come out of his house? If not, we have to suppose that the narrator is saying that the Lord still enabled a victory, after the abomination of a vow of human sacrifice. Can this be?- when the previous Bible book of Joshua (the Ai story, and Joshua’s summary in 23:12-13) has made very clear that, where there is neglect of God’s commands, there will surely be national defeat; and in fact that has been the import of the entire narrative direction of Judges (eg 2:2-3,13-15,20-21, 3:7-8,12, 4:1-2, 6:1, 10:6-7,13)…
But let’s also look more carefully at what this chapter actually says, and surely we see matters become clear. First, we’re told carefully, three times, that it’s her virginity that Jephthah’s daughter gets upset about; whereas, if she was going to be burned to death, she would surely have had rather more to bewail. I’m struck by the explicit reason she weeps in v37, `because I will never marry`; then by the way this is repeated exactly in v38; and then by the point being made yet again in v39 that she was a virgin. (Let’s face it, being burnt to death is a rather worse prospect than staying a virgin; wouldn’t one surely have expected her to be weeping in v38 because she has just learned that she is going to die horribly, not because she was never going to have sex?)
It seems, then, that Jephthah dedicated, `sacrificed`, her to God’s service in some way that, in that culture, implied permanent celibacy; perhaps a little along the lines of the Nazirite vow (a major theme in the story of Samson, the next judge that we read about; or like the story soon afterwards of Samuel’s mother selflessly devoting him to God). And for someone not to have heirs – for your only child never to bear children, so that your family line dies out – was, in that culture, a total family catastrophe. (See eg Genesis 15:2 and 19:31; and let’s note the point being made about Jephthah losing his family heritage in 11:2 – all this happens just when he thought he’d got it back.) It would seem, then, that what the text presents being celebrated in the festival that developed from this event is the price paid in this way, in the loss of marital fulfilment, for the sake of Israel (of course it might well have ended up with a romantic component, as such festivals often do); still a not unknown issue today.
One might add that, if she were set to be killed, the author can hardly be asking us to believe something as unlikely as that this strong daughter of a tough brigand warrior (and granddaughter of a hooker) would have come back from her two months roaming the hills in order to be burnt to death. Or, if just possibly she had, it would seem quite extraordinary that the narrative doesn’t praise such a girl for the extreme piety involved in her doing so.
All in all, then, the text, considered carefully, does seem to make it improbable that Jephthah’s daughter was killed. (I’ve also seen it suggested that v40 is about a time that the girls spent sympathizing with her each year.)
But before we leave the passage: what is the challenge for Jesus-followers reading this today?
Well, first and obviously, let’s take steps to prevent the enormous damage we too can do with our careless tongues (see James 3, and the very strong words in James 1:26 and the `Above all` in James 5:12)! And then perhaps: which commitment ultimately comes first in my life? (Let’s note how strongly Jesus emphasises such a choice in Luke 14:26; even while at the same time God expects us to take very seriously both our callings to Him and to our family, see the equally forceful words of 1 Tim 5:8). —– But which ultimately comes first in my life: marital fulfilment, or my family’s advancement, or the advancement of the kingdom of God?
