Last time, we talked about the story of Gideon, a judge in the Bible. Today, let’s explore the story of another judge, Jephthah. Jephthah’s mother was a prostitute, and such a humble origin marked the inauspicious start of his life. However, God often brings forth unexpected people at unexpected times to fulfill His will. Jephthah was chosen to be a judge of the Israelites. Under his leadership, the Israelites defeated the Ammonites.
Before going to war, Jephthah made a vow to God, saying, “If you will indeed deliver the Ammonites into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the Ammonites, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” A burnt offering is a sacrificial ceremony where the entire sacrificial animal is burned on the altar until it turns to ashes.
The war against the Ammonites was finally won. Jephthah returned triumphantly, but to his great dismay, the first person to greet him was his beloved only daughter. In an instant, Jephthah’s heart sank from the heights of elation to the depths of despair, and he was overcome with indescribable pain.
In the first painting, we can see a beautiful woman on the right running towards her father joyfully, dancing with excitement. On the left side of the painting, Jephthah couldn’t bring himself to look at his daughter. Instead, he turned his body away, unable to meet her gaze. He exclaimed, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become a cause of great trouble to me; for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”
In the second painting, the daughter stretches out her left hand towards her father in confusion, with her right hand palm – down. Although we can’t see her face directly, we can sense her bewilderment from the side view. Jephthah, in great distress, “tore his clothes” and the joy of his victorious return vanished instantly.
When the daughter understood her father’s vow and its consequences, she accepted it calmly. She said, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth.” In the third painting, Jephthah, dressed in armor, looks up to the left – hand side, as if seeking God’s will, or perhaps regretting the vow he made. Why did I make such a vow? Meanwhile, his daughter, with her hands bound, hangs her head and turns to the right. She looks solemn and accepts her fate without any resistance. She only asked her father to allow her to spend two months in the mountains to mourn her impending death as an unmarried woman. (Since then, there has been a custom among the Israelites that the daughters of Israel would lament for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days every year.)
Regarding the daughter’s final fate, according to Judges 11:39 – 40 in the Bible, “After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.” The Chinese Union Version translates this passage as “After the two months, she returned to her father. Her father fulfilled his vow. She had never been with a man.” However, I think this is a serious mistranslation. The English version clearly states that her father fulfilled his vow, which means he sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering, offering her on the altar to be burned, and also mentions that she was a virgin, offering herself as a pure sacrifice. But the Chinese Union Version’s translation gives the wrong impression that she didn’t die and just remained unmarried for life.
Of course, some people interpret it from the context. They think that if the previous sentence says Jephthah fulfilled his vow, if the daughter was truly sacrificed, the next sentence should be something like “She was offered on the altar and burned as a burnt offering,” instead of the seemingly abrupt “And she was a virgin.” I’m not a theologian and don’t have sufficient ability to interpret the scriptures. I can only understand it from the literal meaning of the text. Also, if Jephthah had found a way to save his daughter or if God had sent an angel to stop him at the last moment, just as He stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, the Bible would surely have mentioned it. Since it didn’t, we should base our understanding on the text directly. Otherwise, the moral of this event would be greatly weakened.
The time described in the Book of Judges was after Moses and before the reign of the kings. At that time, the Israelites “did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6, 21:25). That is, they did whatever they wanted as long as they thought it was right, completely ignoring God’s will and willfully violating the teachings in the Pentateuch. For example, in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, God clearly abhorred the practice of sacrificing one’s children by fire. “You shall not give any of your children to be passed through the fire to Molech, and you shall not profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 18:21 – 22); “You shall not do so to the Lord your God, for every abominable act that the Lord hates they do for their gods; they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.” (Deuteronomy 12:31 – 32). But as mentioned before, the Israelites had their free will and did as they pleased. Just because God didn’t intervene immediately didn’t mean He approved of such things. Therefore, God didn’t stop Jephthah from making this foolish vow, nor did He allow him to take it back afterwards. However, just because God appointed Jephthah as a judge doesn’t mean that everything Jephthah did was approved by God. (The same was true for Moses, David, Solomon, and others.) The core of this event is that Jephthah made a vow to God. Whether it was a foolish or a sacred vow, he ultimately had to fulfill it.
We conclude with the words from Deuteronomy 23:21 – 23, “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.”