Bad vows we make

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Judges 11:30–31

Jephthah was God’s chosen instrument to deliver Israel from the control which Ammon had exercised over the nation. Previously he had been rejected by Israel because of his mixed parentage, but in their hour of need, they turned to him as a man of strength and leadership capability. In addition ‘the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah’, 11:29. Thus he was empowered by God for the task of delivering Israel.

As he moved out with his forces to attack the army of Ammon he made a vow before the Lord. Many have felt that this was an unnecessary vow, for God would have delivered the enemy into his hand without such statements. Nevertheless, he vowed and solemnly promised that if God gave him victory, then on his return he would offer as a burnt offering whatsoever came out of his house to meet him on his return from battle.

Jephthah led his forces to complete victory over Ammon. The tide of invasion was turned and once again the nation was free. However, the effects of the vow caused Jephthah real sadness and heartache for his own daughter was the first to meet him as he returned home. She was his only daughter and she came to meet him with joy, exciting dancing, and the playing of musical instruments. 

The pleasure was short-lived, and victory turned sour for Jephthah as he recalled his vow. His daughter was given two months before he ‘did with her according to his vow’, 11:39. The obvious inference is that she was actually sacrificed, though such human offerings were strictly forbidden in Israel. Yet Jephthah with half-Canaanite antecedents may have had less compunction about such things.

Some suggest that Jephthah’s daughter was not actually sacrificed but that she may have been reprieved and instead ‘sacrificed’ herself to perpetual virginity, celibate and unmarried, which may have been worse for an Israelite maid than death. Whichever is right, it is a real lesson in taking care of the promises we make. God looks for faithful obedience and not the extravagance of outlandish vows.

However, Jephthah is given a place amongst the great saints of God, and his victories and faith are recorded for us very briefly in the New Testament, Heb. 11:32.



Young, P. 

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