The Good Book | Bible

Here is another favorite passage of the ignorant atheists and Satanists that they use to try and illustrate that GOD delights in human sacrifice. It's found in Judges 11 and deals with a man named Jephthah who became a judge over Israel (they had judges before they had kings). Jephthah made a vow to the LORD before heading off into battle, and ended up having to sacrifice his daughter to the LORD.

But what kind of sacrifice was this? Did Jephthah kill and burn his daughter as a human sacrifice to GOD?

The willfully ignorant atheists and Satanists would say yes and give you only two passages to read, the first of which is:

Judges 11 (NKJV):
29Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.
30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands,
31 then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

But why don't we see what really happened with Jephthah and his vow to GOD.

The only way to know the whole story is to look at the whole passage and not just bits and pieces. So here we go...

KEY: (words like this are my own); the asterisks*** mean you should take special note; this [!huh!] means I don't get it; this [wow] means I'm amazed.

Judges 11

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot;*** and Gilead begot Jephthah.

2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”***
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men*** banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.
4 It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel.
5 And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
6 Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”***
7 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”
8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them to me, shall I be your head?”
10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.”
11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.
12 Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?”
13 And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”
14 So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon,
15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon;
16 for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.
17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh. 18 And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.
19 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land into our place.”
20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
21 And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.
22 They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
23 ‘And now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it?
24 Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God takes possession of before us, we will possess.
25 And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them?
26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?
27 Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the LORD, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’”
28 However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah,*** and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.
30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands,
31 then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."***
32 So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hands.
33 And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith—twenty cities—and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

34 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.***
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it.”
36 So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.”
37 Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.”***
38 So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.***
39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man.***
And it became a custom in Israel
40 that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

INTERPRETATION

That was a long chapter.

1. Anyway, so Jephthah, despite his past (being basically disowned from his family by his (half)brothers because his mother was a harlot (whore/prostitute), is chosen by GOD to rule over the people and lead them in battle - victoriously. Now, not being a stranger to the power of GOD, Jephthah asked GOD Almighty to lead him as he lead the people in battle. In exchange, Jephthah promised to dedicate the first thing (he said whatever, not whoever) to greet him upon his return home to the LORD.

We must take note that some time before Jephthah makes this oath, it says in verse 29 that 'the Spirit of the LORD' came upon him. Are we to interpret that GOD inspired Jephthah to make this promise? I think it would have said that the Spirit of the LORD moved Jephthah to speak that vow. Based on other similar verses, it appears that the Spirit did not inspire Jephthah to make this vow; Jephthah foolishly took it upon himself to make such a promise.

As a matter of fact, it seems that whenever it says in the Holy Bible that 'the Spirit of the LORD' came upon someone, it was usually followed by this person accomplishing a great feat...READ IT.

Here's one similar passage found in Judges that deals with the people getting a judge:

Judges 3:9-10:

9 When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel***. He went out to war, and the LORD delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim.

So again, it seems quite unlikely that it was GOD who caused Jephthah to make such a vow. And take note, Jephthah didn't expect that a human being would be greeting him, it's like he expected the family dog to come greeting him or something...not that that is any better.

2. So Jephthah makes a stupid vow, wins the battle and comes back home. Who greets him as he returns? - His daughter - his one and only child. It's quiet clear that he had only one child in his lifetime...because it says quite plainly 'besides her he had neither son nor daughter'. Now why emphasize this if it's possible that the man will have other children besides her?

And look at Jephthah's reaction? He tears his clothes when he realizes the stupidity of his vow! He will have to sacrifice his only offspring to the LORD. If he planned on having other children, he would have consoled himself with that fact. But this daughter was the only one carrying on his bloodline.

3. In verse 31, Jephthah says he will offer up to the LORD this thing that greets him as a 'burnt offering'. So Jephthah had expected that he would be burning a thing in sacrifice. In no way was it possible that a person would be given in burnt sacrifice to GOD. GOD HATES PEOPLE BEING USED AS BURNED SACRIFICE. It states so quite explicitly several times through out the Old Testament of the Holy Bible. It's quite obvious that instead of a burning sacrifice as Jephthah intended, he would now have to give GOD a living sacrifice - his daughter.

Again GOD hates human sacrifice and curses out those who do it. You can read about just how much he hates this pagan, satanic act: Hosea 13, Isaiah 57:4-6, Ezekiel 16:20-22, Leviticus 18:20-22.

4. Take note in verses 37 and 38, that Jephthah's daughter 'bewailed her virginity'. If her father told her that she was going to be sacrificed to GOD, why would she get upset about her virginity? For the very same reason her father got upset that he had promised his only child as a sacrifice to GOD - because she would never get married and have children! That means no offspring for Jephthah either - his bloodline is officially dead. If you've read the Old Testament at all, you know how important it was for women to get married and have kids (remember Abraham and Sarah and how bent out of shape Sarah was over not being able to have kids?). It's the same thing today with many men - the expect their bloodline to be carried on through their children. Well, no go for Jephthah.

5. So when Jephthah's daughter returned from her period of mourning, she was dedicated to the LORD...and the next sentence says 'and she knew no man' -- she was a living sacrifice (as many nuns and priests are supposed to be today). And since that time, it became a tradition in Israel for the young women to commemorate his daughter's sacrifice...a young woman not being able to get married and therefore have children - a definite dark cloud in that society during that time.

QUESTIONS
Why would GOD inspire someone to kill their own child in sacrifice to HIM? - HE would never do such a thing. If HE condemns people for burning their children in sacrifice to pagan gods, then why would HE have them do that as sacrifice to HIM? HE would never. GOD doesn't lie. HE has never told a lie because once it leaves HIS mouth, it's etched in stone. Therefore it is impossible for GOD to lie.

Why did Jephthah make such a vow? - Who knows. People make foolish mistakes all the time. He obviously never expected that he'd have to sacrifice his own daughter or any human being. And like Abraham, his child would be the most difficult sacrifice he could ever make - he only had one kid and his entire bloodline rested with her. Perhaps GOD made his daughter come greet him to test him and see if he would really keep his word. I don't know. But I bet you that if Jephthah had gone back on his word, he wouldn't have had a very successful run as judge over Israel.

THE BOTTOM LINE GOD is no respecter of persons when it comes to your past or where you live, your skin color, etc. All GOD cares about is your sincere devotion to HIM. You put yourself under HIS will, HE will never fail you. Also, based on Jephthah's behavior, it's best not to make rash promises...cause you can't go back on them. If you go back on your word, you end up looking like a turd, right? You have no idea for sure what tomorrow or the next hour may bring, despite what may seem so obvious to you... so don't say things you're not sure about really meaning.

- Theist @ http://goodbible.blogspot.com/