Interpreters commonly attempt to explain away Jephthah’s sacrifice of his daughter. The text plainly says that Jephthah vowed whatever first exited his house upon his return, he would “offer it up for a burnt offering” (11:31). The text also plainly says, he “did with her according to his vow” (11:39). Often the reference to Jephthah’s daughter bewailing her virginity is used to support the thesis that she became a lifelong virgin. However, in a culture that highly valued marriage and childbearing, a daughter who would be burned as a sacrifice may well spend some months weeping because she would never be a wife or mother. It is no argument against this position that fulfilling this vow broke the Mosaic law. That is precisely the point. Israel’s judges had degenerated to the point that they were either ignorant of or flagrantly disobedient to God’s law. A comparison between Judges 11:24 and Deuteronomy 2:19 indicates the former is more likely in this case.
The Blog of Brian Collins
Donald Johnson says
Hi Brian
I think there is a New Testament argument against the literal burnt offering view from Heb 11.32-40, note especially v. 39.
Nevertheless, a difficult passage to be sure.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
Brian says
Pastor Johnson,
Thanks for your comment. I’ve thought about that Hebrews passage not only in regards to Jephthah, but also as it relates to my understanding of the book of Judges as a whole.
As I understand the book, each judge is worse than the previous one as Israel becomes more and more like the Canaanites around her. Yet you are correct in noting that Hebrews 11:32 lists “Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah” in the “hall of faith.”
I recognize that this raises the question of whether my interpretation of Judges (and of the Jephthah account) is correct is correct.
This is what I concluded:
First, everybody recognizes the moral failings of Samson. This indicates that an understanding of Judges which also finds moral failings in Gideon, Barak, and Jephthah is not automatically invalidated by their inclusion in the “hall of faith.” They, like Samson, may have significant failings and still be listed.
Second, the author of Hebrews is looking through the Old Testament history for men who exhibited faith. These judges are listed in Hebrews 11 because they did, in the end, by faith act according to the word of the Lord.
That they demonstrated faith doesn’t mean that they didn’t have other failings. I think that we could probably find in the Biblical record failings in each one of the people listed (except perhaps people like Abel about whom not much is recorded).
Also, that they demonstrated faith doesn’t mean that they are all reached the same level of spiritual maturity. Moses, I would gather from the Biblical record, was a more godly man than Samson.
I do think, however, the mention in Hebrews 11 is another mark in favor of Jephthah acting in ignorance of the law rather than in flagrant disobedience to it.
Thank you for your sharpening comment,
Brian
Don Johnson says
Hi Brian,
I was talking to Duncan tonight and it reminded me of this post, so I thought I might add some comments. I think you make some good points with respect to Samson. Obviously he did many things that were reprehensible, yet God certainly credits him with faith. Perhaps at the end?
A few years ago we did a series chronologically through the whole Bible (9 months for OT and 8 months for the NT) and I discovered that Jephthah, Samson, and Samuel overlapped to some extent. It seems that the period is not as straight-line as we might like. The chronology of Judges is difficult to piece together and affects our understanding to some extent. If you ask Duncan, he might have a copy of the CD of our OT study if you are interested. The notes are a bit sparse, since we were going at a hasty pace, and I was writing for our people, not for theological studies!
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3