Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 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.”

32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

34 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. 35 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.”

36 “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. 37 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.”

38 “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. 39 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 40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. (NIV)

There is no doubt that Jephthah was a hero of faith, and he appears in the Hebrews 11 ‘Hall of fame’. However, I am reminded of the saying that ‘The best of men are men at best.’ We are all fallen, complex and a complete mixture. Reading this passage me reminded me of Ecclesiastes 5:2a:

”Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.”

It is not wrong to make a ‘vow’ to God, but it is a very serious thing to do. In Jephthah’s case, it seems to be an attempt to ‘bribe’, to ‘manipulate’ God: ‘If you do this, I’ll do that.’ So this was a blot on his copy book of faith. It showed a lack of trust in God.

Jephthah’s words were also rash, reckless and irresponsible. Surely he should have realised that ”whatever” (31) came out of his house might well be a human being. (See James 3:1-12)

I find Tom Hale’s words helpful and balanced:

‘Should Jephthah have broken his vow? Yes, of course. The Lord had already made provision for releasing certain people from vows rashly made (Numbers 30:5,8)…There can be no question that Jephthah had real faith in God – and his daughter even more so. In spite of our faith, we humans make terrible mistakes and commit terrible sins; yet God is ready to forgive us. Today, three thousand years later, Jephthah and his daughter are with God in heaven – because of their faith (Hebrews 11:32, 39-40). What seemed so horrible and final back then – physical death, no heirs – now appears much different in the light of eternity. And the deep message of the story is that Jephthah and his daughter submitted themselves to God in faith – regardless of the cost – and God has abundantly rewarded them for doing so.’

(It should be noted, however, that some Bible scholars do not believe that Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter, but rather dedicated her to the Lord’s service as a perpetual virgin. In the Old Testament, women did serve at the entrance to the tabernacle: Ex.38:8; 1 Sam.2:22. Also the law concerning vows permitted substitution when dedicating humans to the Lord: Lv.27:1-8. Warren Wiersbe makes the point that there would surely not be an annual commemoration,v.40, had something so terrible as human sacrifice been involved. I have huge sympathy with this viewpoint, but it is admittedly a difficult passage. It remains correct, I think, to point out how deeply flawed the best of us are, and to entrust ourselves to God’s mercy and grace, without which we are utterly lost.)