1Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. He was the son of a prostitute. Gilead became the father of Jephthah. 2Gilead’s wife bore him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will not inherit in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws joined up with Jephthah, and they went out with him.
4After a while, the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 5When the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob. 6They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.”
7Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me, and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”
8The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight with the children of Ammon. You will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
9Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivers them before me, will I be your head?”
10The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Yahweh will be witness between us. Surely we will do what you say.”
11Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah.
12Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What do you have to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?”
13The king of the children of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore that territory again peaceably.”
14Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon; 15and he said to him, “Jephthah says: Israel didn’t take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon; 16but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh, 17then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let me pass through your land;’ but the king of Edom didn’t listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab, but he refused; so Israel stayed in Kadesh. 18Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they didn’t come within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to my place.’ 20But Sihon didn’t trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21Yahweh, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22They possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan. 23So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them? 24Won’t you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess. 25Now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them? 26Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the side of the Arnon for three hundred years! Why didn’t you recover them within that time? 27Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me. May Yahweh the Judge be judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.”
28However, the king of the children of Ammon didn’t listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him. 29Then Yahweh’s Spirit came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.
30Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand, 31then it shall be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
32So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh delivered them into his hand. 33He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
34Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to Yahweh, and I can’t go back.”
36She said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to Yahweh; do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, because Yahweh has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon.” 37Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me. Leave me alone two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.”
38He said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months; and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains. 39At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. She was a virgin. It became a custom in Israel 40that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
Judges 11 focuses on a "mighty man of valor" by the name of Jephthah, who was a Gileadite (v. 1) Since he was born of a prostitute he was disowned by his wife's sons, his life looked dim. Yet the story tells us of his rise back to power and gratitude of the people of Israel to become their ruler. He is remembered, however, not for the difficulties in early life he had, or for his valor in war, leading Israel against their enemy, but for the story about a rash vow that he made to Yahweh, the God of Israel, of what he would perform for Yahweh should he win the battle. Did he truly kill his daughter as a sacrifice to Yahweh? There appear to be three different ways that we may understand this vow in Judges 11:30, 34-40.
1. Jephthah, in an immoral climate violated the law of God and killed his daughter since he has made a rash vow, and the daughter's remorse is over her death to come.
2. Jephthah, in an immoral climate did not violate the law of God, and even though he made this vow to God he chose not to perform the vow but committed her to life in the service of God.
3. Jephthah did not violate the law of God, but instead made a vow that should be understood as "or" so that he would either sacrifice whatever came out or what came out would be dedicated to the service of Yahweh. The girl spent two months in mourning because she would always be a virgin.
Let's look at each of these options.
1. For a vigorous defense of the view that Jephthah offered his daughter as a burnt offering in fulfillment of his vow may be found at George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges, International Critical Commentary (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1910), 304–305. He says, "The older Jewish and Christian interpreters, without exception, understood the words in their plain and natural sense; Jephthah fulfilled his vow by offering his daughter as a burnt-offering. George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges, International Critical Commentary (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1910), 304." Appearing to agree with Moore's conclusion, David Firth, says, quoting Baker, that modern persons might have difficulty with this any more than other moral issues present at the time in Israel. He says, "A moment’s reflection on the Jephthah story in Judges (Judg. 10:6–12:7) quickly illustrates this point. The issue that troubles most modern readers is probably the sacrifice of his daughter (Judg. 11:29–40), something that is reported but without any commentary at all.[26] But, as Baker argues,[27] the author of Judges does not moralize on a wide range of abuses prevalent among other peoples around Israel either, but expects that the way the story is told will speak for itself through the context provided and its aftermath. The narrator expects readers to discern why this behaviour is inappropriate without the need to make this explicit. [David G Firth (2020). (p. 8)." "New Studies in Biblical Theology: Including the Stranger: Foreigners in the Former Prophets." Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com]
2. Some have interpreted Jephthah’s vow that whatever comes out of the doors as a clear intention to offer a human sacrifice (11:31). His surprise then is not that he had to sacrifice a human being, but that the unfortunate person was his daughter (11:34). The phrase "to meet me" seems to refer more appropriately to a human than to an animal, and it is difficult to see why Jephthah would mourn over fulfilling a vow to sacrifice an animal. However, In view of the rashness of the vow and the abhorrence of human sacrifice forbidden in Israel by Yahweh (Lev. 18:21; 20:2; Deut. 12:31; 18:10; Jer. 19:5; Ezek. 20:30, 31; 23:37, 39), it might have caused Jephthah to refrain from the sacrifice of his daughter, in spite of his vow to Yahweh. It is interesting that the text does not say that he actually killed his daughter, but only that he fulfilled his vow, somewhat unclear, followed by the words that "she was a virgin."
3. The third possible interpretation I find the most satisfying due to the ambiguity of the vow, the matter of the two months to mourn regarding the daughter's virginity, and not her death, and because the Hebrew grammar provides for an alternative. The first question, to me, is why would a ruler of the stature of Jephthah, who was declared a mighty man of valor and who asked for the help of Yahweh, offend God in a vow that would be contrary to unambiguous laws of Yahweh. The vow itself seems unclear if either a human or animal greets him first after a victory from Yahweh. Certainly, he indicates that he spoke too soon in expressing the vow, but would the idea of sacrifice be understood as a part of the vow?
Second, the response to the encounter with his daughter seems most unusual if her death by sacrifice is in view. Upon her greeting him he responds that she has brought him low and trouble him. This seems more for the loss of an heir than the loss of a daughter.
Third, he permits her request to spend two months mourning with her friends because of her virginity rather than being put to death. His response on her returning to her father for the fulfillment of the vow. The only statement is "she was a virgin." This seems to indicate a dedication to Yahweh in service, somewhat like Samuel, rather than being sacrificed on a pyre of wood.
Last of all, the Hebrew provides for the conjunction vav to be translated as "or" rather than "and," though the latter is more normal. But this is not a normal situation and the alternative of dedication to Yahweh in service, with husband or child, rather than dedication to Yahweh in death. The sense of the Hebrew, I believe, seems to be the following: “If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon 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 children of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh’s, OR I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”[1]
[1] I am pleased not only to be able to rely on Hebrew grammar for my conclusion, but the arguments of a Jewish Rabbi: Prof. Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, "Did Jephthah Actually Kill His Daughter?"