Did Jephthah Kill His Daughter?
It’s one of the more puzzling passages we find in Scripture. As war loomed between Israel and her oppressors, God’s Spirit came upon the Israelite commander, Jephthah (Judg. 11:29). In the very next verse, we read, “And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, ‘If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, 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’” (Judg. 11:30-31). So Jephthah and Israel crushed the Ammonites “with a very great slaughter” (v. 33). But when Jephthah returned home in triumph, “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. 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 give...