Jephthah killed his own daughter?

[wordsower]

I came across this this morning and it is quite disturbing. I know there is some deeper meaning to the story--surely. This man promised God if He would deliver his enemies into his hand he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house. What did he think would come out of his house?? His daughter comes happy, dancing to greet him and he tells her he has to kill her, offer her as a burnt sacrifice!

This is very odd!!

Any insight?

[wordsower]

I found this commentary: (nice dialogue with myself)

by Kyle Pope

The book of Judges describes what has been called the

[peaches]

very interesting wordsower.

very very interesting .

[wordsower]

Despite the commentary, I think he killed her, that is what it looks like to me, I guess he was a foolish man, this was clearly against the law.

[traveller]

wordsower, I do too, because it says that he would offer up a burnt sacrifice.

He really wasn't a smart guy. See, the whole vow was needless. The victory was already his, he didn't have to have anythign additional from the Lord. It says in Judges 11

29. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.

This was before he made the vow. By the Spirit of the Lord "coming on" him, he was confirmed in his victory. He should have just trusted God and gone on about his war. I think this is telling us that too many times we want assurances for something that has already been promised, which causes us to lose out on blessings that we already have.

Good thread wordsower!

[wordsower]

The people in Judges were quite strange, there is a lot of weird stuff in there. There is also scripture, I think in Proverbs, that says not to make foolish vows to the Lord. Surely he knew that his daughter might be the one to come out of his door first, what was he thinking? His only child at that, which is really stressed in the story, so what might that mean? Sometimes I wonder why these strange things are in the bible, but I know they are there for a reason. Maybe I think too much. :x:

[traveller]

No, wordsower - you are right on target! The tihings in the bible are all there for a reason, and many things have multiple meanings. I don't think that man will ever know everything contained in the good book, because it is alive and so very intricate. God did not overlook anything. Not from the naming of a baby to the date that something happened to the place it occured to the times a person is to be forgiven. It all has depth and meaning. So many times we read through and don't see the details. It's a beautiful beautiful work.