The Return of Jephtha
by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini Mario’s objects to my statement that we should not hold Jephthah up as an example of someone who behaved honourably for keeping his vow to the Lord even though it meant sacrificing his daughter. His comments are in quotes and my responses follow.

If Jephtaphs example should not be followed, why doesn’t it say so?

Ah, but it does. First of all, the law, which had been given previously to the nation of Israel, forbids sacrificing one’s children (Deut. 12:30, 31; 18:10). Jephthah should have known it, and so should someone reading the book of Judges in the context of the Old Testament.

Secondly, the whole book of Judges is summed up like this: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) This statement is repeated elsewhere in the book, too. It’s sort of a blanket statement covering the whole book, and should serve as a warning to the reader that the things the people do in this historical account are, as a general rule, not given to us as examples to follow.

Moreover, why does god keep his end of the bargain, knowing that Jephtaphs daughter would be the first to greet her father?

Where does God enter into a bargain with Jepthah? God doesn’t have an “end of the bargain” to keep. Instead, his deliverance of his people was because of his faithfulness to them in spite of their downward spiral—and in spite of Jephthah’s sinful vow—and not because God was doing his part in a negotiated deal.

What more, it wasn’t as if God delivering his people forced Jephthah to go ahead and sacrifice his daughter. There were provisions in the law for people who made rash vows that they didn’t keep. They could confess their sin and bring a sin offering (Leviticus 5). There were also provisions for annulling vows (Leviticus 27). Jephthah had good and right options that he didn’t use, but rather, he chose to keep a sinful vow—a vow to do something specifically forbidden in the law God gave to Israel.

Why would [God] let people include that story in his book, if he would want to be clear that he would never take a human sacrifice?

He includes the story as part of the true history of Israel. It’s part of the historical record given to show how bad things were, spiritually and otherwise, at this time in Israel’s history. The story of Jephthah helps make the key point of this particular historical narrative—that without a godly king, everyone did what they judged to be right instead of what God judged to be right.

And God’s hatred of human sacrifice is set out clearly in his law. There’s no lack of clarity from God on this point.

I think your interpretation is just wishfull thinking.

You think so? I’d say it’s the way someone considering Jephthah’s story as part of the whole of the book of Judges and in light of God’s previously given law would interpret it.