Jephthah was a mighty warrior and would save Israel. However, he did not come from a good background, for his mother was a prostitute, and his father's other sons drove Jephthah away. You may think that there are things about your background, or life that make it impossible for God to work in your life. This is not true. In fact, God makes a habit of choosing the things and the people that men have rejected or consider worthless. None of us like it when other people make us out to be worthless in some way, but we should not become discouraged. It is God's opinion that matters more than anything else.
When the nation was in trouble they went to get Jephthah back. Jephthah looked for assurances that they would truly accept him as leader of the nation, and received these assurances.
Jephthah then sent a warning to the Ammonites, reminding them of recent history, seeking a peaceful resolution. The Ammonite king, however, rejected the peace offer.
Jephthah was filled with the Spirit of the Lord and defeated the Ammonites. Jephthah, however, made a foolish vow to the Lord, to sacrifice the first thing he saw when he returned from the battle. This turned out to be his daughter. Surprisingly his daughter did not ask her father to forego his vow, but asked only for two months for her to weep before the Lord. In fact the situation may not be quite as drastic as it seems. It is possible that his daughter was in fact redeemed for money rather than actually sacrificed. The reasons in favour of this view are:
- The Law forbids human sacrifice (Lev 18:21, 20:2-5).
- No priest would be likely to officiate at such a ceremony.
- The Law allowed something vowed to the Lord to be redeemed by it being set aside for lifetime service (Lev 27).
- The daughter mourns the fact that she will never marry, rather than actually being killed.
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