Quote:
Originally Posted by Brother V
We aren't told exactly that he offered her as a burnt sacrifice, it's pretty much implied.
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The Bible doesn't spell it out, but it's pretty clear to me what happened.
Jephthah vowed that whatever comes out of his house to greet him "shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering." We know he kept his vow, because he said, "I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back." Finally, we know his daughter went along with it, because she said, "do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth".
Liberal theologians are incredibly troubled by Judges 11:29-40. They struggle and twist and weasel to come to the conclusion that Jephthah broke his vow and that his daughter was not offered as a burnt sacrifice. They make a lot of hay out of the verses where she bewailed her virginity and knew not any man, and claim that Jephthah sent her to a nunnery instead.
This stance is on very shaky ground, scripturally and historically. All of the early writers believed she was sacrificed. The view that she was made into a nun didn't come about until the middle ages. When performing exegesis, following the law of "least scripture twisting" always gives the best understanding of the Bible. In this case, the understanding that she was sacrificed is exactly what you get if you follow the law of "least scripture twisting".
One final point is this. The liberal theologians try to claim that Jephthah's vow was rash, and that if Jephthah had sacrificed his daughter, that it would have been an abomination to God. Both of these claims are hogwash, and scripture proves it:
Judges 11:29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.
Judges 11:30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
Judges 11:31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
Jephthah's was under the influence of the Holy Spirit when he made his vow. It wasn't a rash vow at all. God wanted him to make this vow. Now who reading this thinks God didn't know that Jephthah's daughter would be the one to run out and meet Jephthah when he returned?