Page 24 - October 2025 - Truth & Tidings

virgin that experienced abandonment and beyond words.
judgement so that the nation could be saved. Another reason for the grief of Jephthah
Just as Isaac did not suffer a literal was that his name, inheritance and family
death, the same happens here. The fact line would be lost and forgotten in Israel.
that Jephthah’s daughter bewails her Again, we have little notion in the west of
virginity is proof of this. He “did with the importance of passing on the family
her according to his vow” (Jdg 11:39) heritage and line, but in Israel it was of vital
has already been explained in terms of a importance (Deu 25:6; Rut 4:10; Psa 109:13).
spiritual sacrifice. The Judges author also It is only the grace of God, the faith of this
explains the fulfilment of Jephthah’s vow as judge, and the devotion of his daughter that
“she knew no man” (v39). Jephthah devotes have ensured that their name has not been
his daughter to the Lord. Just as Samuel blotted out. Jephthah’s daughter had sisters
was lent to the Lord, the daughter here in the tribe of Manasseh. They were the only
experiences the same. Life-long celibacy progeny of their father Zelophehad (Num
is the stereotypical image in Scripture of a 27:1) and had received inheritance among
life laid down in complete consecration to their brethren. Jephthah’s only daughter
God (Isa 56:4-5; Mat 19:12). “She knew no stood to receive the same, but the vow
man” confirms that this is what Jephthah’s forfeited all this.
daughter experienced.
If she was a literal sacrifice, the repeated Celebration of the Vow
emphasis on her virginity would be The final statement shows that God is
redundant. The point of focus would be on no man’s debtor and that He amply repays
her death, not her virginity. Note carefully Jephthah and his daughter for keeping the
that the narrative says she bewailed her vow: “It became a fixed custom in Israel …
virginity proper, not that she would die a from year to year the daughters of Israel
virgin. The Judges author has no problem go to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah
recording gory details elsewhere in the the Gileadite four days in the year” (Jdg
book, but does not do so here, since there is 11:39-40 JND). She is praised and celebrated
no human sacrifice. here because she is alive and present. The
In our day of tragic anti-natalism, where Israelites would not have gone to celebrate
feminist ideology has mixed with climate a human sacrifice offered from the hands
alarmism to tell us that having children of a semi-pagan judge. One translation
is a bad thing, a life of perpetual virginity renders the final verse as follows: “From
might not seem much of an issue. However, time to time the daughters of Israel go to talk
the Bible shatters such western ignorance. to the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite,
“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: four days in a year” (v40 YLT). The word
and the fruit of the womb is his reward. celebrate (tana) is only used twice in the
… Happy is the man that hath his quiver Old Testament. The other time, “there shall
full of them” (Psa 127:3,5). Fruitfulness in they rehearse [tana] the righteous acts of the
children was a blessing; barrenness was a LORD, even the righteous acts toward the
curse (Exo 23:26; Deu 7:14; 28:4; Psa 78:63; Jer inhabitants of his villages in Israel” (5:11),
7:34). Jephthah’s daughter would never be a shows again that the word means praise
mother; Jephthah, never a grandfather; the or celebrate. The word according to most
family name would die. This was a sadness lexicons has the idea of attributing honour

312 TRUTH kTidings October 2025