Page 6 - October 2026 - Truth & Tidings

hat did Jephthah do to his “The first is that nowhere else in the He-
daughter? The answer of brew Bible is ’ôlah [burnt offering] used
WScripture seems unambiguous figuratively, especially in the other two
enough: “She returned unto her father, cases involving human beings in Genesis
who did with her according to his vow 22 and 2 Kings 3. Secondly, the symbolic
which he had vowed” (Jdg 11:39). His interpretation requires acceptance of
1
vow, in turn, seems similarly unambigu- the unlikely fact of the existence of two
ous: “Whatsoever cometh forth of the phrases occurring side by side, one being
doors of my house to meet me, when I literal (“he will belong to the Lord”) and
return in peace from the children of Am- the other figurative (“I will offer him up
mon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I as an ’ólah” ). Ultimately, while the emo-
2
will offer it up for a burnt offering” (v31). tional appeal of an alternative outcome is
That being so, it seems difficult to avoid undeniable, its basis in the text is tenuous.
the unpalatable, unthinkable, appalling The conclusion is awful but irresistible:
conclusion that this father, this Israelite, Jephthah offered his daughter as a burnt
this judge, who had been used by God offering. In doing so, he immolated not
to bring deliverance to His people, took just his daughter but his posterity too.
his “only child” (v34) and offered her as The narrator is keen to stress both ele-
a burnt offering. ments of the tragedy. There is something
Notwithstanding the clarity of the text, enormously touching about the submis-
some interpreters have found this con- siveness of Jephthah’s daughter, which is
clusion impossible to stomach and have brought into higher relief by the shocking-
argued that Jephthah, rather than offering ly self-centred nature of Jephthah’s grief:
his daughter, instead consigned her to “Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me
a life of perpetual virginity. One way of very low, and thou art one of them that
making the text support this conclusion trouble me” (v35). The statement that she
is to argue that Jephthah’s vow was in was his “only daughter,” which echoes
two parts: “[it] shall surely be the LORD’s, what is said of Isaac in Genesis 22:2,
or I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” emphasises the tragedy of her death. But
As we have seen in a previous article, it also reminds us that the consequences
this reading is grammatically untenable. of Jephthah’s vow went beyond the loss
Another option is to argue that the term
“burnt offering” is used symbolically, of his daughter. The focus on his daugh-
that it speaks not of a literal sacrifice, ter’s virginity reminds us just how far-
but rather of the total dedication of the reaching those consequences would be.
young woman to God. This view suffers Those interpreters who are keen to avoid
from at least two significant problems: the conclusion that Jephthah actually

1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV 2 David Marcus, Jephthah and His Vow (Lubbock,
unless otherwise noted. TX: Texas Tech Press,1986), 26.

294 TRUTH kTidings October 2026