The book of Judges describes what has been called the “Wild West” period of the Old Testament. It was a time when the rape and murder of a Levite’s concubine would start a national war (Judges 19) and even the heroes of the time were tainted by immorality (Judges 16:1). The period is well summarized by the final words of the book—“everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
In the midst of this time of uneasiness and relative morality, Scripture tell us about a judge named Jephthah. This Gileadite, himself the son of a harlot (Judges 11:1), is used by the Lord to deliver Israel from the Ammonites. As he begins his engagement he vows to the Lord—“If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” (Judges 11:30-31, NKJV). To his horror, upon his return home his only child and daughter comes out of the door of his house celebrating his victory, not knowing what he had vowed (Judges 11:34). Scripture tells us that after allowing his daughter two months with her friends while she “bewailed her virginity on the mountains” (Judges 11:38) he then “carried out his vow with her which he had vowed” (Judges 11:39).
Did Jephthah kill his daughter as a human sacrifice in fulfillment if his vow to the Lord? Under the Law of Moses human sacrifice was clearly condemned (Leviticus 18:21; Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:10). Anyone who practiced it was to receive the penalty of death (Leviticus 20:2). It is clear that Jephthah judged Israel after this event (Judges 12:1-7). Either he went unpunished for his crime or he did what was allowed within the Law that fulfilled the vow.
Jephthah vowed to offer an ‘olah—“whole burnt offering” to the Lord. Although this generally involved the slaying and burning of the sacrificial victim, Unger & White comment that the main significance of the “whole burnt offering” was “the total surrender of the heart and life of the offerer to God” (Nelson’s Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament, p. 276). There is precedent in the Old Testament for living humans to be considered as an offering, as in the case of the Levites who were offered “like a wave offering before the Lord” (Numbers 8:11). Near the close of the period of the Judges, Hannah gave Samuel, an Ephraimite, to the Lord in service to Eli the priest (I Samuel 1:1;11;28). It seems quite possible that this is exactly what Jephthah did - he dedicated his virgin daughter unto service to the Lord, rather than to a husband.
If this was the case it would explain why Jephthah’s daughter mourned her “virginity” rather than her death (Judges 11:37-39). Immediately after the text tells us that Jephthah “carried out his vow” we are told “she knew no man” (Judges 11:39). Service in the tabernacle (and later the temple itself) was reserved for male Levites, but the example of Anna in the New Testament shows a woman “who did not depart from the temple” [i.e. the portion of the sacred area open to women] “but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.” (Luke 2:36,37). Jephthah’s daughter in much the same way may have been devoted to the Lord to serve those who ministered in the Tabernacle.
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