What is the meaning of Judges 11:39? After two months Jephthah’s daughter had asked for “two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends because I will never marry” (Judges 11:37). Those sixty days were not a stall tactic; they were a season of honest lament, like the thirty days Israel mourned for Moses in Deuteronomy 34:8, or the time allowed for rites of grief in Numbers 20:29. Her return shows she accepted the cost of her father’s vow rather than fleeing from it—an obedience reminiscent of Isaac walking back down Moriah with Abraham in Genesis 22:7-8. she returned to her father • The phrase underscores voluntary submission. She honored the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12) and echoed Christ’s attitude in Luke 22:42, “yet not My will, but Yours be done.” • Jephthah, for his part, now faced the full weight of Numbers 30:2, “When a man makes a vow to the LORD…he must not break his word.” His daughter’s presence made the decision unavoidable; faithfulness would be costly for them both. he did to her as he had vowed Scripture never applauds the rashness of that vow (Judges 11:30-31), yet it records its fulfillment. How was it carried out? Two biblical facts stand side by side: 1. God expressly forbids human sacrifice (Leviticus 18:21; Deuteronomy 12:31). 2. Burnt offerings were to be wholly consumed (Leviticus 1:9). Because God’s law cannot contradict itself, many understand Jephthah to have kept the vow by dedicating his daughter to lifelong service at the tabernacle, not by taking her life. Leviticus 27:2-4 shows persons could be “devoted to the LORD” and redeemed; yet a rash vow could also remain unredeemed (Psalm 15:4, “who keeps his oath even when it hurts”). Her perpetual virginity—an irreversible sacrifice of future family and inheritance—would satisfy the letter of her father’s words without transgressing God’s prohibition of murder. And she had never had relations with a man The text repeats her virginity to stress what was lost: • In Israel, bearing children was tied to covenant hope (Genesis 17:7; Ruth 4:14-15). • Perpetual celibacy meant forfeiting that blessing, a living sacrifice comparable to the Nazirites who were “holy to the LORD” for life (Judges 13:5). • Women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting are noted in Exodus 38:8 and 1 Samuel 2:22; Jephthah’s daughter likely joined their ranks. So it has become a custom in Israel Judges 11:40 adds, “Every year the young women of Israel go to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah…four days each year.” Her story became an annual reminder that: • God takes our words seriously (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5). • Rash vows can wound innocents (Proverbs 12:18). • Even in flawed situations, faithfulness and purity still shine (Hebrews 11:32-34 includes Jephthah among the faithful). The custom functioned like the Passover (Exodus 12:26-27) or the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24-26): a repeated act that keeps a lesson alive across generations. summary Judges 11:39 records the sober fulfillment of a reckless promise. After two months of mourning, Jephthah’s daughter willingly returned, and her father honored his vow by setting her apart to lifelong virgin service—an outcome faithful to his words yet not in conflict with God’s law against human sacrifice. Her loss became Israel’s yearly lesson on the gravity of vows, the cost of obedience, and the enduring call to honor the LORD with wholehearted devotion. |
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