Read Judges 11 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
11:1-3 {p} Jephthah driven from his father’s house and his land
11:4-11 {p} The elders of Gilead recall Jephthah because of the Ammonites
11:12-28 {p} Jephthah refutes Ammon’s dispute with Israel, but Ammon does not listen
11:29-31 {p} Jephthah’s rash vow
11:32-33 {p} Jephthah’s victory over the Ammonites
11:34-40 {p} Jephthah performs his vow (Jephthah’s daughter)
Judges 11:29-40 Chiastic Structure:
Judges 10 ended with the elders of Gilead looking for a deliverer for them against Ammon. In Judges 11, the son of a harlot who had been driven from his father’s house, and who lived the life of an outcast, was chosen by God to deliver Israel from the hand of the Ammonites.
The Pattern and Repetition, first with Gideon and now with Jephthah, is this:
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. 1 Cor 1:26-29
There is controversy among Hebrew scholars whether Jephthah really did sacrifice his daughter to YHVH as he said he would. God never asked him for it. In fact He forbids sacrificing children to gods as the Canaanites did. But on the flip side, when a man makes a vow to YHVH, he is to keep his vow, so that the name of YHVH is not profaned.
This is one reason divorce is hated by God. A man or woman who divorces their spouse breaks the vow they made to YHVH on their wedding day, when they vowed that only death would part them (adultery negates the vow).
But this is why Yeshua said:
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” Mat 5:33-37
If there are questions, this is a very good resource which explains the controversy:
Jephthah’s Daughter – Dr. Henry M. Morris
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