Did God Accept Child Sacrifice in Judges 11?

Artwork: 'Jephthah remembers his promise.' Judges 11:30-31

I was browsing atheist.org, in the Bible Contradiction section reveals a large list of supposed contradictions in scripture (every one of these is simply a misunderstanding of scripture). I scrolled through a few, not very convincing so far. Until I came to one that caught my eye, “Human Sacrifice.” The following text is what was displayed on the screen:

[“… Thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God…” — Leviticus 18:21]

[In Judges, though, the tale of Jephthah, who led the Israelites against the Ammonites, is being told. Being fearful of defeat, this good religious man sought to guarantee victory by getting god firmly on his side. So he prayed to god] “… If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering” — Judges 11:30-31.]

[The terms were acceptable to god — remember, he is supposed to be omniscient and know the future — so he gave victory to Jephthah, and the first whatsoever that greeted him upon his glorious return was his daughter, as god surely knew would happen, if god is god. True to his vow, the general made a human sacrifice of his only child to god! — Judges 11:29-34]

This seems like a very interesting contradiction, but it has some very big issues right off the bat.

The Mistake Being Made

The big issue is that whoever made this claim assumes that The Bible Affirms All It Records. The Bible is a collection of books written by 40 different authors over 1500 years, men varying in class and occupation, location and culture. It is a record of God dealing with the fallibility of man. In this, the authors had an interest of realism, so they recorded the world as it was. Man commits many abominations and treacherous sins throughout history. If the record is to be faithful and realistic, then these sins must be recorded as well. Thus when humans do things that are not of God, it is just humans being humans (Romans 3:23). God is loving enough to work with man for ultimate good, despite his sin against God.

What’s the Explanation?

Well the first thing is that the Bible isn’t clear on whether Jephthah sacrificed his daughter or not, it is just not directly stated. With that said, how could Jephthah make such a rash vow while under the influence of the Holy Spirit? Even though the Spirit may guide somebody, they do not lose their free agency to choose to disobey what God is leading. Jephthah was acting on his own free will when he made the rash vow to sacrifice whatever greeted him at home first. Since Jephthah was a judge, he had God’s provision despite his sin (this can be clearly seen in other figures like Samson, Saul, and David). This is seen with just about all of the judges and kings of Israel, they sin because they are human (Romans 1:18). Many people anointed to be leaders by God failed miserably in their personal lives.

God knowing what will happen, and his daughter greeting him, has nothing to do with whether God is somehow evil or that there is a contradiction. The Bible is clear on making rash and foolish vows “ It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,” and to reflect only after making vows. (Proverbs 20:25).” So when Jephthah pays his vow to the LORD. The reading of the text supports the view that Jephthah did offer his daughter as a burnt offering to God. As evil and an abomination as that is, it in no way tells us that God accepted or affirmed this action.

“Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow (Ecc 5:2-4).”

But not every offering to God is accepted as righteous to Him: “Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. (Amos 5:22)”

It is also very key to look at the following verses that mention her going into the wilderness to mourn her virginity. This suggests another possibility, that Jephthah's daughter dedicated her life to living in the temple, this would make it that she would know no man, just as verse 39 says. Jephthah also revered the LORD, so making a rash vow is out of character. His daughter also didn’t show any fear about dying, she very reluctantly went along suggesting she wasn’t going to be killed. Either way, if he actually killed his daughter or not, there is no contradiction. On one hand, if Jephthah did sacrifice his daughter’s life, God did not approve of it; On the other, if Jephthah offered his daughter's life in temple service, then God would have very much been pleased with his vow, and his daughter's willingness to go along with it.

Conclusion

This “contradiction” is no more than a misunderstanding of the Bible. Specifically, it is under the false assumption that the Bible affirms all it records, and that a modern understanding of the text (void of context) is the only and correct one. If we were to approach other historical documents this way, then American history is disgusting and should never be examined or remembered because we affirm and promote everything we did in the past, that is fish logic. Thus this is no contradiction, but a simple realistic record of what Jephthah offered to the Lord, his daughter's devotion.