NOTES for Jdg 11:29-39
The story of Jephthah the Gileadite from the Book of Judges can leave us perplexed. He appears to be a positive character, the leader of Israel's army, the victor over the age-old enemies, the Ammonites. And the vow he makes to God also seems understandable. How many times have we heard about people who promised God one thing or another in critical circumstances! And here the critical situation concerns not even Jephthah himself, but the people of God. But then the time comes to fulfill the vow, Jephthah fulfills it, and our heart turns over within us: how could he sacrifice his daughter, since God does not need human sacrifices, as is shown already in the story of Abraham and Isaac? And where is God looking?
But notice God's silence throughout this whole story. Jephthah receives the Spirit to wage war against the Ammonites; everything else is his own pure initiative. He makes decisions both for himself and for God; he does not try to ask Him about anything. There is no place for God here, and the whole situation inevitably reaches a dead end, because fulfilling the vow and not fulfilling the vow both turn out to be sinning before God. And again Jephthah makes the decision himself, without God's participation, and apparently does not even recognize his own sinfulness in doing so.
The Book of Judges does not state its own judgments; oh, how much we would like everything to be chewed over for us. It tells us a story and calls us to reflection and, probably, prayer.