JU11-15: Five Common Arguments People Use To Say Jephthah Did NOT Really Kill His Daughter

So let’s go through all of the main arguments why people say Jephthah didn’t really kill his daughter.

ARGUMENT 1
If Jephthah possessed even one inkling of Torah understanding, he would know that the Law of Moses forbid human sacrifice and thus the thought to commit such an abomination would never even have crossed his mind.

MY REBUTTAL:
Well, couldn’t the same thing be said of any Israelite who committed any sin, not just human sacrifice, at any time?  

And if you’re a Christian, what do you have to say about the greatest human sacrifice of all time when the Lord had his own son nailed to a cross for the whole world to see?

ARGUMENT 2
Hebrews 11:32 says…“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets…”.  

So basically the argument here is how could someone who committed a human sacrifice be included in this list with other great men of God?

MY REBUTTAL:
Personally, I find this argument weak because included in this list we have both a murderer and an adulterer (King David) and a whoremonger (Samson).

Yet God still found the grace to include them in this list.

The truth is we are all sinners that need God’s grace to be saved.

ARGUMENT 3
Yiftach was anointed with the Lord’s Holy Spirit.  

So how could someone who was so strongly guided by God’s Holy Spirit do such a horrible thing such as killing his daughter is how the argument goes here.

MY REBUTTAL:
Well again, couldn’t we say the same thing about Samson?

How come the Holy Spirit, which gave him his supernatural strength, never left him when he was sleeping around with prostitutes for instance?

I mean the Holy Spirit only left him when Deliah cut his hair.

That means if Samson visited a brothel, the Holy Spirit wouldn’t leave him but if he dared go to a barbershop, he could be in big trouble.

ARGUMENT 4
The Tabernacle was staffed with full-time female workers and one of the main requirements was that they all had to be virgins.

MY REBUTTAL:
Honestly, I don’t get how this is a strong argument.

Just because you have a stable of female virgin workers in existence doesn’t serve as strong evidence that Yiftach’s daughter worked there…unless you have some sort of attendance record or something.

ARGUMENT 5
We should automatically have the good sense to interpret Jephthah’s vow as meaning IF an animal came out to greet Jephthah it would become a burnt offering but if a human being came out, he or she would become a “vow offering” meaning that person would have to dedicate his or her life to the Lord until death.

MY REBUTTAL:
I’ve already addressed this in another article by establishing that Yiftach already had a human sacrifice in mind when he made his vow.

You can read that article by clicking HERE.

Alrighty, let me close with the grand rebuttal by pointing out what each of the five arguments above have in common.

Have any idea what it might be?

The answer is that every one of those arguments listed above are based on nothing but emotions and feelings.

They’re driven by how we want things to be in spite of evidence to the contrary.

Why?

Because sometimes the truth is ugly and we don’t want to face it.

That’s why people love to ignore verses like these in the Bible.

“Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”-1 Samuel 15:3

This is a divine command from a Holy God!

Onwards.

“She answered, ‘This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’  So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.’”-2 Kings 6:28-29

Oh, the depravity we human beings are capable of in desperate situations!  

This is a scene of mothers eating their own children.

Onward.

“The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she said.  He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.'”-Matthew 15:25-26

The Prince of Peace, the Messiah of Israel lets us know what he really thinks of gentiles.

It would appear that he is both a racist and a patriot.

Onward.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household”.-Matthew 10:34-36

So much for the typical Christian image of a Messiah who only came to preach buttery love and pour maple syrup on our pancakes.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”-Luke 14:26

No comment.

 ^“If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them.  You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people.”-Deuteronomy 13:9

Honestly, this means I’d have to kill both of my parents and brothers today if they were under Israel’s covenants.

“She remembered her lover with the penis like a donkey and a flood of semen like a horse.”-Ezekiel 23:20

“A loving doe, a graceful deer—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.”
-Proverbs 5:19

Hot darn!  

I got some hardcore porno in my Holy Bible here baby!

Alrighty, I’m gonna stop there but trust me there’s a TON more shocking content that we choose to ignore because we SUBJECTIVELY find it offensive.

And that’s my point.

It’s because we project our own assumptions and our own ideas of morality and right and wrong onto the text that we come up with all kinds of ridiculous doctrines that are totally unscriptural such as the idea that…

…the God of the New Testament is a different God than the one in the “Old” Testament.

…the only type of marriage God approves of is between one man and one woman.

…the Christian church has replaced Israel (what a joke!).

And…

…that there is no way in hell Jephthah would ever kill and sacrifice his daughter.

Honestly, I really wanna believe Jephthah didn’t kill his daughter.

I really do.

I personally can’t stand the sickening idea that an innocent young and I’m assuming beautiful girl had to have her life snuffed out because her father made a rash vow.

Anyways, I digress.

See ya all next time.