N30-4: The Perfect Example In All Of Scripture Why One Should NOT Impulsively Make A Vow To God

Since we’re in the midst of discussing vows, there is no way I can overlook what is probably the most perfect and shocking example in all of the Bible of why one should never make a rash vow.

I’m talking about Jephthah who first makes his appearance in the Book of Judges.

Jephthah was an Israelite who was most likely a member the Tribe of Gad since he was born in the territory known as Gilead.

Gad originally went by the name of Gilead during the era of Judges.

Gad was also one of the two and half tribes who made the decision to NOT live inside the Promised Land but instead chose to reside in the territory on the east side of the Jordan River, the area known as the Transjordan.

The background of Jephthah’s story is that the nation of Ammon was harassing Gilead to the point where Gilead realized they would have to go to war with the Ammonites. 

The problem was that Gilead didn’t have a military leader who possessed the charisma, and capability needed to lead the people of Gilead to victory.

Many years earlier Jephthah had been kicked out of Gilead because his mother was a prostitute.

But here’s the thing.

Gilead was known as a brutally effective and ferocious warrior.

He would have been the perfect candidate to lead the people of Gilead in a war against the Ammonites.

Given the desperate situation, the leaders of Gilead decided to overlook Jephthah’s illegitimate background (that he was born from a prostitute) and asked Jephthah to lead them in battle and in return he would be reinstated as a full-fledged member of the tribe (Gad) that he had been kick out of earlier.

Jephthah agreed to the terms and from this point is where things get sticky.

In order to ensure victory over the Ammonites, Jephthah decided to make a vow with the Lord.

Let’s read about it below.

 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites.  And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands.  He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child.Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.  When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.”

“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.  But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”

“You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry.  After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

From this comes the Israelite tradition that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

And there you have it folks.

When Jephthah made the vow he did, he never would have imagined that it would be his young daughter who would become the burnt offering he would have to sacrifice.

Now I’m not going to get into a debate about whether Jephthah really sacrificed his daughter or not.

I’m well aware that many will argue that Jephthah did NOT literally offer up his daughter as a burnt offering.

The Scripture is pretty darn clear that Jephthah did indeed kill her and offer her up as a burnt offering and on top of that, we’re told that a special day of commemoration was established in Israel for Jephthah’s daughter and what happened.

I think it should also be pointed out that Jephthah could have made a different decision concerning his daughter.

He could have chosen to break his vow to the Lord, NOT sacrifice his daughter, and just bear the consequences, whatever they may be, for his impulsive vow-making.

Yet, he felt handcuffed to his vow, and this also goes to show just how serious vows to the Lord were taken in those days.

Quite a far cry from us modern folk who make a promise today and forget it tomorrow.