Free Republic

The Daughter of Jephthah. Alexandre Cabanel. Date 1879  The Case against Jephthah If Jephthah were to be arrested for the killing of his daughter, the prosecutor would have some evidence, though largely circumstantial. First there is his infamous and rash vow to God, that if God granted him victory over the Ammonites then the one who came out from the door of his house to greet him on his return would belong to the Lord and he would offer that person, or possibly animal, up as a burnt offering (Judges 11:30-31). Indeed Jephthah wins the victory, but the first to greet him...

​Although critics of the Bible seem to find it objectionable whenever any biblical character is killed, the story of Jephthah and his daughter (Judg. 11:29–40) is frequently singled out for condemnation. Richard Dawkins describes this account as a “story of human sacrifice” that ended unhappily.1 Former preacher turned atheist Dan Barker says that Jephthah “found it hard to murder his daughter, but he was obligated by a vow to God to go through with it, and he did, without condemnation.”2Admittedly, even some Christian apologists say that Jephthah went through with a literal human sacrifice. Biblical scholar Walter Kaiser notes...