A TRAGIC LESSON FROM JUDGES - Scott G Rockhold - June 1977

Scott G Rockhold

Many have wondered about the account of Jephthah's daughter (Judges 11). Did Jephthah, judge of Israel, actually sacrifice his daughter to God? Above all, what is the lesson for us today? The place: ancient Palestine. The time: about 1100 B.C. The cast of characters: ancient Israel, a divided and quarreling people consisting of many tribes; the Ammonites, formerly Israel's eastern neighbors, now her oppressors; Jephthah, a judge of "Israel, the son of a prostitute. In return for God's granting victory over the Ammonites, Jephthah promises to sacrifice to God the first one who greets' him upon his return from battle. To his dismay, his daughter, an only child, is the first to greet him. True to his vow, Jephthah offers his daughter as a burnt offering, a tragic event which was still being commemorated by the women of Israel when the book of Judges was written (see Judges 11:40). - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library