Daughter!
June 10, 2025
“Daughter!”
Blessings folk!
The Lord had given Israel victory over the Ammonites.
They subdued them.
Jephthah led them.
Then Jephthah went home.
Remember the vow he made to the Lord?
Judges 11:34-40
Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah.
And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances.
She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said,
“Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow.”
And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD;
do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth,
now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.”
So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months,
that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.”
So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed,
she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains.
And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel
that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.
ESV
That which greeted him at the door was his only daughter!
Jephthah immediately knew the horror of the vow he had made.
He told his daughter.
Her reply?
“Do to me according to what had gone out of your mouth…”
Very much foreshadowing what Mary would say to the angel…
Could Jephthah have repented of his vow?
I think so.
He could have told God that he would not do such a foolish evil thing.
God hates human sacrifice.
Even if the Lord required his life of him it would be better than sacrificing a child.
Still…
The daughter asked for time to mourn.
Mourn the life she would not have.
Mourn the husband she would not have.
Mourn the children she would not have.
Mourn the legacy that her father abdicated by his vow.
She returned.
Her father “did to her according to his vow…”
Know this.
Words have power.
We speak either blessing or curse.
Learn from Jephthah.
Also remember.
Do not forget…
Heb 11:32
And what more shall I say?
For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,…
ESV
Jephthah is listed in the “gallery of faith” in Hebrews.
Thank you Lord.
We will meet him.
We will meet her…