Lyla,

The story of Jephthah is definitely intriguing. His vow was that whatever came to him would be offered up to the Lord as an ‘olah. The Hebrew word literally means “ascend,” referring to something being offered “up,” the ascent of the altar steps, and the rising of smoke in a freewill burnt offering.

The vow was made after the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. I’m inclined to think that in the midst of that zeal, Jephthah declared his willingness to give all to the Lord without restraint. And though the Lord is not One with Whom we bargain, I do not think He was displeased with Jephthah’s motive, however impulsive.

God did grant Japhthah’s prayer. He might easily have allowed anything or anyone else to greet Jephthah. But instead, the Lord further tested his faith. Jephthah’s agony seems greater than Abraham’s at the point he offered Isaac. Yet Jephthah did not deny the Lord what he had vowed.

How does the story end? The daughter is given two months to “bewail her virginity.” She will never have a husband. After that, Scripture is a bit ambiguous: “And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man.” (Judges 11:39 NKJV)

It says only that she knew no man, that is, never had sexual relations. It never says she was killed. She was a woman of faith. I cannot think her death would have pleased the Lord. There’s room to believe that the daughter was not killed to be offered up as a burnt offering, but that she was in some other way offered ‘up’ to the Lord. Perhaps she was given to the service of the tabernacle and the Levites, to never again see her family, to never have the Israelite woman’s honor to bear a son.

We are left to simply believe that because Jephthah is included in the Faith Hall of Fame of Hebrews 11:32, he pleased the Lord.

Jennifer, from your “vacation computer” — I like that. And hope you are enjoying sweet rest. I have to keep getting space upgrades on my “mystery file.”

Lyla, I’m continually in awe over how you tackle the toughest parts of Scripture and ask the toughest questions within. And you give us permission to ask the tough questions, too.

I have a Mystery File at home, a manila folder where I tuck away questions about God that I don’t get. This one belongs in the Mystery File. I don’t have an answer, but I think you’ve provided the best one I’ve seen yet when you wrote this:

“And so I must decide. Will I take Him as He is, bigger than I can comprehend, more complex than I’ll ever get my hands around?”

No, I don’t see in the text where God accepted or delighted in the sacrifice either. I hear His silence, and it chilled me a little. Still working through that.

I want to believe He was appalled too, but the certainty of that conclusion is coming hard.

Bottom line for me is letting Him be Who He is . . . even when it doesn’t feel good. I’d much rather reform Him to my image than enlarge my view of Him, it seems.

Now, get out of town and enjoy your trip!