Judges 11:30-40: God accepts child sacrifice?

Dear Servant

Thank you for a very interesting question and I hope that you will find my study on it informative.

Your Question

Can anybody here tell me why did God accept a child sacrifice in Judges 11:30-40

Answer
God never asked for any child sacrifice and God never accepts any child sacrifices.

And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, "If you give me 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 as a burnt offering (Judges 11:20)"

Burnt Offering was never supposed to be of a human, what actually Jephthah meant was that if any human came out to meet him, he would consecrate that person to God and if a suitable animal came out (if it is fit for burnt offering), that he would sacrifice it for God.

Now watch the two conditions Jephthah puts to God:

1. Will be Lord's
   
2. I will sacrifice as a burnt offering
   

Now the sacrifice would be suitable for burnt offering. If a dog would have met Jephthah, this would not have been a suitable burnt offering.

Animals for Burnt Offering

"If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, from either sheep or the goats, he is to offer a male without defect" [Exodus 1:10]

Birds for Burnt Offering

"Dove or a young pigeon" (Leviticus 1:14)

Therefore, daughter of Jephthah does not qualify the condition for a burnt offering. An offering that was supposed to be sacrificed before God was to be a MALE animal.

Now coming to human sacrifice, it was and is an abomination to God and this was one of the reasons that God drove out Cannanites because they offered their first borns to Molech and God told Israelites:

Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices (Exodus 23:24)

Please do understand, that Jephthah did not make a rash statement before God. He only made two vows or promises with God and Jephthah kept his promise due to willingness of his daughter that he made to God.

That daughter was never sacrificed, instead she was consecrated to God.

She and the girls went to 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. (Exodus 11:39)

His daughter and his daughter's friends wept on the hills because she knew that she was being consecrated to God and she will never get married. Due to her willingness to keep her father's vow/promise she is highly respected among Jews. Till now, Jewish women do follow the custom as mentioned in the Bible.

From this comes the Israelite custom that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. (Judges 11:39-40)

I hope that I answered your question, if you think that it further needs clarification, please feel free to ask.

servant wrote:It says clearly that he would offer her up as a burnt offering!

this is the Bible

Bible no where says this and you have added words to it

Thank you for your kind remarks "it is clear to me that you do not understand the passage". If you had understood the passage then Why did you ask the question? Was it just for fun?

I ask, if a dog had come out first from his house, would he sacrificed it to God as a burnt offering and would it be acceptable to God? Is human sacrifice a God's command and is it acceptable to God?

Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf (Lev 22:20)

The most interesting thing that you wrote:

The reason why he tore his close in verse 35 - was because he was going to have to offer her up as a burnt offering! She could not live if she was going to be a burnt offering! She would perish in the fire.

However, the reason why he mourned for his daughter was:

But nothing that a man owns and devotes to the LORD - whether man or animal or family land - may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD (Leviticus 27:28)

Jephthah knew that once he had consecrated his daughter to God, he would have no heir as she was the only child of his and he could not redeem her also.

Why do you add words to the Bible?

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- and what was his vow, it was a burnt offering. Judges 11:39

Judges 11:39 says, "...and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin".

So believe whatever you want, you have the Bible and God has given you wisdom to believe and surely God has given you freedom to make choices and you can assume whatever you want.

God bless you