For victory in battle, Jephthah vowed to the lord that he would offer as a burnt offering, the first thing that met him upon his homecoming. Lo and behold, his daughter was the first to meet him.

Instantly, he was grieved because he could not go back on his word. His daughter, herself loyal to her father and God, agreed to be sacrificed. Surface reading of the text, Judges 11: 30-40, seems to suggest that Jephthah put his daughter on the altar and killed her. But, God’s character and the religious customs of the time say otherwise.

For instance, we know that human sacrifices are an abomination to the Lord (Leviticus 18: 21; 20: 1-3; Jeremiah 32: 35). So with the Holy Spirit upon him, it’s a certainty that Jephthah was stopped from killing his daughter; much like the Lord stopped Abraham from killing his son Isaac.

Furthermore, according to Leviticus 17: 1-9, the only ones allowed to make a burnt offering were priests. It’s not likely that Jephthah would’ve found a priest to offer his daughter in such a way. The priests knew that would be an abomination to God.

Finally, we should take note that before anything was done, the daughter asked to be left alone for a couple of months to bewail her virginity—not her death, but her virginity.

Afterwards, the story says that Israelite women went yearly to comfort her in the temple. That being the case, then obviously her father didn’t kill her. It appears, though, that because Jephthah was willing to carry out his vow, the oath of commitment was allowed to be modified.

His daughter was sacrificed, but it was in terms of consecrating her life to the Lord as a servant in His temple, where she remained celibate.