True History - Veritas Card #37 - Jepthah's Foolish Vow

Jepthah's Foolish Vow - Judges 11, 12

    Sometimes people make rash decisions. That means they make decisions too quickly or without much thought. Jepthah did such a thing.
   Jepthah was a leader in Israel, whom God used to rescue Israel. He was successful in conquering the Ammonites. God's Spirit helped Jepthah to win over them.
   There was a place called 'Gilead' whose leaders went to Jepthah and asked him to lead them. Another group called the Ephraimites, were angry  because Jepthah took the goods from the Ammonites and Gilead received the credit for it. The Ephramites did not join in the battles when Jepthah called. So now there was fighting between the Gileadites and the Ephraimites. So what ended up happening was that the Gileadites tried to make the Ephraimites say a word they couldn't pronounce, when they would try to cross over the Jordan.
   Here is what Jepthah vowed; He said basically just before the battle with the Ammonites, that he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his door as a burnt offering, if the Lord were to give him the victory. What do you think was the first thing that came out of his door? Perhaps a puppy or kitten? Maybe an elephant? No, something that was very dear to his heart, I'm sure.
   Well, the battle was won, so now he certainly had to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his door. And what could that have been? The first thing that ran out of his house was his daughter, his only daughter. It is just speculation on what actually ended up happening to the daughter. Jepthah may have sacrificed his only daughter, or maybe he made her serve all the days of her life, at God's sanctuary. What ever happened, she never married and Jepthah's line died out. He was not going to have many descendants now. His decision cost him his daughter's life. What a lesson we can learn from this. Whenever we have decisions to make, we need to pray and think them through, then follow the best decision as God shows us. That will save us a lot of heartache and difficulties.
   The time period for this is around 1350 B.C.