Did he actually sacrifice his daughter?

I’m going to take a departure from my normal SOAP and offer up some insight from a commentary that I regard as one of the best. I do this for the sake of the Judges 11 story of Jephthah’s vow. If you read this passage in Judges you may be asking yourself, “What in the world!?” If so, read this commentary and then decide for yourself. Enjoy!

From the Bible Knowledge Commentary: 11:34-40. Victorious Jephthah was met at the door of his house by his rejoicing daughter, who was jubilantly celebrating her father’s victory over Ammon. Emphasis is placed on the fact that she was an only child. Anticipating the fulfillment of his vow, Jephthah expressed his great chagrin and sorrow in typical Near-Eastern fashion by tearing his clothes (cf., e.g., Gen. 37:29, 34; 44:13; Josh. 7:6; Es. 4:1; Job 1:20; 2:12). His statement, I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break, may reflect his ignorance of the legal option to redeem (with silver) persons who were thus dedicated (cf. Lev. 27:1-8). Also the Mosaic Law expressly prohibited human sacrifices (cf. Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut. 12:31; 18:10). Therefore many scholars conclude that when Jephthah did to her as he had vowed (Jud. 11:39), he commuted his daughter’s fate from being a burnt sacrifice to being a lifelong virgin in service at Israel’s central sanctuary. Other scholars believe Jephthah’s semi-pagan culture led him to sacrifice her as a burnt offering. Strong arguments have been advanced for both views (cf. Wood, Distressing Days of the Judges, pp. 288-95; Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Chicago: Moody Press, 1981, 1:331).
Most of the arguments for or against Jephthah’s offering his daughter as a human sacrifice can be used to defend either position and therefore are not conclusive. For example, the grief of both Jephthah and his daughter readily fits either her death or her perpetual virginity. In either case she would die childless (whether sooner or later) and Jephthah would lack descendants. Her asking for two months to roam . . . and weep . . . because she would never marry may be one of the stronger arguments for the virginity view. But this could also mean she was wailing in anticipation of her death which of course would render her childless. Though Jephthah made his rash vow, he probably knew something about the prohibitions of the Mosaic Law against human sacrifice. Yet his half-pagan background, combined with the general lawless spirit dominating the period of the Judges (cf. 17:6; 21:25), could readily account for his fulfilling this vow. The record of the local annual custom that arose to remember Jephthah’s daughter (11:39-40) lacks sufficient detail to support either viewpoint strongly.
Even the existence of a group of young women serving at the tabernacle is not demonstrably evident from the passages used to support this (Ex. 38:8; 1 Sam. 2:22). Nor does the appeal to the law of options for vows (Lev. 27) apply directly to this situation. Nothing is said there about substitutionary service to God for the sacrifice—only the substitution of monetary payment. Therefore in the absence of any clear evidence indicating the girl’s dedication to tabernacle service as a perpetual virgin, the more natural interpretation of the euphemism that Jephthah “did to her as he had vowed” seems to be that he offered his daughter as a human sacrifice.

Whichever position is taken, the attitude of Jephthah’s daughter is worth noting. Whether by death or by perpetual sanctuary service, she was to bear no children. This was a cause of great sorrow in ancient Israel. Yet she submitted herself to her father’s vow: You have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised. An Israelite custom, though probably somewhat localized, developed from the incident. Each year the young women of Israel went out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.