Shalom and thank you for your question. You wish to understand more fully the matter of Jephtah’s vow and its results. I will henceforth refer to him by the Hebraic pronunciation as Yiftach. There is much to discuss indeed about this matter. Firstly though, I would like to point out that there are many stories in the Bible that are not pleasant. There are stories where people – even very special people – did the WRONG thing and repented. Repentance in Hebrew actually means return. When we do not behave according to G-d’s instructions, we cause a severing of our bonds with G-d. When we return to those bonds – retying the knots by sincerely admitting our wrongdoings and changing our behavior patterns, the spiritual connection becomes even stronger than before.
So when we encounter a story of wrongdoing in the Bible does that mean that we cannot learn from the Bible? No, this is not the conclusion we must draw. The word Torah includes the Five books of Moses, the books of the Prophets, as well the writings of King Solomon and the Oral law which was handed down from Moses to the people and was codified throughout the generations by Torah scholars, in accordance with accepted principles of interpretation. Torah is a Hebrew word from the root ‘hora’ah’ which means teaching or instruction. Torah is about life… and how to live it, as well as how not to live it. The fact that a story is told in the Torah does not necessarily mean that it is something we should emulate. It may mean that it is something NOT to emulate. This is why we need the understanding given us by the Oral law, which includes the commentaries that explain the Torah according to principles that were handed down from Moses onwards. Many people can have opinions but if those opinions are not based on the above-mentioned principles, they are not authentic Oral law. The authentic commentaries draw conclusions based on certain methods of comparison between one Torah text and another, for example.
Before continuing, let’s make it clear that under no circumstances was child sacrifice ever condoned in Torah law. G-d tested Abraham but Isaac was never sacrificed and was never meant to be. On the contrary, the Torah warns the Jewish people repeatedly and in no uncertain terms against idolatrous practices such as that.
Yiftach was asked to become a leader at a time when the spiritual level of the nation was not very high. As had happened many many times, the people had strayed from Torah teachings. In the Talmud, Rosh haShanah 25b, Yiftach is described in an enigmatic fashion:
“Yiftach in his generation is like Shmuel (the prophet Samuel) in his generation. This teaches you that even the lightest of people (someone on a lower spiritual level) when he is appointed a leader of the community – he is like the greatest of Rabbis.” This doesn’t refer to a leader who would deny Torah principles G-d forbid, rather it refers to someone who does not intend to stray from the Torah framework. Such a person was Yiftach when he became a leader, but he did make a horrible mistake with regard to his vow. When he set out to protect his nation against the aggression of the Ammonites, he wished to invoke Heavenly protection and thus made a vow that whatever should emerge from his house to greet him when he returns from the war – if he will be victorious- will be sacrificed to G-d. The commentaries of Rabbi David Kimche, the Radak, and Rabbi David Altschuler, the Metzudat David, explain his intention. If what would emerge from Yiftach’s house would be something that is appropriate to be used as a sacrifice, he would bring it as a sacrifice to G-d, and if not, that being would be consecrated to a life of being set aside for holiness. A later commentator, Rabbi Meir Leibush Wisser, the Malbim, concurs with the aforementioned commentators. Rabbi Levi ben Gershon, the Ralbag, and the aforementioned Radak, maintain that Yiftach’s daughter was not slaughtered, instead, in accordance with the above interpretation of the vow, she was consecrated to a life of worship of G-d without being involved in normal family life. Indeed she says in Judges 11:37, “and I shall cry over my virginity, I and my companions”. She will lament the fact that she is to live a life of virginity. This is not a happy ending for a maiden who lovingly came to greet her father with dancing and timbrels, but it is certainly better than being slaughtered! (The Torah does not see celibacy as a spiritual ideal, instead we are enjoined to live loyal married lives and elevate physical life and relationships by being happy in performing G-d’s commandments.)
As mentioned earlier, , this story is an example of what not to do. The Torah teaches us the seriousness of vows and there are many laws associated with them. It is interesting to point out that in chapters 31 and 32 of Genesis we find a similar story to that of Yiftach.
Jacob and his wives Rachel and Leah leave Laban’s household and Rachel, who wishes to wean her father from idol worship, steals his idols and places them under her saddle bag. Jacob is unaware of this and when Laban pursues the fleeing family and catches up with them, he confronts Jacob regarding the idols. Jacob innocently says that whoever is found with them should die, simply because he is convinced that nobody in his entourage could have had anything to do with them. Unfortunately Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin because of that statement. We are taught that the words of the righteous must be fulfilled. There are more reasons for Rachel’s death at the time and place that it happened but we may make a comparison between the two stories. In both cases there wasn’t an intention of bringing about death of a loved one. Yiftach however, is more to blame because he could have gone to the High Priest (Cohen Gadol in Hebrew) to revoke his vow! Why didnt he? Because of pride. He felt that he was the leader and the High Priest should come to him. The High Priest felt that since he was the spiritual leader, as opposed to political, Yiftach should come to him. As a result the High Priest lost the gift of Divine Inspiration, and Yiftach died in such a manner that his bones were dispersed in different places.
So we see that the lesson we really need to learn here is about pride. We should not be proud in a negative manner!!
Of course, we also need to learn about the power of speech. Once words emerge from our mouth (or our fingers on media) they are irretrievable. Today many Jewish people customarily say ‘bli neder’ when making a commitment. It’s Hebrew for “without a vow”. This is not to say we shouldn’t mean what we say, but we are asking G-d to have mercy and not judge us harshly if we are unable to keep our word. It also signifies to the next person that although we currently intend to fulfill our promise, they should be forgiving if there are unforseen circumstances.
There is a caveat here: The Patriarchs and Matriarchs are holy figures, and the esoteric or Kabbalistic dimensions of Torah explain their deeds on deeper levels. They are in fact described as ‘chariots’ to the Divine will and we cannot fully understand their deeds or judge them by our standards. Yiftach was a great leader but not on such a level. He was not knowledgeable enough in the law, otherwise he would not have ended up in the situation he did.
