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| PentecostalTheology.comIt’s clear that what Jephthah intended was to sacrifice the first animal that he met when he returned home:
Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He marched through Gilead and Manasseh, passing Mizpeh of Gilead; and from Mizpeh of Gilead he crossed over [to] the Ammonites. And Jephthah made the following vow to the Lord: “If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, then whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me on my safe return from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s and shall be offered by me as a burnt offering.”—Judges 11:29-31 (NJPS)
So when it comes time to follow trough on his promise with his daughter, the text says:
After two months’ time, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She had never known a man. So it became a custom in Israel for the maidens of Israel to go every year, for four days in the year, and chant dirges for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.—Judges 11:39-40 (NJPS)
It seems clear that she was, in fact, offered as a burnt offering in violation of Leviticus 20:2 and Deuteronomy 18:10. Wikipedia, however, notes:
According to the commentators of the rabbinic Jewish tradition, Jepthah’s daughter was not sacrificed, but was forbidden to marry and remained a spinster her entire life, fulfilling the vow that she would be devoted to the Lord.
And cites as a source:
Radak, Book of Judges 11:39; Metzudas Dovid ibid
Can this position be supported by the text or is it a pious reading intended to clear Jephthah of wrong-doing?