Did Jephthah's daughter actually die?

And: Was it right for Jephthah to keep his foolish oath over her life?

Author

Luke Taylor
May 18, 2025

All about Jephthah this week

Good afternoon! I hope you had a great Sunday morning. I just returned from a blessed church service and my first time eating at a Red Robin, which came with unlimited sweet potato fries. The lunch was with a couple of missionaries who have 100+ years of experience between them.

This week’s podcast episode was all about Jephthah. He was one of the leaders of Israel that God raised up in the book of Judges. However, being God’s chosen leader certainly didn’t mean he did everything right, and Jephthah made a major error: his foolish vow to give to God the first thing that walked through his door.

That thing, of course, ended up being his own daughter.

Was it right for Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter?

This is the question we analyzed in this week’s podcast episode, which you can listen to right here if you missed it. We analyze the Biblical expectations for vows and for sacrifices, and I give my opinion on which way to go when those things come into conflict.

You might notice that the links now go to our new website. That’s right, we have a website now: WeirdStuffInTheBible.com.

Did Jephthah’s daughter actually die?

And that brings me to the second piece of new content available from the ministry this week.

The conventional idea is that surely Jephthah must have intended for an animal (such as a household pet or barnyard critter) to come through his door rather than a person.

Courageously, Jephthah’s daughter submits to the vow her father spoke, insisting that he keep his word despite whatever happens to her.

However, there is one word in Jephthah’s original declaration that may have been misunderstood by our translators.

Once we understand it, we might find that Jephthah’s daughter possibly didn’t even die at all.

Have a great week, and tune in Wednesday for our next episode where we look at the confusing death of another Old Testament figure: Why did Uzzah have to die?