Jephthah's Vow

    Whatever may be supposed to have been the nature of the vow of Jephthah, it was rash and sinful. It injured his daughter, and brought himself into trouble. From his own confession this is perfectly obvious. "And it came to pass when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter, thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back." Divine Providence might have delivered her from the consequences of his rashness. His daughter might have been out of the way on his return, and something else might have been the first to meet him. He that so seasonably provided a ram caught by the horns in a thicket for the occasions of Abraham, could be at no loss to direct events so as to relieve Jephthah. But Providence did not so. It brought him into the very snare that he had set for himself. His daughter was the first to meet him. "Behold, his daughter came forth to meet him with timbrels and with dances; and she was his only child: besides her he had neither son nor daughter." Human wisdom would have acted differently. Had we the direction of Providence on such an occasion, events would have been different, and all would have ended fortunately. The joy of victory and glory would not have been alloyed with the greatest calamity that could befal the house of the conqueror.