Jephthah Sacrifices His Daughter

Today I read Judges 11 which contains a very important lesson about making rash promises.  This chapter contains the story of Jephthah who delivered Israel from the hands of the children of Ammon with the help of the Lord.  But because of his own foolishness it cost him his daughter.

I have always wondered about this story and why Jephthah was so foolish to make such a promise.  He promised the Lord that if the Lord would deliver the Ammonites into his hands in battle that when he returned home he would offer up sacrifice of the first thing that came out to greet him.  What a dumb thing to promise!  I mean, what was he expecting to come out and greet him?  A chicken?  A dog?  Why would anyone in their right mind promise such a thing.  Of course the first thing to come out would be a person.  Maybe a family member, maybe a servant, maybe even a friend.  But why would anyone think otherwise?  I can't even wrap my mind around what he might have been thinking.

But the lesson I have always taken from this chapter is to be careful what you say and promise to the Lord.  The one positive thing I can say about Jephthah is that he kept his promise and did in fact sacrifice his daughter.  However, if he had not been so rash and so dumb he wouldn't have had to do it in the first place.  The old saying goes be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it applies very nicely here.  Until tomorrow.