Judges 11:36 – 37 “My Father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”

I wrote earlier about Jephthah’s plight when he had to fulfill a vow he had made to God to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house when he returned from battle if God allowed him victory. That first thing was his only daughter.

His plight blew my mind! But wait a minute, what about his daughter? The Word does not tell us her name or her age. It is possible she was a teenager because she was already caught up with the idea of marrying someday. Her father had been rejected by his step-brothers who had chased him away from home, but he was known as a mighty warrior so they had come crawling to him when they needed help. He knew Israel’s history and displayed great faith in God to defend them. My sense too is that he was a righteous man and had taught his daughter well concerning God’s dealings with his people through time, hence her willingness to submit to him even though it would cost her the life she was already imagining.

I mourned for this girl yet again. God asks so little of us today, but here she was in the simplicity of youth, wanting to make sure that God was honored. The Holy Spirit broke in on my thoughts with the following:

“Shall not the God of the whole earth do as he pleases with his people? For to this end he created the daughter of Jephthah that in her submission she should show forth his glory. God was well pleased with her sacrifice. It was the ultimate cost to her but she magnified my name in the only way she knew how. I have her in my bosom, her reward is exquisite. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart. It cost her everything, yes, but she is mine now and forever. That my child is an inestimable privilege.”