Some Disputes Concerning Jephthah's Rash Vow
However, others do have another interpretation concerning the matter of Jephthah's daughter. Studying the Bible requires a strict understanding of when to translate something literally or figuratively. Here are some alternatives that could explain to what really happened.
"Got Questions" has this to say about what truly happened to Jephthah's daughter:
A judge of Israel, Jephthah, had made a foolish vow to the Lord that if God gave him victory in battle, he would sacrifice whatever first came out of his door when he came home (Judges 11:30-31). Jephthah’s daughter was the first thing to come of out his door when he came home (Judges 11:34). The Bible never specifically tells us whether Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering. Judges 11:39 seems to indicate that he did: "He did to her as he had vowed." However, since his daughter was mourning the fact that she would never marry instead of mourning that she was about to die (Judges 11:36-37), this possibly indicates that Jephthah gave her to the tabernacle as a servant instead of sacrificing her.
Whatever the case, God had specifically forbidden offering human sacrifices, so God never would have wanted Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter (Leviticus 20:1-5). Jeremiah 7:31; 19:5; and 32:35 clearly indicate that the idea of human sacrifice has "never even entered God's mind." Jephthah serves as an example for us not to make foolish vows or oaths.
Instead, some commentators would believe that Jephthah actually gave his daughter in service to the LORD's sanctuary. We can read this one in Leviticus 27:2-4:
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the LORD by thy estimation. [3] And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. [4] And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.
What would be important to know is that a special feast was set aside to lament or commemorate Jephthah's daughter. It would be a tragedy to commemorate her as a burnt sacrifice. Instead, she ended up in service to the LORD and she was offered up to the Tabernacle.
Here's an interesting shot from David Guzik of "Enduring Word Bible Commentary" to also help clear things out:
b. She went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity… She knew no man: These words indicate that it is more likely that Jephthah set his daughter aside for the tabernacle service according to the principle of Leviticus 27:2-4, where persons set apart to God in a vow were not required to be sacrificed (as animals were) but were “given” to the tabernacle in monetary value.
i. We know that there were women who were set apart for the tabernacle service; they were called the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting (Exodus 38:8; 1 Samuel 2:22). It is likely that Jephthah’s daughter became one of these women who served at the tabernacle.
ii. His daughter and her friends were rightly grieved that she was given to the tabernacle service before she was ever married. Probably most the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle were older widows.
iii. By sending his unmarried, only daughter to the service of the tabernacle for the rest of her life, it shows how seriously both Jephthah and his daughter took his promise to God.
iv. Many commentators object and see no other option than to say that Jephthah horribly fulfilled his vow by the human sacrifice of his own daughter. “The attempt to commute the sentence of death to one of perpetual virginity cannot be sustained.” (Cundall)
v. Yet her committal to be one the women who assembled at the tabernacle still seems like the best explanation because Jephthah is listed as a hero of the faith (Hebrews 11:32). It is hard to think of him as doing something so contrary to God’s ways as offering his daughter as a human sacrifice and still being mentioned as a man of faith in Hebrews 11.
Here is some excerpt have read from Dr. Vernon McGee's commentary suggested something else on Judges 11:38-40 which seems to also makes sense to why a human sacrifice couldn't take place:
This passage tells us that Jephthah's daughter did not get married. Instead, she dedicated her life to the LORD. The word lament in verse 40 means "to celebrate". Every year for four days Jephthah's daughter was remembered in a special way. She was totally dedicated to the LORD and His service. There is no indication that she was made a human sacrifice. People have argued about this story for years. I am asked that question as much as any other question: "Did Jephthah offer up his daughter in sacrifice?" "No, he did not, but that is not the point. God would not have permitted him to offer his daughter in a burnt sacrifice. The significant factor is that Jephthah kept his vow. His vow was something sacred. He did not trifle with it. It was a rash statement, to be sure, but it was not an idle boast. It was not a hollow promise.
Some say reasonably that Samson (who is listed in Hebrews 11 as a hero of faith) who was a backslider was also in the heroes of faith. Samson also did some pretty questionable things such as destroy the fields of the Philistines More of Samson's misdeeds are recorded than his great deeds - such as his foolish riddle, the slaying of thirty Philistines, destroying the fields of the Philistines as an act of revenge, him sleeping with a harlot and his infamous romance with the treacherous Delilah. Yet, one can see that Samson also had an act of faith in Judges 15 - he relied on God and repented of his boast. He slew a thousand Philistines with a donkey's jawbone and his faith in God broke him free of the ropes that held him. Also, prior to his downfall with Delilah - he also lifted up the city gate which served as Gaza's defense. He was serious about liberating his people yet he had a downfall with women.
Another objection is that Jephthah was an illegitimate child and Deuteronomy 23:2 says that no bastard up to their tenth congregation may enter the LORD's assembly. So how could this be dealt with? Also, he was the child of a harlot which as some people may suggest that he did really offer his daughter as a burnt offering. They also assert that God's silence doesn't immediately mean approval.
In my case, I do believe that Jephthah himself gave his daughter in service to the LORD. Also, John Gill had a commentary on Deuteronomy 23:2 which says the following concerning Jephthah which could further support that Jephthah's daughter could still enter the LORD's service even if her father was born out of wedlock:
Jephthah may seem to be an objection to this, who was the son of an harlot, Judges 11:1, which might be owing the badness of the times, the laws of God being neglected, or to the providence of God so ordering it, who is not bound by His own laws, though men are; nor was he the son of a common harlot, nor an incestuous person but of his father's concubinel besides some think such only are intended who were born of strangers and not Israelites.