"And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, … I will offer it up for a burnt offering." Little did Jephthah know that his only daughter would come out first. There are some that believe that he offered her up as a burnt offering, but there are others like me who believe that he offered her up to the Lord just as Samuel was offered back to the Lord by his mother Hannah. You see, the importance of this story is not about the offering as much as it is about the vow. "And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel…" Jephthah kept his word even though his only daughter remained a virgin the rest of her life, cutting off Jephthah's future posterity, and his daughter was faithful to Jephthah's vow even though it affected her life forever. Oh that we as God's people would have such faith, keeping our vows even though keeping them is difficult. Sometimes believers rashly vow to God at the moment of an emotional high, but quickly forget it even though God still remembers
