Both Jewish and Christian scholars have several interpretations. One popular interpretation is based on a close reading of the text, which translates the word “and” as “or,” a justifiable interpretation based on other scriptural verses. Thus if the first entity that Jephthah encounters is an animal, he vows it shall be offered as a burnt sacrifice; however, if it is a human being, the vow is that the latter shall be consecrated to G-d. Jephthah’s daughter is subsequently sent to the mountains in seclusion, not being permitted to marry and having to retain her virginity, but not killed by her father. This is still a harsh punishment but at least it falls short of human sacrifice.
Another interesting interpretation is that Jephthah does indeed slay his daughter in keeping with his vow. However, this is not G-d’s will and is meant to show the Jewish people that sometimes keeping one’s vow to others and even to G-d is NOT the best thing to do. This is also one (minority) interpretation of the Abraham and Isaac story of fidelity to G-d, which states that Abraham, for all his obedience to G-d, FAILED the moral test by obeying G-d and being ready to kill his son. Instead, Abraham should have wrestled more with these orders, informed his wife Sarah of his plans, and argued with G-d that this is contrary to G-d’s own moral values. The purpose of both stories is to show that blind obedience, to people and G-d, is not always justified.
A third interpretation brings another person into the didactic story: namely, Phinehas, the learned High Priest. Jephthah, who was not learned in the Law, was too proud to seek advice from Phinehas. At the same time, Phinehas was too proud to go a little out of his way by traveling to Jephthah to inform him of the error of his intentions. As a result, Jephthah’s daughter is killed and both Jephthah and Phinehas are punished for their pride.
