Jephthah’s statement to the king, recorded in Judges 11:27, makes this vow completely empty, totally unnecessary. His vow thus portrays a man who invokes the name of Yahweh but shows by his lack of trust that these words are empty. Furthermore, the Spirit of the Lord was upon him! Victory was assured! He did not need to negotiate with God, like he did with the Gileadite leaders and with the king of Ammon. And he knew what God had done in Israel’s past. But he did not know God. He viewed God as powerful, but he thought that God could be bargained with. Jephthah is saying, God, if you do something for me, I will do something for you.
Jephthah is treating the Lord in the same way the pagans treat their gods. He viewed God as someone made in his own image—a tough negotiator, yet one who could be bought at the right price. He thinks that giving God a little extra incentive to help would be just fine. Jephthah had publicly rested his case on Yahweh, the divine Judge, to decide on the battle. But now he is privately bribing that Judge, acting as if he can slip the judge a little something under the table.1
30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand,