Judges 11:30-31 - And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
Hindsight is 20-20, but foresight isn't totally blind. So I wonder what Jephthah expected to come "out of the door of [his] house" if not a member of his family or perhaps a servant, had he owned any. Did he keep animals in the house? Was there anything that could have come through the doorway on its own that could have served as a legitimate sacrifice?
I wonder how many people knew of the vow Jephthah had made. Apparently his daughter hadn't heard it or she would have stayed inside.
I wonder if Jephthah's carrying out of the vow was pleasing to God. Jephthah had put himself between a rock and a hard place. God said that vows must be kept, but keeping this one would result in killing a family member who (as far as we know) hadn't broken any laws that warranted the death penalty. Again, hindsight is 20-20...Jephthah should have gone to a priest and inquired of the LORD what to do in this situation. God probably would have had an alternate solution that didn't involve the rock or the hard place.
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