Does the god of the bible allow human sacrifice or the sacrifice of children? Most Christians would clutch their pearls and say NEVER
...But the god of Abraham does exactly that. It's said in the bible that one of the foul things done by the nations whom the Israelites conquered was sacrificing their children to their god.
But isn't that exactly what happens in the story of Jephthah?
He promises god that if he will grant Jephthah victory in battle then he will sacrifice whatever comes out of his house to meet him upon his return. Now let's just blow right past the fact that at BEST something coming out of his house to meet him is going to be a pet and more likely a family member.
When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child.
Judges 11:34
And then (after giving his daughter some time to "mourn her virginity") Jephthah does as he promised and burns his daughter as a sacrifice to god in return for his victory.
Just because Jephthah made that promise to God and seems to have followed through with a sacrifice, doesn't mean it was God's will or that he condoned it. The law of Moses forbade child sacrifice and in Jeremiah 7:31 God says the burning of sons and daughters is something that never entered his mind.
