In this episode from Judges Chapters 10:17 - 11, we read about the 8th Judge, Jephthah and how he defeated the Ammonites after they had oppressed the Israelites for 18 years. However, Jephthah made the mistake of mixing the worship of the true God with the way the Canaanites worshipped their pagan gods. The vow he made to sacrifice his daughter was the way the Canaanites worshipped their gods - they sacrificed their children to them. Sacrificing our children was never a part of the true worship of God. You might ask, what about Abraham? God tested Abraham’s total dedication to Him to see if he was willing to give up his only son for God. God was not going to have Abraham kill his son. In fact God provided a ram for that offering (Genesis 22). We read numerous scriptures proving God did not require human sacrifices and He was not pleased with it (Deut 12:30-32, Lev 20:1-2, Deut 18:9-14, Jeremiah 19:4-6). Because Jephthah practiced both the worship of God and the worship of the pagan idols, he thought literally sacrificing his daughter was acceptable. This was one of the main reasons God thru Moses and Joshua warned the Israelites not to learn the ways of the Canaanites and do not mingle with them. What can we learn from this? That we are also called to live holy (separated from the world and dedicated to God). We are told to be in the world but not of the world. We must be watchful that we are living our lives by God’s standards and not the world’s standards. We are God’s ambassadors. God help us not to compromise and help us to represent You well!