Is God merciless or do we misunderstand Him?

A few years ago, I saw a movie called "Apocalypto." One of the scenes described a human sacrifice. In the Bible, we see a similar scene through Jephthah's story(Judg. 10:6~11:40) about human sacrifice especially with his daughter. Could it be shown that Jephthah's offering was that kind God commanded His people to offer? First, I want to define the type of offering he offered to God, then discuss whether or not he made right decision. Lastly, I want to reflect on the lessons of modern time.

In the Old Testament, there are five typical offerings : Burnt offering, Grain offering, Peace offering(also known as the fellowship offering), Sin offering, Guilt offering. Then, I want to discuss does Jephthah's offering fall into any of these categories. I think we can presume three possibilities from his offering. First, the burnt offering. It was a typical offering to God for resisting the relationship to God and showing complete dedication. However, reflecting on the real meaning of Burnt offering, there are a couple of problems. Burnt offerings are depicted in Leviticus 1 :4 as, "to make atonement for him." First Jephthah's offering was not a sacrifice for his atonement, also it was not "an aroma pleasing to the LORD." (Lev. 1 : 9) His offering could also be defined as a sign of thankfulness as a grain offering? However, as we know his daughter was not a grain so it could not be in category of a grain offering even if it contained the same motive. Final the possibility is that Jephthah's offering could be defined as a fellowship offering to show thankfulness and praise to the Lord? It seems to fit for his offering because it was also used an animal sacrifice. However, Leviticus 7 : 15 says, "The meat of his fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; he must leave none of it till morning." His sacrifice could not be eaten because how he could eat his own daughter?! Based on these points, Jephthah's offering could not be justified as what God wanted to receive from him.

Then, was there any possibility he could cancel his vow? Yes, there was a certain example from God in Leviticus 27 : 2, "~if anyone makes a special vow to dedicate persons to the LORD by giving equivalent values," God is merciful and He knows we could change our mind as well as He could change His mind according to His love for us. In this point, I suggest one possibility that Jephthah followed contemporary wicked culture. The culture showed their dedication to their false gods by lifting up their own children as burnt offerings. It is not same case, but Lot was also shown as following wrong culture in Genesis 19 : 8, "Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them." Based on Scripture, Jephthah should follow God's intention not the wicked way of culture, like Lot did.

In conclusion, modern people also misunderstand the real meaning of God's purpose. One typical case is that of pornography. In a survey, forty percent of American teenagers had an experience of sex. Also, the percentage of abortion in Korea is the highest in the world. If someone wants to blame God and wants to ask God why He allows this evil thing in the world, then I believe God did not create this wicked way based on the Old Testament. In Genesis, after God created human beings then he blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it."(Gen. 1:28) In brief, His original purpose for mankind was to fill the earth and it was not to abuse it.