Jephtah's daughter - human sacrifice or not? (page 2)

Shazard

Ouh you people want explanation.
Well were do you find that God required this sacrifice of daughter?
Scripture teaches that when you do promisses to God you have to fullfill... And he does. Bible does not gives us judgement of his deed. But here comes tricky part... Imagine WHAT it took from father to realize that he have to give his daughter coz he promised itself! Would YOU give your daughter WOULD you change your mind after you made promise to God. I guess no... coz you don't take such promises seriously. But the father did... and he fulfilled his promise even it was HIS daughter.
Now question... would you like God to change his mind about giving his Son. What God felt when he had to give his Son for sacrifice? Will God fulfill his promise?
Think about it. Does this scripture teaches something bad about God or about men?

peacefulpete

It is my suspicion that the Genesis 22 story has been edited as well. Verse 16 says that Abraham DID do as he was instructed and did not hold back from offering his son to Yahweh. It also says Abraham alone came down to rejoin his servants. I think that the verses 11-14 were added by the same reformers that modified the Jeptha story. This creates the awkward need to say that the angel appeared and spoke a "second time" to commend him.

Fwiw Josephus understood that story as saying Jeptha killed his daughter:

"However, this action that was to befall her was not ungrateful to her, since she should die upon occasion of her father's victory, and the liberty of her fellow citizens: she only desired her father to give her leave, for two months, to bewail her youth with her fellow citizens; and then she agreed, that at the forementioned thee he might do with her according to his vow. Accordingly, when that time was over, he sacrificed his daughter as a burnt-offering..." Josephus - Antiquities of the Jews 8:10

He tries to say that this was not desired by God but the fault of pagan influences. Funny how if the writers felt this way why they failed to mention that detail. Shazard, I would hope that a god worthy of worship would see a hasty word as a lesser sin than murder.

moggy lover

Personally I feel that the most accepable explanation to place on this distastful incident is the literal one. Wheras it has been argued by the WTS and others that Jephtah had somehow commuted his daughter's fate from being a burnt-offering to perpetual virginity thus preserving the idea of "sacrifice" but in some "symbolic way, this is hardly warranted by the simple narrative. We can do no better than to take the restrained, but chilling statement:"He did with her according to his vow" as implying her actual sacrifice.

Having said that however, we must also say that archiving this incident for posterity does not imply endorsement. Neither the individual chronicler of this event, nor the Bible in its larger content suggests that such an action had divine sanction. Jephtah comes down to us as a rash and boorish man, hardly the stuff of leadership and his example as recorded in the text stands as a lesson to all of us. Zeal for Yahweh can be misdirected, it can be intolerant, it can in many ways be put to shame by the simple faith of unbelievers, or believers of other paths. But most of all it can be led by men unfit for the position of governance that they have acquired.

Cheers

peacefulpete

Perhaps the sone killed in the earliest tradition was not Isaac but he was a replacement in their old age????? This would explain why the son is called his "only son" when the narrative as written has Abraham having others.

ezra

jephthas daughter was promised to jehovah because he vowed that whomever came out of his house first would be promised ti jehovah and not marry this was a real sacrifice on both jephthas and his daughter she because she would not be able to do what every woman her age was supposed to fulfill in those days womens dreams were to have children they were even made fun of if they didnt bear any it was the culture her father on the other hand would not have any one to carry on the family name and his family line would end that was also a big deal back then because family lines were of great importance many things revolved around them so it was a reall sacrifice for both of them

peacefulpete

welcome, but ezra you should read the thread first

DannyBloem

A bit late,

but I like to thank you all for your answers (and also in the other thread that you point me too gumby).

pfp: interesting thoughts. seems very likely that this story was edited. When this story was probably made up, told and finally written down in a time that human sacrifices were quite common.

narkissos. thanks for your asnwers also. They clear things up as always

ezra: read the promise carefully, and you see that Jefta was willing to sacrifice a human

Danny

metatron

I think it was the Jerusalem Bible's commentary on this that made the most sense.

It said that the terseness of the account plainly indicates something that the writer doesn't want to talk about. The interpretation

that he dedicated her to tabernacle service ( which the account says nothing about) is a late idea, without traditional support.

The world for "give commendation to" is a Hebew word elsewhere translated as "to recall or recount". If they met together

to "recount" the daughter of Jepthah, well............

metatron

Jephtah's daughter - human sacrifice or not?

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