Today's WT. Jephthah's Daughter - Virgin Slave or Crispy Critter?

by Slidin Fast 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Slidin Fast

  I whiled away the time today in the WT researching the above question on line. It seems to me that there is more evidence to say that the account simply depicts the poor nameless child/woman as being toast. The idea of her going into "tabernacle service" is completely fabricated and has no basis in scripture.

  This to me is another example of bleaching and rinsing the murky bits of the bible to suit the purposes of those trying to suit the sensibilities of an audience. I have no idea if there was a Jephtha, if he had a daughter or if so what became of her. I am however very sure that the wise men of Brooklyn are no better informed than anyone else.

  What say you?
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  Crazyguy

  Yeah the scriptures clearly say she was toast. I don't think there was any evidence that she could work at the tabernacle since she was female. Maybe as a prostitue at the temple of ashurah. But no evidence of woman working at the tabernacle or later fictitious temple of Solomon.
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  Slidin Fast

  Exactly. Since her grandmother was a prostitute she would not have been allowed in the tabernacle.
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  stuckinarut2

  Yes! There is no record of her having served at the temple.

  Yet again, it is a way of making the unpalatable sections of the bible seem relevant for today!

  How about the way Lot is spun as an example to imitate? He was a selfish man who took the best land, then after it was destroyed committed incest with his two daughters!

  How is that "exemplary"?
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  Slidin Fast

  Fine examples for all of us. Have you got a daughter that you can sacrifice? We want her blood!
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  Prometheus

  As usual in the "Hebrew Scriptures" that mostly we have myths and stories, copied from the nations surrounding them by the so called, "God's Chosen Nation" completely ignores the name of the Jephthah's daughter! Like many other examples we have the same pattern being repeated, when women is involved, either in good or bad act. Not a surprise at all, if we take into consideration that we are dealing with misogynist nomads, living in the desert, and woman (as it still happening in that area even today) it is considered an object....

  And I will take the bad examples: Why there is no name of Lot's wife? And what about the 2 daughters, that had sexual intercourse with their own father? It is also very weird, that for the same reason that "God" destroyed the 2 cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, sexual immorality, God does't perform the same standards of justice to Lot and his daughters...
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  wifibandit

  Just had this discussion with my Wife! It is interesting because it is one of the rare occasions where I take a more literalist interpretation than WT.

  The scriptures say "I will offer that one up as a burnt offering."

  The context says that she was mourned. You don't mourn the living.

  You can't object on the basis of Jehovah not liking human sacrifice... Abraham & Issac, anyone? Jesus? He clearly doesn't have any qualms about it.
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  berrygerry

  There was an interesting post on another site regarding WT's silence about Josephus' commentary on Jephthah's daughter.

  This book has a thorough synopsis:

  https://books.google.com/books?id=vcie82MeN-UC&pg=PA99&dq=mini+johnson:+Jephthah%27s+Daughter+in+Jewish+Antiquities:+An+Exemplary+Daughter&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=mini%20johnson%3A%20Jephthah's%20Daughter%20in%20Jewish%20Antiquities%3A%20An%20Exemplary%20Daughter&f=false
  
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  baker

  Now read Judges 19, and whats up with that story? They wore the cocobine out and then cut her into 12 pieces. I guess a piece for each goat tribe...
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  freddo

  As awful as the whole account is I think Judges 11 v 39 and 40 do give the feeling that this wasn't a literal sacrifice. Also 11 v 35.

  Edited to add

  I only used the NWT for this - a quick look at other versions shows 11 v 35 very differently!