Judges 11:28-40
It seems weird to me that right after the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, he made what seems to be a silly and rash vow to the Lord to manipulate Him.
While the explanation that Jephthah onlyintended to dedicate his daughter as a virgin for the rest of her life does lessen the weirdness of the story, it still seems very much out of the ordinary (especially if Jephthah was in fact under the Spirit's influence). I know and believe that the Holy Spirit can do anything He wants to do because of His sovereignty, but I'd appreciate your input.
Thanks,
Tak
Judges 11:28-40
Judges 11:28-40
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
Haven't we all done silly and rash things? Even though our lives seem to have been touched by God and we experience His presense graciously delivering us from our fallen selfs, we still exibit our falleness at times. And I think the more we read the word and become somewhat knowledgeable of those that God used throughout history in the recording of His word(the varied characters that we read about in the bible) we realize how many of these ones also did rash and silly things in their lives.
It would take a long written message here to describe all the incedents of "silliness" or some form of fallen human behavior exibited by those in the bible even after they had witnessed great things done by God in their personal lives.
How about Noah getting drunk and being naked after the great flood. God appears to Abraham and he lies about his wife. Sampson tells a woman where his great strength comes from and the result is blind imprisonment. King David, after experiencing an extra ordinary and tramendous anointing of God upon hi life, commits adultery with another mans wife and then has him murdered. Aaron sees the miracles of God's deliverance from Egypt and makes a golden calf to worship. Peter witnesses the Spirit coming upon the gentile believers but later seperates himself form them and is rebuked by Paul. These are just a few examples from the word that we are all familiar with.
Not all human beings are naturally rash and silly, but we all have indwelling sin and it can show its ugly face at any time irregardless of God's past working in our lives.
It would take a long written message here to describe all the incedents of "silliness" or some form of fallen human behavior exibited by those in the bible even after they had witnessed great things done by God in their personal lives.
How about Noah getting drunk and being naked after the great flood. God appears to Abraham and he lies about his wife. Sampson tells a woman where his great strength comes from and the result is blind imprisonment. King David, after experiencing an extra ordinary and tramendous anointing of God upon hi life, commits adultery with another mans wife and then has him murdered. Aaron sees the miracles of God's deliverance from Egypt and makes a golden calf to worship. Peter witnesses the Spirit coming upon the gentile believers but later seperates himself form them and is rebuked by Paul. These are just a few examples from the word that we are all familiar with.
Not all human beings are naturally rash and silly, but we all have indwelling sin and it can show its ugly face at any time irregardless of God's past working in our lives.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
Re: Judges 11:28-40
The last response does't seem to really address the fact that the text seems (v. 29-31) to imply that the vow was a result of the Holy Spirit coming upon Jephthah. This isn't the only instance in the book of Judges of someone acting questionably seemingly under the influence of the Spirit (Judges 14:19).
Also, could someone give me a good reason to suppose that Jephthah's vow didn't require him to offer his daughter as a burnt sacrifice?
Also, could someone give me a good reason to suppose that Jephthah's vow didn't require him to offer his daughter as a burnt sacrifice?
Pastor Josh Coles, Aletheia Christian Fellowship
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Re: Judges 11:28-40
perhaps the bigger question is whether God would have allowed him to fulfill such a vow. I vote no.
TK
TK
Re: Judges 11:28-40
Anochria wrote:
Deuteronmy 18:9-13 (NKJV)
9 “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.
Clearly, the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter would have been an abomination in God's sight. Jephthah made a vow that if God would give victory he would do two things: devote whatever came out of his door to greet him to the Lord and offer it as a burnt offering, The two clauses can not refer to the same thing, there is no tautology. Persons given to God belong to him for life, and only persons belong to God. No animal offered to God is God's animal. It must be the man's animal or it has no value as an offering.
When we read the story of Jephthah, we assume that "whatever" came out to meet him means only his daughter, but it would seem likely after the great victory there was quite a celebratory greeting. Jephthah, however, could offer no more than what was his.
It would seem that God would select providentially who would come out to greet Jephthah, and as He did with Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, He would make sure the sacrifice did not happen in any event. And his daughter's two month period of mourning over her virginity, with her friends, and remaining a virgin, makes no sense if she was about to become a burnt offering. I think Jephthah's daughter remained a virgin, devoted to God, for the remainder of her life and Jephthah sacrificed any of his animals that came out when he returned home.
And TK responded:Also, could someone give me a good reason to suppose that Jephthah's vow didn't require him to offer his daughter as a burnt sacrifice?
I must agrree with TK:perhaps the bigger question is whether God would have allowed him to fulfill such a vow. I vote no.
Deuteronmy 18:9-13 (NKJV)
9 “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.
Clearly, the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter would have been an abomination in God's sight. Jephthah made a vow that if God would give victory he would do two things: devote whatever came out of his door to greet him to the Lord and offer it as a burnt offering, The two clauses can not refer to the same thing, there is no tautology. Persons given to God belong to him for life, and only persons belong to God. No animal offered to God is God's animal. It must be the man's animal or it has no value as an offering.
When we read the story of Jephthah, we assume that "whatever" came out to meet him means only his daughter, but it would seem likely after the great victory there was quite a celebratory greeting. Jephthah, however, could offer no more than what was his.
It would seem that God would select providentially who would come out to greet Jephthah, and as He did with Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, He would make sure the sacrifice did not happen in any event. And his daughter's two month period of mourning over her virginity, with her friends, and remaining a virgin, makes no sense if she was about to become a burnt offering. I think Jephthah's daughter remained a virgin, devoted to God, for the remainder of her life and Jephthah sacrificed any of his animals that came out when he returned home.
Re: Judges 11:28-40
That is how I understand it as well, Homer. A woman that goes to a church I used to attend wrote a seminary paper on this episode and that was pretty much her conclusion as well, if I remember correctly.
TK
TK
Re: Judges 11:28-40
Support for the view that she died
1. The vow (v. 31) indicates that whatever/whomever came out would be the Lord's AND sacrificed as a burnt offering
2. Child sacrifice was normal in the Canaanite cultures around Jephthah and Jephthah was thoroughly paganized
3. Why go out and mourn for 2 months if you're not going to die?
4. The narrator softens the details of the death to spare the reader
5. v. 39 clearly says he performed the vow
6. The theme, here, is how Canaanized Jephthah was. Going through with the sacrifice is the evidence.
7. Her death became a memorial observance. Why memorialize if she didn't die?
Support for the view that she did not die
1. Some have suggested that v. 31 could be translated that whatever/whomever came out would be the Lord's OR sacrificed as a burnt offering
2. Child sacrifice was clearly rejected in the Scriptures and Jephthah was making a vow to the God of Scripture
3. She was mourning the fact that she would remain a virgin and, more importantly, never have children and continue her father's family line
4. The narrator doesn't soften the details... the details are just softer
5. He did keep his vow to consecrate OR sacrifice by consecrating her. v. 39 specifically says she was a virgin, not that she died.
6. The theme of Canaanization is just as clearly evidence by the presence of this rash vow. God punishes Jephthah by ending his family line.
7. Why must the memorial be a memory of her death? Why not a memorial of her forced consecration?
I think it is an open question with evidence on both sides. I think the crux of the argument lies in whether v. 31 could legitimately be translated with an OR rather than an AND. If that is a plausible translation, then all the other evidences start to favor the consecration interpretation. But even if AND is the best interpretation, one might still argue that Jephthah refused to go through with it or that God intervened and wouldn't let him, instead having him consecrate her.
I disagree with my excellent commentary on Judges by Daniel Block. He seems to think that any who say she didn't die are essentially condoning Jephthah's action "either by making his treatment of his daughter more spiritual than the text and context warrent (e.g., she was dedicated to Yahweh for a lifetime of celibate religious service) or by dismissing his vow as a rash act of folly."
My disagreement lies with his idea that consecrating the daughter makes Jephthah more spiritual. On the one hand, this is only true if v. 31 is interpreted with the AND. On the other hand, even if v. 31 does have mean AND, refusal to carry out a vow could be interpreted as even worse. In other words, I don't think Jephthah comes out smelling like roses any way that you interpret it.
1. The vow (v. 31) indicates that whatever/whomever came out would be the Lord's AND sacrificed as a burnt offering
2. Child sacrifice was normal in the Canaanite cultures around Jephthah and Jephthah was thoroughly paganized
3. Why go out and mourn for 2 months if you're not going to die?
4. The narrator softens the details of the death to spare the reader
5. v. 39 clearly says he performed the vow
6. The theme, here, is how Canaanized Jephthah was. Going through with the sacrifice is the evidence.
7. Her death became a memorial observance. Why memorialize if she didn't die?
Support for the view that she did not die
1. Some have suggested that v. 31 could be translated that whatever/whomever came out would be the Lord's OR sacrificed as a burnt offering
2. Child sacrifice was clearly rejected in the Scriptures and Jephthah was making a vow to the God of Scripture
3. She was mourning the fact that she would remain a virgin and, more importantly, never have children and continue her father's family line
4. The narrator doesn't soften the details... the details are just softer
5. He did keep his vow to consecrate OR sacrifice by consecrating her. v. 39 specifically says she was a virgin, not that she died.
6. The theme of Canaanization is just as clearly evidence by the presence of this rash vow. God punishes Jephthah by ending his family line.
7. Why must the memorial be a memory of her death? Why not a memorial of her forced consecration?
I think it is an open question with evidence on both sides. I think the crux of the argument lies in whether v. 31 could legitimately be translated with an OR rather than an AND. If that is a plausible translation, then all the other evidences start to favor the consecration interpretation. But even if AND is the best interpretation, one might still argue that Jephthah refused to go through with it or that God intervened and wouldn't let him, instead having him consecrate her.
I disagree with my excellent commentary on Judges by Daniel Block. He seems to think that any who say she didn't die are essentially condoning Jephthah's action "either by making his treatment of his daughter more spiritual than the text and context warrent (e.g., she was dedicated to Yahweh for a lifetime of celibate religious service) or by dismissing his vow as a rash act of folly."
My disagreement lies with his idea that consecrating the daughter makes Jephthah more spiritual. On the one hand, this is only true if v. 31 is interpreted with the AND. On the other hand, even if v. 31 does have mean AND, refusal to carry out a vow could be interpreted as even worse. In other words, I don't think Jephthah comes out smelling like roses any way that you interpret it.