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NASB | Judges 11:39 At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she had no relations with a man. Thus it became a custom in Israel, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Judges 11:39 At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed; and she had no relations with a man. It became a custom in Israel, |
Subject: Who or what was sacrificed? |
Bible Note: Hi John, Very nice to hear from you. I understand your problem with the biblical account of Jephthah, but the bible pretty clearly states that Jepthah (Jdg 11:39) "did with her according to his vow that he had made." The fact that it became a tradition for (Judges 11:40) "the daughters of Israel...year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year," makes it pretty clear the nature of the loss. The real problem is that we somehow want to judge God based on Jephthah's behavior. Nowhere in the account do we hear that God found this sacrifice acceptable, and, as you and others point out, He finds the practice abominable. Perhaps part of the problem here is our understanding of the "office" of Judge. Of course, it was not an office at all, but (Jdg 2:16)"...the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them," and (Jdg 2:18)"...Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them." Now the primary purpose of the judge was to deliver the Israelites from their enemies, which usually required warfare. The Judges might have some godly fear, like Deborah, or he might just be someone who was a mighty warrior as we are told of Jephthah. In the eleventh chapter of Judges we are also told that he was the son of a prostitute, that he was run off by his brothers and surrounded himself with scoundrels, and that he was quick to make an oath before the Lord. Of course, there is a remedy for rash oaths: Lev 5:4 or if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these; Lev 5:5 when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, Lev 5:6 he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. Unfortunately, Jephthah was obviously unaware of the law: (Jdg 11:35) "And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow." " His character was such that he was very unlikely to consult a priest, if there was indeed one near who was aware of the law himself. This was a time when everyone did what was right in his own eyes, as we are told more than once in the book of Judges. Consider Samson, as well. A judge, a deliverer of Israel, best known for his strength and following his libido, rather than any sort of godly characteristics. The fact is that godly leaders for Israel was not normative. Most of their history includes long periods of apostasy, during which their leaders followed other gods, who are not gods, (Jer 2:11) "Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." In fact, one of the most common phrases in the book of Judges is "and Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord..." a phrase which occurs in Judges 3:12, 4:1, 10:6, and 13:1. There are many issues people have with the Old Testament, and we sometimes here such phrases as "I don't like the God of the Old Testament." In fact, there are more troublesome OT accounts than that of Jephthah, for those who want to judge God, or who think we must apologise for Him. But what the OT shows very clearly is not God's unrighteousness, but man's. God is the only just Judge. The OT also clearly reveals to us that the law does not save us; do we, today, really think we would have done better than the Israelites had we lived during the time of the Judges (or of the kings, or the patriarchs, or even Moses, for that matter). Praise be to God, that He paid the debt for us. Sorry about the length of this, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't read all of it. I know some others, including you, may not agree with my assessment of the account of Jephthah. And I am okay with that, but the account seems very clear to me. Thank you for your response, John halroy |