Did Jephthah's daughter die as a sacrifice?

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Judges 11 = 28-39

After a discussion in Wed. bible study the answer to this question is still unclear to me. Any help is appreciated.

Did Jephthah kill or have his daughter killed as a sacrifice?

Faris A Sweet

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2003

Answers

Hey Faris, good to hear from you. No he did not kill her. And here's why. First, the Hebrew leaves it open to "and" or "or": (v. 31)"it shall be the LORD'S, and/or I will offer it up as a burnt offering." I do not believe he had "or" in mind because of his response when he saw his daughter come out of the door. I believe his vow was to make a burnt offering. BUT, human sacrifice would have been more evil than breaking a vow. A righteous person does does break God's Law in order to keep a foolish vow. He could have bought her back. Lev. 27 deals explicitly with this very situation, "2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When a man makes a difficult vow, he shall be valued according to your valuation of persons belonging to the LORD. 3 If your valuation is of the male from twenty years even to sixty years old, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. Or if it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels." The whole chapter deals with this subject. But he kept his vow and she given over to serve in celebacy in the Tabernacle.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2003

Faris....

While I agree with Scott's interpretation....and it is the view I "currently" take.....I am aware of some very respectable Bible scholars who take the view that he did slay her.

Scott's assertion that (quote) "BUT, human sacrifice would have been more evil than breaking a vow. A righteous person does does break God's Law in order to keep a foolish vow" (end of quote).....fails to take into consideration the last verse of the book of Judges which states...."In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

Thus the book lays out what happens when people do not adhere to God's word...but rather moral relativity. In such an atmosphere....making a foolish vow and fulfilling it is well within the realm of probability.

Since interpretations are arrived at by inductive reasoning....our conclusions are never absolutes...(as Scott well knows).

While I take the view that Scott does....I'm only about 75% sure my conclusion is the correct one.

Like I said.....there are some fine scholars who present some convincing arguments the other way.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2003


The fact that Jephthah is in the "Faith Hall of Fame" in Heb 11 is the clincher. If he had offered human sacrifice, there is no way he would be considered one of the "cloud of witnesses."

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2003

That last argument doesn't hold much value to me, Scott S. Was he considered faithful for not keeping the difficult vow or was he considered faithful because he kept his vow. I also have a hard time reconciling the last verse with your argument. If he didn't slay her, why does it say he did to her as he vowed? Why wouldn't it say he payed the price to keep her life? And why did he give her two months of mourning with her friends? I never looked at the question before, had always thought she was killed, convince me otherwise.

Scott

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2003


Scott S....by your logic....Abraham should not be in the hall of fame because he was a polygamist and a liar; Sarah should not be there because it was her idea for Abraham to be a polygamist; Jacob should not be there because he was a deceiver; Moses was a murderer plus he was banned from the promised land; Samson...(well...we all know the problems he had with women)....and the list goes on. The "Faith Hall of Fame" is just that...people who in spite of their failings continued to walk with God. I'm rather inspired by that. "A Perfectionist Hall of Fame" can be found on the Jay Wilson website. (he-he).

Scott Jewell....in answer to why he gave her two months to mourn....she mourned for her perpetual virginity and the fact that she would never bear a child. Ask Hannah about how serious Israelite women took that. Again....look at Scott's exegesis which is VERY GOOD.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2003



Danny, although I see your logic, I dont accept it in Jephthah's case. Moses did not deliberately, premeditatively murder in God's name. Yes, all of the Hall of Famer's had their shortcomings, but none of them were deliberately done in the name of God in order to please God.

Had Jephthah offered a human sacrifice to God it would have been so offensive to God that it's hard to tell what He would have done. Besides the fact that Jephthah must now be stoned for murder.

Scott J., IMO, this whole debate is moot due to the fact of the absolute prohibition of human sacrifice: Deut 12:31 "You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods."

Human sacrifice was an abomination. Whether he did it for the right reasons is not the issue.

I am enjoying this discussion. Thanks for the stimulation of my gray matter.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2003


Scott S.....

My biggest problem with your whole line of thinking is that you act like the events of the Judges happened during the glory days of the Solomonic kingdom. Context, context, context.

You stated..."Had Jephthah offered a human sacrifice to God it would have been so offensive to God that it's hard to tell what He would have done. Besides the fact that Jephthah must now be stoned for murder."

That's true....in the best of times. However, the days of the Judges were the darkest days in Israel. This is the same crew that allowed a woman to be raped all night by the Benjamites....and then.....cut her body into 12 pieces and Fed-Exed it throughout Israel. I mean Judges is full of abmoninable acts that were deserving of stoning.

You also stated..."Moses did not deliberately, premeditatively murder in God's name."

Really?? Then for what purpose did he do it if not to be the deliverer of Israel "in God's name."

Again....I fail to see you logic. Paul was a man who killed Christians "in the name of God." That didn't change the fact that he became the most influential of all apostles.

I guess what I'm trying to do Scott is to get you to drop that line of faulty reasoning because 1) It is faulty; and 2) You don't need it. Your exegesis of the text was strong enough.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2003


Danny,

It may not have been the best of times, but we are diascussing the act of one righteous man - not the nation as a whole. One righteous man in a times of great unrighteousness. Just because the times in general were terrible, does not mean that Jephthah was. That is context, the man in his circumstance. You are correct about the overall context of Judges, but we see in Judges a few shining stars that rose above their own social context.

Moses did not murder in the name of God. God used it, no doubt. But when Moses murdered it was in anger and then he ran to hide in the wilderness. Hardly a premeditated act of righteousness.

Everything else you mentioned has nothing to do with what I'm trying to get at. I am not saying that God cannot make good come from our shortcomings and even sins. But that is completely different than what we would have with Jephthah if he sacrificed his daughter.

I know you dont hold the view that he killed her, but those that do have to concede that after God used him to bring about a mighty victory, he then turned around and committed an abomination to keep a vow he could have bought his way out of. He kept the vow, but not in the manner he originally planned.

Several in Heb 11 had sin and troubles but then rose to greatness. He would be the only one to start with greatness only to blow it with such an atrocity. You may or may not agree, but the difference is perfectly clear to me.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2003


Now Scott,

I'm only asking these things for the purpose of learning here. As stated before, I hadn't really looked at this question before and we're finally holding a discussion that I'm enjoying.

Verse 39 states that Jephthah did to his daughter as he had vowed. Why wouldn't it say that he redeemed her by paying the price from Leviticus 27. Also in reading that chapter, the buyback price you refer to seems to be paid in order to release the person from service, not to submit them to a life of virginity as a temple servant. I would think that the comment of her virginity was made because as she was an only child, her death meant the end of Jephthah's lineage.

How is this rectified to what you are saying?

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2003


Scott J,

Somewhere you misunderstood what I said. He did not buy her back - that's my point. My reference to the Lev passage was only to show that there was a way out of the sacrifice. He could have bought her back, but instead he gave her up to service in the Tabernacle. He lost his daughter, but not by human sacrifice. He did not buy her back. He gave her to the Lord, just as he said he would.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2003



Hey Faris!!

Ask some more questions. The ones you ask always stir up good discussion.

I'd be interested in your thoughts concerning whats been said here.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2003


In fairness to the "other side"....let's look at some of their arguments as put forward by Lloyd Pelfrey, one time professor of O.T. at Central Christian College:

1. Perhaps the most powerful evidence for the actual slaying of the daughter is that from tradition. It was not until the twelfth century that there was any question on the matter. Until then it was viewd that the daughter was slain. Rabbi David Kimchi (A.D. 1160-1235) was the first to challenge the traditional view that the daughter was slain. (By the way, his method of arriving at the conclusion was the false hermeneutic of allegory.)

2. Both the Targum of Jonathan and the Mishna (Jewish oral traditions) claim that she was slain.

3. Josephus claims that she was slain.

4. Many have mentioned Hebrews 11 as being evidence of the celibacy of the daughter. This view overlooks that which the section was intended to demonstrate, i.e., that these men accomplished great deeds because of their faith in God. It was not the intention to show that they lived sinless lives. Most had a major weak point in their lives.

This is just a very small summation of the arguments. To sum up, the position of the slain daughter is reached upon three basis: 1) The argument from tradition (Judaism and the first 11 centuries of Christendom held that he slayed her). 2) It is the most simple solution and the one which one reaches in first reading the text in English or Greek. 3) Every argument that can be offered by the negative position can be refuted without having to alter the text.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2003


To everyone,many have made statements concerning the "sins" of Abraham,Jacob and Moses. One point it seems we have over looked is according to Romans is "where there is no law there is no transgression" these men and ther actions were prior to the law,so there was no transgression. Abraham was married to his half sister,but ther was no law against it so how could he have sinned if there was no law. But after the law it was sin. There were no "Thou shalt not's" at this time. As for Jephtha he was after the law,and if he did offer up his daughter as a burnt sacrifice then he was a transgresser of the law. I cannot say for sure if he did or did not. Here is something to think about,The prophet Hosea,who was he married to? I believe she was a harlot,and God told him to marry her,but according to the law they were not to take a harlot for a wife.So why did God tell him to do something contrary to the law? Chuck williams

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2003

Chuck,

Not to be cantankerous, but could you provide the scripture that backs your statement that it was against the law for Hosea to marry a harlot? Thanks, Scott J.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2003


Scott S.

Lots of very good thoughts by many on this subject. Thanks to all.

What do I think.

Some of the highlights for me were your comments on verse 31 concerning and / or. I find that very interesting. I am suprised there was not more discussion on that.

Dannys article from Lloyd Pelfrey was useful to see the other point of view.

I think Jephthah could have bought his daughter back as Lev. 27 describes,but did not. I don't think she faced death but would instead serve in the tabernacle

I think Chuck Williams comment about this takeing place, (after the law) is very important also since this would make her death a sin.

V.37 NIV concludes with, I WILL NEVER MARRY. She seems to be sad that she will never marry with no thought of death. V.39 concludes with, AND SHE WAS A VIRGIN. Question. Was this necessary for her to serve in the tabernacle?

I think she spent the rest of her life in the tabernacle serving God.

I've thought about Jephthah offering his daughter TO God as a living sacrifice then God offered his Son as the sacrifice FOR Jephthah.

As Danny said, I'm about 75% sure of this.

Again, thanks to all.

Faris

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2003



Hi, all! I just dropped in to browse and this was the first topic I looked at. I'm not trying to convince anyone, because I'm not not sure which position I favour myself. So far I find the arguments on BOTH sides about equal, in my personal estimation. I just want to bring up one aspect that I think is relevant and that I don't think anyone else has mentioned so far.

What about Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac? Yes, it is true that it wasn't carried, out, but it is pretty clear that in that case human sacrifice was what it was all about. Abraham gets his place in the roll-call of the faithful in Hebrews 11 BECAUSE he "offered Isaac as a sacrifice" and "reasoned that God could raise the dead." This is before the written law, it is true, but the Bible tells us that God never changes, and Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac must, even in Jephthah's time, have been held up as an example to emulate. Might not Jephthah have reasoned that it was better to keep his vow (and the law made clear how seriously people were to take their vows to God) even if it meant he had to break another law -- especially when the "father of the faithful" was commended for his willingness to commit human sacrifice to God?

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2003


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