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†. Judg 11:30-32 . . And Jephthah made a vow to Yhvh and said: If you will
indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever
comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from
the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt
offering.
Long story short: Yhvh gave Jephthah the victory and the first "whatever"
coming out the doors of his house to meet him was his daughter; and she
was his only child; but Jepthah, with his daughter's consent, kept his end of
the bargain.
I believe there are some very important things to consider if we're to
correctly sleuth what happened.
1• Bloody human sacrifices are illegal under the terms and conditions of the
covenant that Yhvh's people agreed upon with God as per Deut 29:9-15, so
Jephthah couldn't take his daughter to the Levitical priests to be offered on
the altar as a literal burnt offering.
2• Although Judges 17:6 says: "In those days there was no king in Israel;
every man did what was right in his own eyes." Jephthah wasn't an "every
man" he was a judge (Judg 12:7)
3• Heb 11:32 lists Jephthah as a man of faith. Men of faith don't kill their
children in pagan rituals knowing full well that God regards all such sacrifices
as abominations.
4• According to Judges 11:29, Jephthah was under the influence of Yhvh's
Spirit when he made the vow. I seriously doubt that Yhvh would lead that
man to kill his daughter contrary to God's feelings about sacrificing one's
own children in a bloody pagan ritual.
5• Jephthah's daughter didn't bewail an impending death, but rather, she
bewailed her virginity; in other words: she wept at the prospect of spending
the rest of her life as an old maid.
6• The Bible doesn't mention her death, but rather, that she never slept
with anybody.
When all of the above is taken into consideration; I think it's fairly safe to
conclude that Jephthah's daughter wasn't slain but instead took a vow of
celibacy and became something equivalent to a nun; which, for a young girl
in that day and age, was all the same as being dead anyway.
=========================
†. Judg 11:30-32 . . And Jephthah made a vow to Yhvh and said: If you will
indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever
comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from
the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt
offering.
Long story short: Yhvh gave Jephthah the victory and the first "whatever"
coming out the doors of his house to meet him was his daughter; and she
was his only child; but Jepthah, with his daughter's consent, kept his end of
the bargain.
I believe there are some very important things to consider if we're to
correctly sleuth what happened.
1• Bloody human sacrifices are illegal under the terms and conditions of the
covenant that Yhvh's people agreed upon with God as per Deut 29:9-15, so
Jephthah couldn't take his daughter to the Levitical priests to be offered on
the altar as a literal burnt offering.
2• Although Judges 17:6 says: "In those days there was no king in Israel;
every man did what was right in his own eyes." Jephthah wasn't an "every
man" he was a judge (Judg 12:7)
3• Heb 11:32 lists Jephthah as a man of faith. Men of faith don't kill their
children in pagan rituals knowing full well that God regards all such sacrifices
as abominations.
4• According to Judges 11:29, Jephthah was under the influence of Yhvh's
Spirit when he made the vow. I seriously doubt that Yhvh would lead that
man to kill his daughter contrary to God's feelings about sacrificing one's
own children in a bloody pagan ritual.
5• Jephthah's daughter didn't bewail an impending death, but rather, she
bewailed her virginity; in other words: she wept at the prospect of spending
the rest of her life as an old maid.
6• The Bible doesn't mention her death, but rather, that she never slept
with anybody.
When all of the above is taken into consideration; I think it's fairly safe to
conclude that Jephthah's daughter wasn't slain but instead took a vow of
celibacy and became something equivalent to a nun; which, for a young girl
in that day and age, was all the same as being dead anyway.
=========================