 Joined: 6/28/2007(UTC)
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I came across this passage from Judges 11:30-39 and was wondering how others read it - specifically, was the daughter killed and offered as a sacrifice in fullfillment of her father's vow? I have read different commentaries - some say that - yes - she was killed, others that she was made to dedicate her life in service to Yahweh, never being permitted to marry. What is your understanding of the passages? Quoting from "The Scriptures:" Quote:30 And Yiphtaḥ made a vow to יהוה, and said, “If You give the children of Ammon into my hands,
31 then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall belong to יהוה, and I shall offer it up as a burnt offering.”
32 Yiphtaḥ then passed on toward the children of Ammon to fight against them, and יהוה gave them into his hands.
33 And he smote them from Aroʽĕr as far as Minnith, twenty cities, and to Aḇĕl Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the children of Yisra’ĕl.
34 And Yiphtaḥ came to his house at Mitspah, and saw his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing. Now except for her he had neither son nor daughter.
35 And it came to be, when he saw her, that he tore his garments, and said, “Oh my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me! And I, I have given my word to יהוה, and I am unable to turn back.”
36 And she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to יהוה, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because יהוה has taken vengeance for you upon your enemies, the children of Ammon.”
37 And she said to her father, “Let this be done for me: let me alone for two months, and let me go and wander on the mountains and bewail my maidenhood, my friends and I.”
38 Then he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months. And she went with her friends, and bewailed her maidenhood on the mountains.
39 And it came to be at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed, and she knew no man. And it became a statute in Yisra’ĕl The same passages from the NLT: Quote:30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD. He said, "If You give me victory over the Ammonites,
31 I will give to the LORD whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
32 So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave him victory.
33 He crushed the Ammonites, devastating about twenty towns from Aroer to an area near Minnith and as far away as Abel-keramim. In this way Israel defeated the Ammonites.
34 When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. She was his one and only child; he had no other sons or daughters.
35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes in anguish. "Oh, my daughter!" he cried out. "You have completely destroyed me! You've brought disaster on me! For I have made a vow to the LORD, and I cannot take it back."
36 And she said, "Father, if you have made a vow to the LORD, you must do to me what you have vowed, for the LORD has given you a great victory over your enemies, the Ammonites.
38 "You may go," Jephthah said. And he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children.
39 When she returned home, her father kept the vow he had made, and she died a virgin. So it has become a custom in Israel I look forward to hearing your thoughts. -Yada |
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