Judges 11:30-40

[Anonymous No.21441612]

>30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
>31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
>32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands.
>33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
>34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
>35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.
>36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
>37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
>38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
>39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
>40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

Why did Jephthah do this? I understand that he was grateful to God, but why did he pick such a dangerous vow? Who do you expect to come out of your house if not someone dear to you? What did he expect to gain from this?

[Anonymous No.21441630]

>>21441612
Okay?

[Anonymous No.21441708]

>>21441612
>Why did Jephthah do this? I understand that he was grateful to God, but why did he pick such a dangerous vow? Who do you expect to come out of your house if not someone dear to you? What did he expect to gain from this?

This is a sociological reading.

Judges is part of the attempt by the Temple to recombine pre 600 works (here a pre 1200 work) into a comprehensive whole celebrating patriarchal temple monotheism. The story of the children of Ammon derives from multiple stories *prior* to Temple patriarchy, and a couple prior to patriarchy.

Jephthat's vow is a common trope. What's important is that his daughter as an only and first born daughter is vowed to the Goddess to begin with: she has a responsibility to become a sacred prostitute (ie: priest). Jephthah is admirable before the Lord because he has smote his daughter's lusting after other gods and circumcised her for the lord. You can see this in that she goes up into the hills to the gardens and asherahs anyway, and that a secret female ritual survives the imposition of El/YHWH.

Regarding the admirability:
Vows to YHWH are unbreakable.
YHWH *redeems* the first born with burnt offerings: they are still his. So the Daughter of Jephthah is still THE LORDS. Meanwhile she's actually Asherah's but never mind.
That the Daughter obeys THE LORD is also significant, it is admirable for women to betray Asherah, etc.

So it is the Temple making sense of 600 year old documents which tried to make sense of 300-600 year old oral stories, which corrupted 1500 year old traditions of Asherah worship.

Instead of being taken by every man in the village in the high garden where she is a mistress of knowledge and Goddess herself, Jephthaha has vowed herself as a sacrifice to El/YHWH, and around 600 the temple priests are trying to make it into a taxation story.

Read some fucking basic exegetical and sociology of levant religious works. Secondary works are there to help you.

As far as a believers reading: LORD good, WORDS true, GIRLS icky, SHE HAS A SMELL PLEASING FOR THE LORD.

(As a burnt offering she would have been killed by priests in Jerusalem at the first temple, and then eaten.)

[Anonymous No.21442500]

>>21441612
From the POV of Jephthah, this is taken as a cautionary tale about impulsivity. He spoke in the heat of the moment and later on regretted it. However, it also shows the importance of following through with a vow even if it is against you. If making an impulsive vow and then living with the consequences of that vow is painful, how much worse is someone who not only vows against the Lord impulsively but then disregards later?

This serves as a confirmation of what it says elsewhere in the Bible such as Deuteronomy:

"When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.
22 But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee."
(Deut. 23:21-22)

"When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?"
(Eccl. 3:4-6)

"Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."
- Matthew 5:33-37

From the POV of Jephthah's daughter, it's unambiguously positive. The daughter of Jephthah willingly accepts the result of what her father swore, and this can be seen as an act not only of obedience to a parent (and thus following the commandment to honor one's father and mother) but also of bravery and faith. One can imagine how a different person who had no faith might have reacted to such a situation quite differently, as compared to the reaction we see from Jephthah's daughter. One also sees some incidental insights about views of virginity in women at the time. Recall that from the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 (and subsequent prophecies about this same person, e.g. Gen. 22:17, Gen. 49:10, Deut. 18:18-19) comes the belief that the redeemer of men would one day be born, so it was always hoped for a woman in that time that their child or their descendant would be the savior represented in prophecies about the foretold Messiah. Jesus Christ in the Gospels would often refer to Himself as the Son of man, which is seen as a reference to Himself as the person who fulfills this prophecy. Hopefully that makes sense to explain these events, anon.

[Anonymous No.21442834]

>>21442500
>However, it also shows the importance of following through with a vow even if it is against you.
You cite Deut, Eccl on timeliness: why 4 days, why 2 months, why is her virginity important?

Otherwise good mainline post Henry 8 exegesis. (Why Henry 8? Because it covers English Catholicism, CoE, English Dissent, post Dissent (Methody, Baptism)).

[Anonymous No.21443456]

>>21442834
>why 4 days, why 2 months
The four days could have been four consecutive days in the year or one day every three months, it's not specifically explained so the detail is immaterial. We can be sure, fortunately, however, that if any greater detail about this were important to the account then we would have it. These four days must have just been a custom that became established for some unknown amount of time, although we hear no further direct mention of it in another biblical account, suggesting that it didn't become a "perpetual custom" as we see of some other customs that came into play later.

The two months seems to be a request made by the daughter to both the father and implicitly to the Lord - to whom the vow was made. As the father is the authority figure, so Jephthah giving leave to his daughter would be sufficient justification for her to spend those two months in mourning. Some have suggested that Jephthah would be able to trade out his daughter for a substitute sacrifice according to the law, but that doesn't explain the wording of Judges which is that Jephthah did precisely as he said; nor does this explain his reaction upon seeing his daughter. Indeed, there is no concept anywhere of a "celibacy" requirement for those dedicated in service to the Lord (e.g. Samson, Samuel), so the only reason why Jephthah's daughter would bewail her virginity would have to be her impending death in a burnt sacrifice. While this is indeed a monstrous act, we must extend the monstrosity of that act back to Jephthah's original vow. This whole situation also serves to emphasize that "going back on a vow" would be even worse still than this act. As mentioned before, this is a cautionary tale, which God has often placed in the Old Testament for our admonition. See for instance Jude 1:7,

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

In this case, Sodom and Gomorrha are set forth for an example to us of the Lord's vengeance against their particular type of wickedness. So too here is an example of the true weight and magnitude of one's words and that which can result from having to carry through a vow. Like James says, "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" (James 3:5)

So then, Jephthah's daughter was indeed offered as a burnt offering. As mentioned before, even the nazarites were never required to maintain celibacy, so that's not a possible explanation. That kind of requirement isn't something that is found anywhere in the law of God (see 1 Tim. 4:3). Rather, this daughter of Jephthah was such that, rather than mourn for her life imminently being brought to an end, she would rather mourn her virginity (her 'telos' as we understand: 1 Tim 2:15), which would be for the reasons mentioned above.

[Anonymous No.21443508]

>>21443456
>it's not specifically explained so the detail is immaterial.
You're playing fast and loose with the text there mate. Imagine how wide I can make that speculum spread Jesus. If you believe the text to be inspired, the result of inspiration, or divine then there's no "meaninglessness."

If you're a social reader, then you'd know from comparative anthropology that people attach specific meanings to times, durations and numbers. 4 has matriarch allusions in post exile Judaism.

She has an obligation to maintain her virginity if unmarried if she is a righteous post-monolatist YHWHist, because she's in a position where she must cry out even if it is unheard. She's going up a mountain a virgin out of male contexts for secret women's business—any context reading shows Asherah's about. Which means that the honouring of YHWH is either false, or complex. I'd rather go complex: she's first born, she devirginates: its a bilaterialist account. She gets 2 months to deal with Asherah business. Its the corruption of an Asherah as YHWH's consort story. She is so holy that she is devoted to the wife and the husband equally.

Idomeneus

[Anonymous No.21443532]

>>21443508
>If you believe the text to be inspired, the result of inspiration, or divine then there's no "meaninglessness."
That's the point, maybe you missed it. Because if the detail was there then it must by necessity have meaning. If the detail is not provided then it is not a detail we need to know to understand the passage. 2 Tim. 3:16-17, the necessity and sufficiency of all Scripture.

[Anonymous No.21443583]

>>21443532
Wow mate, you're living in hell.

[Anonymous No.21443858]

>>21441612
He thought it was gonna be that fucking dog

[Anonymous No.21443866]

>>21441708
Man this is fucking toxic. The traditional interpretation is far simpler and straightforward: Jeptha made a rash oath, forgot about it during the war, and came back and was obliged to kill his daughter. To answer OP’s question—he made an extreme oath to try to guarantee an extreme request. He purposefully wrote a check his ass couldn’t cash.

Fuck your troskyist goddess worship counter narrative

[Anonymous No.21443873]

>>21443866
*Engelist… you know what I meant

[Anonymous No.21443892]

>>21441708
Desperate retard take. How is biblical criticism a field of study