Burnt offerings

[Guest]

Reading Judges Chapter 11 verses 29 to 40.  I was rather disturbed to gather that Jephthah burnt his only daughter as a sacrifice to God. Not to idols and false Gods but to our living God. 

Was that customary or an isolated case? The brutality cannot even be imagined. God must i presume have accepted it. What are we to deduce from this? 

[Deborah_]

You have to remember that the book of Judges covers a decadent period in Israel's history. Some pretty awful things went on (see the last five chapters of the book), and most people had very hazy ideas about God's requirements. 

Jephthah, for example, wanted to honour the living God - but he went about it as if Yahweh had been a god like Baal, needing to be 'bribed' with an extravagant vow. His vow was foolish in the extreme, with tragic consequences. Because the one thing that he did get right (although in context, it doesn't make the situation any better, but worse) is that vows must be kept, whatever the cost (Numbers 30:1,2).

And so his story is recorded as a warning to us.

[Speks]

Jephthah’s vow was anything but wise, and we can only speculate why he should think of such an odd context for a sacrifice. Perhaps he had been influenced by stories he had heard, or religious customs he had encountered? Maybe thoughts of a glorious conquest had made him impulsive or calculating. We don’t know. But the Lord did give Jephthah the victory and the Book of Hebrews mentions him as man of faith.

We have no good reason to think that this dreadful sacrifice could ever have been acceptable to God. His Word had already said that such a practice was an “abominable thing” that He hated (see Deuteronomy 12:31). But it seems likely that this dreadful killing went ahead. We read that Jephthah “did to her according to the vow which he had made.”

There is a very important issue here that can try to worm its way into our psyche. When reading the OT we need to be careful that we don’t question God’s character or sovereignty. (Militant atheists do that kind of thing often enough, ad nauseam.) Dreadful things happen in the biblical narratives.

Our attitude must be: Who can resist his will? Who are we to answer back to God? It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him. He does all that He pleases. (Romans 9:19, 20; 1st Samuel 3:18; Psalm 115:3.)

“...all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:25, ESV).

[Jedi4Yahweh]

Its not clear if Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, the way it sounds she was given in service to the Lord which required her to remain a virgin.

And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, 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. ... 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. 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. ... 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. 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. 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, [That] the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. [Jdg 11:30-31, 34-35, 37-40 KJV]

Edited October 29, 2020 by Jedi4Yahweh

[Jayne]

Moses was dead.  Joshua was dead.  The people had no leader.  I can't remember if it is three or four times that the book of Judges says that "Everyone did what was right in their own eyes."

Even some of the judges that God provided for them from time to time weren't to be emulated in their behavior.  Not many "good guys" in Judges.

The vow he made was from a rash place and a place of pride.  It was a stupid vow.  We should learn from this and keep our words to God humble, simple, and with Him in mind and not ourselves.

No, this was not commonplace.

[Jedi4Yahweh]

41 minutes ago, Jayne said:

Even some of the judges that God provided for them from time to time weren't to be emulated in their behavior.  Not many "good guys" in Judges.

Not sure where you get that, all the Judges were used mightily by God to deliver his people and restore righteousness to his people.  It was only when these judges where leading/ruling did Israel obey God.  When the Judges died they fell back into sin and rebellion and God would allow their enemies to oppress them until he raised up a Judge to deliver them. I am not saying the judges were perfect such as Samson which had some issues but they were all anointed warriors/delivers which the people of Israel looked up to.  They were anointed to by God to deliver and restore Israel back to righteousness   Listen to what the scriptures tell us:

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that [were] round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; [but] they did not so. And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, [that] they returned, and corrupted [themselves] more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. [Jdg 2:11-19 KJV]

 

Edited October 29, 2020 by Jedi4Yahweh

[R. Hartono]

On 10/28/2020 at 3:07 PM, Melinda12 said:

Reading Judges Chapter 11 verses 29 to 40.  I was rather disturbed to gather that Jephthah burnt his only daughter as a sacrifice to God. Not to idols and false Gods but to our living God. 

Was that customary or an isolated case? The brutality cannot even be imagined. God must i presume have accepted it. What are we to deduce from this? 

She was sacrificed to live single without marriage.

[Jayne]

Yes, I've read the scriptures.  Just because God raise them up and anointed them doesn't mean they were role models.  Jephthah making this vow and his anger issues.  Samson - I've no room to list his issues and problems.  Yes, God used them.  It doesn't make them perfect.

[teddyv]

2 minutes ago, Jayne said:

Yes, I've read the scriptures.  Just because God raise them up and anointed them doesn't mean they were role models.  Jephthah making this vow and his anger issues.  Samson - I've no room to list his issues and problems.  Yes, God used them.  It doesn't make them perfect.

Yeah, Samson had great faith, but he was kind of a walking disaster.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, R. Hartono said:

She was sacrificed to live single without marriage.

With respect i disagree. He sacrificed her as a burnt offering as he had promised the Lord. I take the Bible as truth. It's harsh but that is what is written.