Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
WOULD YOU SKIN YOUR DAUGHTER FOR GOD? #3 of 3
If you’re after a Catchphrase or Cliché, best you try another article
Story of Jephthah and his daughter
Spoiler alert
For the Time Poor, Jephthah’s daughter cannot be offered as a Burnt Offering to the Lord because a Human is not a Levitically clean animal on the list Yehovah prescribed in Leviticus. She is safe from the knife and, more than likely, will die naturally.
If that’s all you wanted to know, you can move on to more important things.
As mentioned in Part 1 of this series there are two significant Characters in this story, Jephthah and his Daughter, each having a major role.
Jephthah and his social standing as Hebrew trash, as well as some other important Deplorables in Scriptures, were briefly covered in Part 1. Part 2 covered his vow, as well as some salient points about the practicalities of the Burnt Offering. Part 3 will focus on his Daughter, who is unnamed in the Holy Text.
What about the daughter?
She agreed to her father’s initial vow, as is written in Judges 11:36–37 || So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.” Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.”
This story is the centre of its own universe. Jewish sources inform that there is nothing related to it anywhere else in the Tanakh. The custom of the daughters of Israel gathering each year is not included in the Jewish Holidays — even though it lasted four days. A number of Jewish commentaries have been trawled and there is only speculation.
I’m open to correction but, because of her apparently calm demeanour, any thought of impending death did not occur to her. Was she in the know more than Jephthah? Again, there is only supposition by the commentators. But the story is engrossed with her virginity. The sentence structure of making the comment about her knowing no man after Jephthah’s fulfilment of his vow seems to make it conclusive that she was alive afterwards.
Consecrated to the Lord
It was not an unusual practice for people or things to be consecrated to the Lord:-
• Samuel was offered by Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:11.
• Samson was claimed by Yehovah as a Nazirite from birth in Judges 13.
• Men or women could consecrate themselves, for a prescribed period, by obeying the Law of the Nazirite — Numbers Chapter 6.
Safeguards
It was possible to buy back someone consecrated to the Lord. Leviticus 27 lists the cost of doing so. The cost to redeem a maid the age of Jephthah’s daughter would be ten shekels of silver.
Further, even though the Daughter agreed, she could be overridden by her father. The Law Concerning Vows, Numbers 30, ruled that a father or a husband can annul a vow of a daughter or a wife, respectively, on the day that he hears it. If, however, he keeps silent about it on that day, she is bound by it. Jephthah could have overruled his daughter but he did not.
The Tragedy of the Vow from Jephthah’s Perspective
The deck was stacked against Jephthah from the beginning (being Hebrew Trash). Jewish commentaries mention, “Though Jephthah was one of the Israelite judges, he was chosen for the position because of his bravery and might, not because of his Torah scholarship — indeed, he was woefully ignorant. He was not bound whatsoever by the vow he made — as it clearly transgressed the rules of the Torah.” However, no mention could be found, after a lot of searching, that he was under the shadow of of Deuteronomy 23:2, so his access to Torah education was limited.
But Yehovah elevated his head above all those in Gilead — from the Lowest Social Stratum to the Highest.
The Gentry of Gilead had tried to short-change him by offering just a military position (katzin, commander) when the offer to the Socially Acceptable was that of (rosh, Governor). He stood his ground and became the Governor.
However the story unfolds that, for some reason, the Lord had in mind that this would not begin a dynasty. Jephthah made his vow while the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and God sees the end from the beginning so could have refined an illegal vow. (I’m loath to pretend to know the Mind of God and to be His Councillor, but because human sacrifice is reprehensible abomination it seems highly unlikely that the vow would condone such an action.)
So, because she was his only child, his was a dynasty of one.
The Tragedy of the Vow from Jephthah’s Daughter’s Perspective
While the evidence screams that she was not killed, she lost the most important thing to a woman in that era — bearing her own children. But if, as the evidence suggests, she belonged to the Lord at the Tabernacle, she was in the same stable as Samuel and Anna, a prophetess, who saw Baby Jesus after living many, many years in the Temple.
She may have been in the know of being chosen by Yehovah, Himself. Who knows? Normal people would regard that a waste but, if they have not had the calling, what would they know?
Conclusion
He may not have had a deep knowledge of Torah, and made some blunders, but he is mentioned in the Hall of Faith in the Letter to the Hebrews. That gives hope to all of us.
We live in the Land of the Catchphrase and Cliché where it is expected that the answer to difficult questions be shorter than the original question — and contain no big words.
It has taken three articles, using reason, to deduce that Jephthah did not slaughter his Daughter. If you have hung on through these three posts, you are hungry. Perhaps you would be interested in other posts of a similar ilk.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
