Human Sacrifice?

[humblemuslim]

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD : "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon. When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break." "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry." "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Why did God allow this? He stopped Abraham. Granted the scenarios differ, but God still had the option of not allowing this event to take place. Whether it be rejecting the original offer or stopping the final event.

Thoughts?

 

[drich0150]

Who truly knows the mind of God, or the Heart of another man. But if you read the whole chapter, you'll see that, Jephthah was approach by the elders of Gilead to be the commander in the defend against the Ammorites. After accepting this role he went to the neighboring communities to rally support, and there was none to be had from his fellow man. So like any man of faith he turns to God, (Here's where the speculation comes in.) So instead of asking God or approaching God in a manor be fitting the Lord, Jephthah tries to buy favor from God through "sacrifice." Perhaps His wife has a dog or goat or something that ran out to meet him every time he came home. So maybe that's why in verse 31 he says:31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
Whatever instead of who-ever.. I suspect that he was trying to pull a fast one on God and it cost him his daughter..

So why did God show Abraham mercy, and Jephthah none? Because Abraham spent his whole life in service to the Lord. you can't live an entire life time in service to God and approach Him on your terms. Servants Tailor themselves to their masters (or Shepard's if you like) And Jephthah was trying to buy favor from God with a gesture on his terms (with maybe a dog or goat..)

This event even though relatively unknown in christianity (at least I never heard of it till this thread) underlines a strong christian principle.. If you simply humble yourself before the Lord, then he will lift you up.. (But if you stand proudly before him He Will humble you..)

 

[aiki]

Why did God allow this? He stopped Abraham. Granted the scenarios differ, but God still had the option of not allowing this event to take place. Whether it be rejecting the original offer or stopping the final event.

Thoughts?

Why does God not stop all evil and tragic events? Why do you think He didn't stop Jephthah?

God had made it very clear to the Israelites that He abhorred human sacrifice. It says something about Jephthah's understanding of God that he nonetheless fulfilled such an abhorrent vow to God. Given what God had indicated about His attitude toward human sacrifice, do you think God accepted Jephthah's fulfillment of his vow? I don't. Taken in context of the rest of the Bible, Jephthah's vow and sacrifice is implicitly condemned.

There are some biblical scholars who don't believe Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter. They argue that she was simply consecrated to God and as such was not able ever to marry. The passage seems to bear this possibility...

Peace to you.

 

[ANM29]

Why did God allow this? He stopped Abraham. Granted the scenarios differ, but God still had the option of not allowing this event to take place. Whether it be rejecting the original offer or stopping the final event.

Thoughts?

Hi Humble Muslim,

I believe that this happened because he made a vow to God and he wanted to keep the vow. He said the first person that comes to me he would sacrifice, and I believe this was about making sure he kept his vow before the Lord as crazy as it may sound. It shows his loyalty and love for God in my opinion. God could have stopped it, but he did not. God did not ask him for his child as an offering, or any offering..He took it upon himself to offer up whoever came before him first. Perhaps he thought he was honoring God when he did it, I do not believe he was, yet I think it boiled down to keeping his vow.

God stopped Abraham because God was the one who asked Abraham for the sacrifice as a test to see his heart and how much he loved God and was willing to obey him. He never intended for him to kill his son, it was only a test.

God has had the option of not allowing a lot of things to take place that are happening today, but he has not stopped it. The time has not come to end pain and suffering on earth just yet. If God is allowing it, he has a bigger purpose in mind for allowing it that we will not always understand, so we are required to trust him anyway because we know that he makes no mistakes.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

Jdg 11:2-3 Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman." So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob

Jephthah was not raised a hebrew so he did not understand the law, nor understand that human sacrifice was not needed. He lived in a land where other gods were, i.e. the land of Tob. So when he encounted God he thought according to the only life style he knew, one where sacrifice must have been normal. Human sacrifice is not endorsed by the real God, but Jephthah did not know this.

As for why did God allow this, many things happen that are bad when people do not walk according to Gods perfect plan. Wrong ideas lead to wrong action. So we all need to be careful that we do things according to Gods commands.

 

[Bryanfromiowa]

Most misunderstanding of the bible come when people read one passage out of context. Looking at the book of judges as a whole, I see its about a divine pattern of chastisement that god used to turn his people back to salvation. The pattern laid out in the book of judges goes something like this. The people sin worship false gods turn from the lord, they reap the consequences as god allows them to be enslaved and persecuted, they cry out to god for help, they obey him , they put god first in their lives even above their own flesh and blood (this is the point of this passage) , god makes good on his promise and delivers them.
Using e sword and strongs biblical dictionary i picked the passage apart and my best guess is that he offered his daughter to the lord in service and that she never married. If you read the subsequent passages she goes to the woods not to mourn her impending death but the fact that she would remain a virgin.

I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.

 

[humblemuslim]

Thanks everyone.

 

[ANM29]

You are welcome..

 

[Sketcher]

The consensus among Jewish and Christian scholars was that Jephthah was an idiot. Leviticus 27 makes it very clear that human sacrifices are absolutely unacceptable to God. What he could have and should have done was pay the equivalent value to the priest, since human sacrifices are unacceptable to God. In fact, he never should have entered the "bargaining" stage with God, since strong and healthy faith will take God at His word without feeling the need to cajole Him in order to get Him to fulfill His promises. Defeating the Ammonites was great, but the sacrifice was his "F" moment, which we all have, it's just not always as deadly.

 

[davec375]

Why did God allow this? He stopped Abraham. Granted the scenarios differ, but God still had the option of not allowing this event to take place. Whether it be rejecting the original offer or stopping the final event.

Thoughts?

No! No! NO!

God strictly prohibited human sacrifice, his daughter would be dedicated to life long service at the tabernacle, plus Japhthah's daughter was his only child and had the right of the firstborn.


Leviticus 18:21
21And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.


Genesis 13:2
2 Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both man and beast: IT IS MINE


Genesis 13:15
15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; BUT ALL THE FIRSTBORN OF MY CHILDREN I REDEEM.


And Japhthah could redeem her for 30 shekels according to Leviticus!


Leviticus 27:1-4
1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the LORD by thy estimation.
3And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.
4And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.


"She knew no man", I guess Japhthah didn't redeem his daughter for 30 shekels, thus she lived her whole life in service to the Lord's tabernacle never having a husband nor having children. Japhthah will never enjoy the gift of watching any grandchildren grow.

Same scenario occurred to Hannah the mother of Samuel whom made a similar vow unto the Lord in much the very same results. Read 1 Samuel 1-2.

Also if Japhthah committed the profanity of human sacrifice and the Lord accepted it, why is Japhthah named among the heroes of faith in Hebrews (11:32).

Japhthah simply vowed his daughter's marriage and his grandchildren away.

 

[Catherineanne]

Why did God allow this? He stopped Abraham. Granted the scenarios differ, but God still had the option of not allowing this event to take place. Whether it be rejecting the original offer or stopping the final event.

Thoughts?

The story is not literal but allegorical. Its intention was to persuade those of the Israelites who were routinely practicing infanticide of first born children to stop. The Israelites were not alone in this; every ancient culture practiced some form of infanticide.

This infanticide was eventually sublimated into the offering of a lamb or doves in the place of the child.

You don't have to take my word for it. Read Kings and Chronicles, and you will see it all there, in black and white.

 

[Catherineanne]

God strictly prohibited human sacrifice.

This is correct. Human sacrifice was made to Molech or to Baal, but never to God. The prophets of God in the Bible always speak against infanticide, and call it an abomination before God, and those who practice it they say are evil in his sight.

 

[Bible2]

humblemuslim posted in message #1 of this thread:

Why did God allow this?

Greetings.

Way back in ancient times, God could have allowed Jephthah to
sacrifice his only child as a burnt offering (Judges 11:31,39) because
she was a willing sacrifice (Judges 11:36), just as God allowed the
sacrifice of his only child Jesus (John 3:16) because Jesus was a
willing sacrifice (John 10:17). Note also 2 Kings 3:27.

humblemuslim posted in message #1 of this thread:

He stopped Abraham.

The fact that God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only child as
a burnt offering (Genesis 22:2) shows that it was possible for God
way back in ancient times to accept human sacrifice, just as God
would later accept the human sacrifice of his only child Jesus (Isaiah
53). But nothing says that Isaac was a willing sacrifice (Genesis
22:7), for Abraham may have had to bind Isaac in order to keep him
on the altar (Genesis 22:9). And God's command to sacrifice Isaac
was only a test of Abraham's obedience to God (Genesis 22:12).

Now, in these days, no one should ever think that God would accept
them sacrificing their children as burnt offerings, even if their children
were willing sacrifices, for Jesus' sacrifice has put an end to all such
sacrifices for all time (Hebrews 10:5-18). So now, in these days,
after the sacrifice of Jesus, if any people think that God is
commanding them to sacrifice their children as burnt offerings, it's
not God commanding them to do that, but their own insanity, or the
devil, who loves to deceive people with lies into committing murder
(John 8:44).

 

[Catherineanne]

The fact that God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only child as
a burnt offering (Genesis 22:2) shows that it was possible for God
way back in ancient times to accept human sacrifice, just as God
would later accept the human sacrifice of his only child Jesus (Isaiah
53).

This is not true. The OT prophets show very clearly that the one true God never ever accepted nor condoned child sacrifice.

You really need to read Kings and Chronicles more carefully, to see this for yourself. There was never a time when such child sacrifice was acceptable to the Living God. Such sacrifices were made to Molech and to Baal, but not to God.

The death of the Lord on the cross is not human sacrifice, but exactly the opposite. It is God laying down his life so that we might live.