JoeB131
Diamond Member
If you are not familiar with the story, and honestly, I never heard it in 12 years of Catholic Education, here it is...
SAB, Judges 11
Long story short, Jephthah the Gileadite asks Yahweh for help with his battle with the Ammonites. To sweeten the pot, he vows to God that he will offer up as a burnt offering the first thing that he encounters when returning home. God must have been down with this, because the Ammonites are completely crushed.
Well, surprise, the first thing that greets him at his door is his daughter. He lets her know that he has vowed to sacrifice here (seriously, was he expecting to meet a cow or a dog or something?) and he must keep his word. His daughter goes off to bewail the fact she will die a virgin.
Now, here's the interesting point for all you believers out there. God did not do what he did in teh whole Isaac story and stop it at the last minute. He seems to passively allow this offer and passively allow the sacrifice. (A few apologists claim she lived as a virgin for the rest of her life, and that was her "sacrifice". Any reading of the bible would debunk that.) He could have told Jephthah no, or arranged for a dumb animal to greet him or just intervene..
But he didn't.
Thoughts?
SAB, Judges 11
Long story short, Jephthah the Gileadite asks Yahweh for help with his battle with the Ammonites. To sweeten the pot, he vows to God that he will offer up as a burnt offering the first thing that he encounters when returning home. God must have been down with this, because the Ammonites are completely crushed.
Well, surprise, the first thing that greets him at his door is his daughter. He lets her know that he has vowed to sacrifice here (seriously, was he expecting to meet a cow or a dog or something?) and he must keep his word. His daughter goes off to bewail the fact she will die a virgin.
Now, here's the interesting point for all you believers out there. God did not do what he did in teh whole Isaac story and stop it at the last minute. He seems to passively allow this offer and passively allow the sacrifice. (A few apologists claim she lived as a virgin for the rest of her life, and that was her "sacrifice". Any reading of the bible would debunk that.) He could have told Jephthah no, or arranged for a dumb animal to greet him or just intervene..
But he didn't.
Thoughts?