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Taffy
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 8:14am | IP Logged
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I was reading through the Mass readings for today and am so unsure what to make of today's reading from Judges 11:29-39a. Here's what it reads as in the NAB...
Quote:
The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.
He passed through Gilead and Manasseh,
and through Mizpah-Gilead as well,
and from there he went on to the Ammonites.
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD.
“If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,” he said,
“whoever comes out of the doors of my house
to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites
shall belong to the LORD.
I shall offer him up as a burnt offering.”
Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them,
and the LORD delivered them into his power,
so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them,
from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all)
and as far as Abel-keramim.
Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection
by the children of Israel.
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah,
it was his daughter who came forth,
playing the tambourines and dancing.
She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said,
“Alas, daughter, you have struck me down
and brought calamity upon me.
For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract.”
She replied, “Father, you have made a vow to the LORD.
Do with me as you have vowed,
because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you
on your enemies the Ammonites.”
Then she said to her father, “Let me have this favor.
Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains
to mourn my virginity with my companions.”
“Go,” he replied, and sent her away for two months.
So she departed with her companions
and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
At the end of the two months she returned to her father,
who did to her as he had vowed. |
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First off, I can't reconcile the notion that we should be asking God to kill other people, enemies or not, when I think of Jesus' life on earth. Of course, I realize this kind of thinking is prevalent throughout the old testament, but it still bugs me.
But what I'm really having trouble with is the notion that God would be pleased with Jephthah for killing his daughter? Maybe I'm just dense?
Help and explanations are appreciated. 
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Susan
Mom to 5 on earth and 1 in heaven
Susan's Soliloquy
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 9:53am | IP Logged
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I've heard that it is a warning against making rash vows. He didn't really think through what he was promising. I'm off to Mass right now so maybe there will be some further enlightenment.
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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Jen L.
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 11:22am | IP Logged
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I just found this...
Commentary from Navarre Bible
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Jen
dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
"...the best state in which to glorify God is our actual state; the best grace is that of the moment..." St. Peter Eymard
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dawn2006
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HOw funny...I had the same concern! The only thing I could come up with was that keeping the vow was a sign of fidelity to God. And then I went on to just give up understanding the OT altogether. 
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Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
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MichelleW
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God did not require this vow of Jephthah. His Spirit was already with him and Jephthah was already succeeding. The fear of the Ammonites overwhelmed his judgment. Instead of trusting the Lord and continuing in His will, he made this rash promise that did not honor or glorify God in any way. However, this story really clearly illustrates the importance that they put on making a vow to the Lord. God did not require the sacrifice. Jephthah and his daughter took the vow so seriously that they followed through at great personal cost.
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Michelle
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Jen L.
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From Navarre Commentary...
11:29-40. The Bible contains clear laws which, in addition to forbidding the killing of an innocent person (Ex 23:7), regard human sacrifice as a very grave sin, a crime and a form of idolatry (cf. Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 12:31; 18:10; Mic 6:7).
Human sacrifice was common among Israel’s neighbours, as can be seen from Ugarit and Phoenician texts and from the book of Kings (2 Kings 3:27) which reports the sacrificing of the first-born son of Mesha, king of Moah; there even seems to have been an instance of it in Israel (cf. 2 Kings 16:3). But in all cases it is condemned. However, the sacrificing of Jephthah’s daughter is reported without any clear negative criticism and the event was commemorated year by year (v. 40). The episode certainly is disconcerting, but it may be that the author (writing at a time when no one was in any doubt about human sacrifice being an abomination) chose to respect the traditions that had come down, cruel and harsh though they were, in order to convey a lesson about the sacredness of vows and promises. Vows are such holy things that they should always be kept.
But, for that very reason, they should not be made rashly. This teaching is repeated elsewhere in the Bible in reaction to abuses involved in the fulfillment of vows, especially by those who made them hurriedly and then went back on them (cf. Num 30:3; Deut 23:22-24; Eccles 5:3-4; cf. also Lev 27:1ff).
When revelation reaches its fullness, the doctrine on vows and promises made to God becomes quite clear: a person may, out of devotion, promise God that he will perform some act – say some prayer, give alms or do some other good work.
Keeping this promise is a sign of respect for God’s majesty and of love towards a faithful God. Sometimes, that promise may take the form of a vow, that is, of “a deliberate and free promise made to God, concerning some good which is possible and better” (Code of Canon Law, c. 1191, 1) which “is an act of devotion in which the Christain dedicates himself to God or promises him some good work” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2102). If having made a promise or vow, one realizes that one has promised something wrong, one clearly should not keep the
promise: to do so would not be proof of fidelity to God; it would be sacrilegious.
Therefore, Jephthah’s action cannot be justified.
11:37. Jephthah’s daughter asks him to delay carrying out his vow so that she can “bewail her virginity”, that is, lament that fact that she will die before marrying or conceiving a child. These were ambitions of every Israelite woman and not to have achieved them would have been a reason for feeling ashamed and sorrowful.
************************************************************ *********************************
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
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Jen
dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
"...the best state in which to glorify God is our actual state; the best grace is that of the moment..." St. Peter Eymard
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Taffy
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| Posted: Aug 23 2007 at 10:48pm | IP Logged
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Thanks everyone, I think I'm seeing it a bit more clearly now.
One of the reasons this passage bugged me was the whole aspect of human sacrifice being acceptable to God. The explanation from the Navarre commentary was expecially helpful. Thanks again. 
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Susan
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Can Someone Explain today's reading to me
