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 who comes out of his door when he comes home in triumph? His daughter. Ugh! What a knucklehead! What kind of a moron makes a promise like that? I can only guess that in that time it was typical to keep animals in the house and he must have expected a goat to walk out the front door. But it was still a house. Obviously a person could just as easy be the first thing out, right? Really bizarre story.The other interesting thing about it is that it doesn't say that God tried to stop this sacrifice in any way. I had some hope that, like in the case of Abraham and Isaac, God might step in and say, "Hang on. Don't really do it. Here's a ram instead." Or something like that.
I'm just not even sure what to do with that story. Why is it in there? The author makes no comment on the event one way or the other, which doesn't help.
Yeah right?! I completely agree with you on that. I thought the same thing. What did he think would come out of the door? It was nice that she got to go out with her girlfriendz for a good time before that happened. (Is this where good girls go bad?) Is this the ultimate sacrifice? He knew what could happen and prior to the moment excepted the possible fate and already mentally dealt with the circumstances?
ReplyDeleteI also thought maybe God would say JK, you're off the hook. Maybe this is a message of keeping to your word. I think the Bible is giving alot of truths to stand by and it is also giving us alot of contingency stories to make for good discussion. What would you do if...? kind of things.
I'm with you guys on this one. I have asked a pastor or two about it and I really haven't gotten a good answer yet. Did you check your commentaries or websites about this one?
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