User talk:RobertC/OT Lesson 19

fyi on your jepthah discussion, the church OT manual gives several excellent reasons why his daughter was not killed, but sacrificed to a life of virginity (hence why she bewailed her status instead of impending death)--worth looking at.

Thanks! I'm assuming you mean the Intitute Old Testament Manual, comment 22-28. Most scholars I've found consider Jephthah's vow a hasty and unrighteous act, and the daughter's bewailing her virginity as a mourning of her childlessness (that is, they read her as being literally sacrificed).

One of the main problems the Institute Manual raises is the reference to Jephthah's faith in Heb 11:32-35. I think this is a good point, although one could also argue that Samson's faith is also mentioned, and we usually think of his acts being less than examplary. So I think it's possible to view Jephthah as someone who both exhibited examplary faith and showed weakness in making a foolish vow to God (I think his carrying out the vow, once made, could be viewed as examplary also, even though the human sacrifice seems atrocious in our day; there are many scriptures of this being commonplace in those days, though not condoned by Jehovah). I'll post more regarding this on the Judg 11:36-40 commentary page when I get some time. --RobertC 16:28, 24 May 2006 (UTC)