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Jephthah, the son of a harlot is cast out by the "real family" of Gilead, but the elders come crawling back when they need a mighty warrior to defeat the evil Ammon.
Jephthath (just rolls off the tongue doesn't it.) makes a deal with The LORD to insure victory but it comes at a pretty steep price. His virginal, only daughter with no name is to become a burnt offering.
She's OK with the idea as long as she can still go on spring break before she becomes a burnt offering.
The Gileadites kill thousands of Ephraimites when they can't pronounce Shibboleth correctly. I'm sure I would have died by the edge of their sword if they asked me!
BTW, why is it important that the sons, daughters and nephews of the leaders rode on ass colts?
Why is this important information but we never learn what the Israelites do to piss off God repeatedly?
Judges 11 contains some really intriguing references to Numbers 20-22. My pet theory is that it is referencing some form of the J document (not JE), or a source shared by both at some point in their development.
ReplyDeleteJephtah killing his daughter to uphold an off-the-cuff oath to God? Pretty awesome. This is one of the stories where I almost buy the apologetic's story: that the lesson is to not make flippant bets with God. God will hold you to it!
I loooove the Shibboleth story. (Yay, ancient linguistics!) It's kind of surprising that the dialects of the Ephraimites and Gileadites were distinct. These guys were next-door neighbors!
That story also belongs to the tradition, with the Song of Deborah, where Gilead is a tribe. (The canonical "twelve tribes" is a very artificial construction.)
ch. 13 is a later introduction to the Samson stories, which are pretty awesome.
@Abbie,
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the stories where I almost buy the apologetic's story: that the lesson is to not make flippant bets with God. God will hold you to it!
11:31
That is something that another person was talking to me today about. It was an interesting conversation. I think we are going to continue it tomorrow.
Why rescue Issac but not Jephtah's daughter. Oh right, silly question. Sure glad I'm neither barren nor virgin! Less involvement with the almighty that way
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