Jg. 11: God Commands Child Sacrifice! Augghh!

Judges 11:31 "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."

Jephthah was another illegitimate son, this time of a prostitute. Because of this, he was shunned by his people and would not receive an inheritance. So he leaves, and becomes an adventurer-type. Which comes in handy when the same people who wanted him gone needed him to help them fight against the Ammonites. Of course, Jeph will need a little compensation, so he is promised the position of the head of the Gileadites.

Not too shabby.

Jephthah tries the diplomatic route, asking the Ammonite king what the deal is with him coming in and trifling in Israel's business.

The king responds that Israel stole their land.

Jephthah is like, not really, all Israel wanted was safe passage through their land, and then had to fight. He brings their god, Chemosh into it, saying, "You be satisfied with whatever Chemosh gives you, and we'll be satisfied with whatever God gives us." BURN!

The king doesn't respond (how can he?) and Jepthah goes to war.

Then he makes the vow. In exchange for total victory over the Ammonites, Jephthah promises to offer whatever greets him upon his return from his victory as a burnt offering. It happens to be his daughter. And the way the bible reads, it would appear that he went ahead and sacrificed her as a burnt offering.

But the acceptable burnt offerings are made very clear in Leviticus chapter 1. It has to be from the herd or the flock, ie, young bull, sheep, goat, dove or pigeon. Instructions were given only for these animals. Not a person. Had Jephthah offered his daughter as a sacrifice, would God have reacted any differently to when he incinerated Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10? And let's not forget Deuteronomy 12.

So what happened? His daughter asks for two months to wander the hills and mourn her virginity...not her impending death. So she does, and comes back, and Jephthah is said to do what he promised.

Another way out is to buy his daughter back...to redeem her for 10-20 shekels...depending on her age, according to Leviticus 27, which, if it were an option, and judging by his reaction in verse 35, Jephthah most certainly would have done.

Bottom line is, there has to be some other fate for Jephthah's daughter, and the most likely scenario is that she became a nun...celibate for life.

Ge. 22: Don't kill me, dad.

Numb is how I felt reading through most of chapter 22.

I wonder if that's how Abraham must have felt as he acted out chapter 22.

OK, picture this, Abraham has his son for...oh, probably a few years. This is the son for whom Abraham has waited 10 decades. God calls down to him, saying, "Take your son - your only son - you know, the son you love...(oh...forget Ishmael), and go up to Moriah, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering..."

Wow, so...not only does Abraham have to give up his only son (who he loves), he's got to offer him as a sacrifice. Not just a sacrifice...a burnt offering. Don't want to imagine setting fire to my son.

Abraham doesn't argue...doesn't question...could it be that he's finally understanding this covenant thing? God just worked in an amazing way in the previous chapter to reinforce Abraham's faith. Still, I don't imagine Abraham got much sleep that night.

The next morning, he and Isaac and two servants set out for the mountains. On the third day of traveling to this place, God revealed the place where He would have Abraham sacrifice Isaac. He tells his two servants that they will go up, worship, and return. I imagine they didn't probably buy it. I wonder what that three day journey was like. I'm sure the silence was deafening. It would be hard to listen to Isaac talk about whatever kids talked about back then...full of life and curiosity and energy, and knowing that he as a father would have to sacrifice his son. He leaves the servants behind and he and Isaac continue onward.

Isaac notices as they near the spot, Abraham has the fire and the knife...Isaac is hauling the wood...no lamb.

"Dad..."

"Yes, my son?"

"We have the fire and the wood. Where's the lamb?"

What a heartbreaking exchange to read.

Abraham answers out of either faith, or to protect Isaac from fear, "God will provide." God has always provided for Abraham, but I wonder how convicted Abraham sounded. Did he declare those words, or did he sort of choke them out?

Abraham got as far as raising the knife over his trembling son before an Angel of the Lord put a stop to the process. "Now I know that you fear God, because you would not even withhold your son." My first reaction is "What a cruel God to make Abraham go through this horrible thing." I can't imagine going through this, and I don't really understand. Did Abraham really need to get to this extreme? Did he begin to take for granted who Isaac was, and what he meant to the world? Did he forget what all he went through before he was granted his wife's son? I don't know. I imagine that I assign attributes to God that are kind of watered-down by the society in which I live, even in my own faith, that God is this soft, touchy-feely emotional being without any hardline. Like camping, God is intense!

Anyway, God provided a ram that got caught by its horns in the thicket. And Abraham sacrificed that as a burnt offering, instead of his son. I'm not sure exactly how that was a sacrifice, unless it came out of his own flock somehow, or it was there, and he could have kept it...but it was either the ram or his son...I 'unno. I'm sure I'm not the first person to ask this question, but it makes me wonder. Ooh, it really makes me wonder...

And Abraham called that place The Lord will Provide. Places were named pretty obviously 4.7 billion years ago.

The angel calls out again, and says that because Abraham was willing to go through with this, God will surely bless Abraham and make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and the sand on the shore, and that his descendents will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and bless all nations. Not much different than what was promised previously in chapter 15. Except for the whole taking over enemies' cities thing.

So Abraham goes back and lives in Beersheba.

As a footnote, Abraham finds out that his long lost brother Nahor has some kids: Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel. Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Nahor's concubine had some sons, as well...Tebah, Galham, Tahash, and Maacah. Neat.