by
Damien F. Mackey
Given Saint
Paul’s praise of various of the Judges in Hebrews, owing to their “faith”,
including Jephthah (11:32-33), then it is unlikely that Jephthah was - as one
might possibly conclude from a superficial reading of his story (Judges 11) - a
man who would stoop to the sacrifice of his beloved daughter. And, although I had
entitled a previous article of mine:
What Was Jephthah Thinking?
I did
not actually conclude that article with a negative verdict about the action of the
heroic Jephthah.
Now, the
Greeks may have borrowed the Hebrew story of Jephthah and his daughter and
re-told it as the famous tale of Iphigeneia (Iphigenia), daughter of Agamemnon.
And, in
typical Greek fashion, re-told it in more pessimistic terms.
The
biblical story has at least prompted the following recollection of the Greek
tragedy (http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=70068):
…. One
of today's readings for Mass contained the tragic story of Jephthah's Daughter
(Judges 11:29-39a). Essentially, Jephthah makes a vow to God that if God gives
him victory over the Ammonites (something which presumbably God wants anyway)
he will sacrifice the first person who comes out from his house to greet him on
his return. Sacrifice meaning "burnt offering" with the person being
burnt.
Now, I
am intrigued as to how the Church understands this passage, especially in the
light of the passage where God actually appears to call on Abram for human
sacrifice but then relents - and which leaves the impression that God did not
accept human sacrifice in part to make the distinction between Himself and the
idols worshipped widely (Baal, Molech and the like). Is it merely a case of the
near-east prejudice that sacrificing a daughter would be somehow acceptable but
sacrificing a son would not be? How does the Church understand this apparent
contradiction between Isaac and Jephthah's Daughter (who is not even named)?
## I
have a theory about this
The plot
is similar to some other stories. For example, in Greek mythology, Agamenon,
the leader of the army against Troy, has to sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia
before the fleet can set sail. When he does so, Iphigeneia is snatched away
& a doe replaces her; she herself has been taken to Tauris, among the
savage Thracians, were she becomes a priestess of Artemis, the goddess whom
Agamemnon (or a member of his family) offended, thereby causing Artemis to stop
the fleet sailing. (In the end, although Agamemnon is murdered by his wife and
her lover, his son and another daughter are re-united.) In both stories:
the father sets out to go to war
he does
something to set a god in motion: by a vow, or by offending the god
he loses
his daughter
she is
taken away from everyday civilised life...
and is
given over to the god ….
A far better interpretation
of the Jephthah and his daughter incident is given here http://www.htdb.net/1901/r2897.htm
….
"The
original, Judges
11:30, when
properly translated, reads thus: 'And it shall be that whoever comes forth of
the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace, from the children of
Ammon, shall surely be Jehovah's, and I will offer to him a burnt offering.'
The vow contains two parts: (1) That person who
would meet him on his return should be Jehovah's, and be dedicated forever to
his service, as Hannah devoted Samuel before he was born. (1 Sam.
1:11.) (2) That Jephthah himself would offer a burnt offering
to Jehovah.
"Human sacrifices were prohibited by the Law
(Deut.
12:30); and the priests would not offer them. Such a vow would
have been impious, and could not have been performed. It may be safely
concluded that Jephthah's daughter was devoted to perpetual virginity;
and with this idea agrees the statements that 'she went to bewail her
virginity;' that the women went four times in every year to mourn or talk with
(not for) her; that Jephthah did according to his vow, and that 'she
knew no man.'"
We are glad that our attention is called to this
evidently better translation, which clears away the difficulty, and shows that
the burnt-offering was one thing, and the devotion of the daughter another
thing. We are to remember, too, the testimony of the entire Old Testament, to
the effect that prior to our Lord's birth all the women of Israel coveted
earnestly the great blessing and privilege of being possibly the mother of
Messiah, or amongst his forebears. We are to remember, also, the exultant
language of the Virgin Mary when finally it was announced to her that she had
won this long-sought prize: "Henceforth all shall call me
blessed"--all shall recognize me as the one who has attained this blessed
privilege of being the mother of Messiah.
[End of quote]
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