[GCFL-discuss] Jeptha

[Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies List]

Hey guys -
As you may remember, I am here, reading everyone's posts, I just don't reply 
very often. Things at Asbury College are great. I am majoring in Media 
Communications, which involves radio, movie making, producing, TV, news, and 
more. This major rocks. You can read my blog at www.helpmattandjeff.com (the 
personal website of my twin brother Jeff, and me). I decided to pipe in here 
and write that I had also originally wondered about him sacrificing his 
daughter as a burnt offering, but somewhere, I had heard the same thing as 
Siarlys said here, (it might have been in my Old Testament class here at 
college), which makes much more sense, being that his daugher says she is 
going to mourn with her friends, not because she is going to die, but 
because she may "never marry". I hope you guys are all doing good! I've 
enjoyed reading everyone's discussions and debates, and I'll try to pop in 
here every once in a while just to let you guys know that I'm still here. 
Have a great week!
  -Matt, a.k.a. The Paintballdude


> Did anyone else have trouble reading this letter?  I could not
> read it until I cut and pasted it back in as plain text.  In case anyone
> else couldn't read it, here is Siarlys' letter in full.
>
> greenBubble
>
> Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2006 9:26 AM
> Subject: [GCFL-discuss] Jeptha
>
>
> New subject:
>
> Has anyone ever looked at Judges 11 (in any Greek, Latin, English, or
> other European translation) and wondered how it could be acceptable in
> any way shape or form for a man to sacrifice his own daughter as a burnt
> offering, or how a just and merciful G-d, not to mention one who keeps
> his own word, could have allowed or accepted such a thing, several
> centuries AFTER Abraham was told to withhold the knife from Isaac?
>
> greenBubble probably knows the answer, but since we never asked, he
> didn't think to mention the subject. I am informed, by another Orthodox
> Jewish man, that no such thing ever happened. And no, the Bible does not
> lie, but the translators can get very confused.
>
> (Actually, I never asked the question, because I was not aware
> how it was translated.  gB)
>
> I am informed that Jeptha (Yiftach ha-Gil'adi -- to put his name into
> its proper form) made the following rash vow: "Im nathon titten eth bnei
> Ammon b'yadi, v'haya ha-yotze asher yetze mi-dalthei beythi li-qrathi
> b'shuvi b'shalom mi-bnei Ammon, v'haya la-Shem v'ha'alithihu ola."
> (Judges XI,30-31)
>
> In order to err on the side of over-precision in translation, the rabbi
> gave the meaning as: "If giving you shall give the sons of Ammon into my
> hand, it will be that the exitor who/which will exit from my house
> toward me on my return in peace from the sons of Ammon, will be
> Ha-Shem's and I shall elevate him/it an elevation."
>
> The term ola (root ayin-lamed-hei) refers to any object or person
> elevated to a status of enhanced sanctity, such that something or
> someone possessing that status may not serve or be used for any secular
> purpose. In the case of an animal raised to such a state, this means
> that it may not be milked, sheared, bred, worked, eaten, or have its
> hide used for anything; hence, it is burnt up on the altar (assuming it
> is free of blemish), because nothing else can be done with it. If it has
> a blemish, it simply lives out its life in pasture, in isolation from
> others of its kind.
>
> When Yiftach saw his only child, his daughter, coming out of his door,
> he was upset, because the girl was unmarried, and now would never be
> married, and so he would never have any grandchildren; his line would
> end. For this reason, he tore his garment.
>
> Personally, I found the error in translation understandable, since the
> common practice might well have been to offer almost anything else so
> "elevated" as a burnt offering. Asking further I received the following
> answer:
>
> I discovered that your conjecture was correct, and that the Greek verb
> used to translate the Hebrew he'ela (which really means "elevate") is a
> specific reference to making a burnt offering. Whoever is responsible
> for the received Greek translation of Judges (it is of unknown
> provenance) plainly misunderstood the text.
>
> I found this clarification something of a relief, and also a useful
> cautionary tale on the errors that can arise from simple
> misunderstandings in translation. Handel wrote a whole opera for
> nothing.
>
> Siarlys