[GCFL-discuss] Jeptha

Tue Apr 4 09:50:57 CDT 2006

Miss you Matt!

Siarlys

On Mon, 3 Apr 2006 15:29:54 -0400 "Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies
List" <gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net> writes:
> 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
> 
> 
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