As a âtext of terrorâ, Judges 11 is the topic of extensive feminist interpretation. Filtering the text through a typical feminist hermeneutic of suspicion or remembrance, the text is deconstructed and the storyâs victim, Jephthahâs daughter, is rendered a submissive pawn of a patriarchal society. Using a feminist, Pentecostal hermeneutic, the biblical reader appreciates this disturbing Scripture, not as an object to deconstruct, but as Spirit-Word that deconstructs its reader and its readerâs world. As one sees Jephthahâs daughter with new eyes, one is able to see her as a courageous daughter who takes a radical stand against her fatherâs world that is determined by martial valor. As Judges 11 is read with the Spirit, the reader herself experiences transformation as she enters into the Spiritâs grief, brooding, and transformation of this nameless daughter and of all those who hear, with her, the unheard voice of God.
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âDaniel I. Block, âUnspeakable Crimes: The Abuse of Women in the Book of Judgesâ, Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 2.3 (1998), pp. 46â55 (47â48).
âCheryl Bridges Johns, âGrieving, Brooding, and Transforming: The Spirit, the Bible, and Genderâ, Journal of Pentecostal Theology 23 (2014), pp. 141â153 (145).
âTrible, Texts of Terror, p. 101. For a discussion on why the structure of the vow indicates that Jephthah expected a human to first immerge from his home, rather than an animal, see Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Hard Sayings of the Old Testament (Downers Grove, il: InterVarsity Press, 1988), pp. 101â105.
âTrible, Texts of Terror, p. 101. Trible expounds upon the daughterâs ambiguous ancestry: âHer father is of illegitimate birth; her mother is never mentioned; her grandmother was a harlot; and her grandfather cannot be identifiedâ (Texts of Terror, p. 101).
âFuchs, âMarginalization, Ambiguity, Silencingâ, p. 42. Mark E. Biddle describes this idiom, âto open the mouthâ, as unique in the Hebrew Bible that appropriately applies to Jephthahâs situation. Biddle states that the idiom ârefers elsewhere either to ravenous consumption (Gen. 4.11; Num. 16.30; Deut. 11.6; Ps. 22.14; Ezek. 2.8) or to false or foolhardy speech (Job 35.16; Ps. 66.14; Isa. 10.14; Lam. 2.16, 3.46), the usage evident here. The connection might be expressed best in English by idioms such as âI opened my big mouthâ or âI spoke too soonââ. Mark E. Biddle, Reading Judges: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Macon, ga: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2012), p. 133.
âMichael J. Smith, âThe Failure of the Family in Judges, Part 1: Jephthahâ, Bibliotheca Sacra 162.1 (2005), pp. 279â298 (295). Barry G. Webb specifies that Yahwehâs mercy towards the repentant Israelites is not due to their repentance, for the Israelites live according to a cycle of repentance and soon following apostasy. Yahweh knows that the repentance comes not from a repentant heart but from Israelâs âutilitarian nature.â Barry G. Webb, The Book of the Judges: An Integrated Reading (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987), p. 45. Yet, Yahwehâs affections for Israel move Yahweh to act mercifully, even despite knowledge of the Israelitesâ non-repentant hearts. Webb correlates Israelâs repentance and appeal to Yahweh to the Gileaditesâ repentance and appeal to Jephthah and ultimately Jephthahâs appeal to Yahweh, via the vow. Webb says (The Book of the Judges, pp. 53â54), âTheir [the elders] ârepentanceâ nevertheless bears a remarkable resemblance to the repentance of Israel in Episode I [Judges 10]. It arises out of the same situation (inability to cope with the Ammonites without help from the one they have rejected), it has the same object (to obtain the help of the one they have rejected), it meets with a similar initial rebuttal, and it is pressed with some kind of importunity. The Israelites end up by acknowledging Yahweh as their unrivalled God (10.16a-b); the Gileadites end up by making Jephthah their head and commander (11.11b). Where the two episodes differ sharply is in the final response given by Yahweh and Jephthah respectively. Yahweh can no longer tolerate the misery of Israel; Jephthah manifests only self-interestâ. Also see Carolyn Pressler, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Louisville, ky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), p. 198. As the judge, Jephthah, appeals to the Judge, Yahweh, Jephthah consequently creates a third judge, the vow. After the vow is made, Yahweh remains silent, and Jephthah finds his judgment in the unheard voice of God, in his own voice, and in the voice and actions of a daughter who dramatically breaks an unfaithful, utilitarian cycle.
âElisheva Baumgarten, ââRemember that Glorious Girlâ: Jephthahâs Daughter in Medieval Jewish Cultureâ, The Jewish Quarterly Review 97.2 (2007), pp. 180â209 (205â206). Tradition goes that when Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, the waters in Israel turned to blood. During these four days every year, water is influenced negatively and must not be consumed. In this way, the world recognizes the danger inherent to child sacrifice. Baumgarten, âRemember that Glorious Girlâ, pp. 194â195. Here, one might also recognize Jephthahâs daughter as an Old Testament type of Christ. Like Christ, her blood is a sacrifice to end all sacrificesâa violent death that speaks against death. For ancient commentators who hold a similar view, see John L. Thompson, Writing the Wrongs: Women of the Old Testament among Biblical Commentators from Philo through the Reformation (New York, New York: Oxford Press, 2001), pp. 100â178.
| å ¨é¨æé´ | è¿å»ä¸å¹´ | è¿å»30天 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| æè¦æµè§æ¬¡æ° | 777 | 85 | 11 |
| å ¨ææµè§æ¬¡æ° | 270 | 8 | 0 |
| PDFä¸è½½æ¬¡æ° | 135 | 19 | 0 |
As a âtext of terrorâ, Judges 11 is the topic of extensive feminist interpretation. Filtering the text through a typical feminist hermeneutic of suspicion or remembrance, the text is deconstructed and the storyâs victim, Jephthahâs daughter, is rendered a submissive pawn of a patriarchal society. Using a feminist, Pentecostal hermeneutic, the biblical reader appreciates this disturbing Scripture, not as an object to deconstruct, but as Spirit-Word that deconstructs its reader and its readerâs world. As one sees Jephthahâs daughter with new eyes, one is able to see her as a courageous daughter who takes a radical stand against her fatherâs world that is determined by martial valor. As Judges 11 is read with the Spirit, the reader herself experiences transformation as she enters into the Spiritâs grief, brooding, and transformation of this nameless daughter and of all those who hear, with her, the unheard voice of God.
| å ¨é¨æé´ | è¿å»ä¸å¹´ | è¿å»30天 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| æè¦æµè§æ¬¡æ° | 777 | 85 | 11 |
| å ¨ææµè§æ¬¡æ° | 270 | 8 | 0 |
| PDFä¸è½½æ¬¡æ° | 135 | 19 | 0 |