Catholicity, Orthodoxy, and Lordship
Jim Jordan writes in the Introduction to his Judges’ commentary:
We do not need some specific New Testament verse to “prove” that a given Old Testament story has symbolic dimension. Rather, such symbolic dimensions are presupposed in the very fact that man is the image of God. Thus, we ought not be afraid to hazard a guess at the wider prophetic meanings of Scripture narratives, as we consider how they image the ways of God (xii).
John Currid says that the “author of Judges neither condemns or praises Jephthah’s acts.” If there is silence in the text, then why are so many scholars quick to assume Jephthah’s sacrifice of his daughter as a literal sacrifice of fire? It appears that the text is not as quick to jump to such a harsh conclusion. In these cases it seems wiser to find clarity in other passages.
by Giovanni Pellegrini
What is evident in the book of Judges is the seed theology. The repercussion of the ancient battle begun in Genesis 3:15 permeates Judges in at least two examples (many more could be listed):The evil Abimelech’s head is crushed by a rock, not by a warrior, but a woman; and Samson destroys all five heads of the Philistines by crushing their heads with rocks.
Bruce Waltke interprets the language of Judges 11 when he speaks of Jephthah’s only daughter “whom he murders (An Old Testament Theology, pg.607).” He argues later that Jephthah breaks the sixth commandment by sacrificing his daughter, which the Prophets condemn (Jeremiah 19:5). Waltke contends that “in a case of a vow dedicating a child to I AM, the Law calls for monetary payment instead (Lev. 27:1-8).” Indeed if Waltke is correct that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, then God’s Law repudiates Jephthah’s abhorrent practice.
