Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: crf@mace.princeton.edu (Charles Ferenbaugh) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Jephthah Message-ID: Date: 18 Apr 91 07:27:23 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Princeton University Mathematics Department Lines: 30 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes: >[Asking why Jephthah is included in the list of heroes in Heb. 11, after > some of the "monstrous" things he did in his life. Then:] >Or am I reading too much into Hebrews 11? Is the author claiming no >more than "_once_ in his life, Jephthah trusted God in a battle against >Israel's oppressors"? Probably that's all that's being claimed. Last night I happened to run across the following passage in 1 Samuel; the context is Samuel's recounting of Israel's history just before anointing Saul king. "...But [the Israelites] forgot the LORD their God; and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Jabin king of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them. And they cried to the LORD, and said, `We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.' And the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Barak, and _Jephthah_, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you dwelt in safety...." (1 Samuel 12:9-11, RSV; emphasis added) So apparently, from very early on, Jephthah was remembered more for his deliverance of Israel than for his other, less virtuous actions. And if this is true even in Samuel's day, it's more likely to be true by the time Hebrews was written. Grace and peace, Charles Ferenbaugh