Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ian goldsmith <iangoldsmith1969 AT yahoo.co.uk>]

Come on guys, for intellectuals you really do seem to
suggest some absurd ideas.

If I've got the wrong end of the stick entirely, then
please bombard me with ridicule, but it certainly
looks like some of you are suggesting that the Bible
gives its approval to human sacrifice. 

The point isn't whether or not any individual listed
carries out this act, it is surely something else.
Nationally in the Jewish law it was forbidden
expressly by God himself.  Individuals however are
flawed and make errors of judgement. Some however, as
in the case mentioned in Judges, took their word so
seriously that breaking it was worse than death
itself, and in this case even his daughter understood
the importance of not breaking a vow made to God,
however rash.
This does not mean that God approved however in any
way.

I don't object to people pointing out the obvious
failings in some of the characters in the OT, none of
them were perfect. The Bible itself goes out of its
way to point out the serious imperfection of mankind.
It's the implication that God somehow approves of
their actions that I find offensive.

Guys if you've got a grammatical or syntactical etc
question to raise, then please let us all join in and
increase our understanding of the language. But if
you're just going to be offensive about the characters
in the narrative or about God himself, can you at
least show some sensitivity. Let's try to remember
that none of these characters are here to defend
themselves. It's not exactly sporting to slur a
persons character who is unable to speak for
themselves.

Not very well put I'm afraid, but I just long for
people to get back to looking at the text and to stop
drawing spurious conclusions from a personal
philosophical perspective about it.

End of rant.
Ian.

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