Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <Peter_Kirk AT sil.org>]

What evidence can you give of it being an accepted fact of life? Can you
quote any example other than the daughter of Jephthah who wasn't even an
Israelite? I would say that the evidence is that it is not forbidden
only because it is something which no good Israelite would have dreamed
of doing.

Peter Kirk

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan D. Safren [mailto:yon_saf AT bezeqint.net]
> Sent: 28 January 2002 16:34
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Subject: Re: Sacrifice.
> 
> The question is not whether the Bible APPROVES it, but whether or not
it
> FORBIDS or CENSURES it. And in the Torah and Former Prophets, except
for
> the
> Priestly and Deutoronomic/istic strands, all the evidence is that the
> Bible
> does NOT  forbid or censure human sacrifice in principle. It's an
accepted
> fact of life, when it appears.
> ---
> Jonathan D. Safren
> Dept. of Biblical Studies
> Beit Berl College
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "ian goldsmith" <iangoldsmith1969 AT yahoo.co.uk>
> To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 6:03 PM
> Subject: Sacrifice.
> 
> 
> > 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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