Julio

[Genesis 22 – Judges 11]
Same god of Abraham, that likes human sacrifices?
Can anyone explain why in one case one sacrifice is interrupted, and in the other the sacrifice is consummated?
Or there is no possible explanation?
[Not to mention Jesus' sacrifice, itself.]

ApostateAbe

The two myths were developed by different societies and in different times. They did not necessarily try to make the two human sacrifice stories thematically consistent. Each one was developed to suggest two similar but different moral lessons.

In the story of Abraham and Isaac, the lesson is to obey the commands of God regardless of whether or not it violates either your conscience or your interests (or even the laws--God is above the laws).

In the story of the daughter of Jephthah, the lessons--there may be several--is to be careful about making an oath, and always keep the oaths you make, especially with God, even if it has an unexpected cost.

Toto

There is some speculation that, in an earlier version of the Abraham and Isaac story, Isaac was actually sacrificed. Later editors took pity on him.

ApostateAbe

Yeah. Some people will speculate anything. Isaac is part of a very important and central ancestral lineage in Hebrew myth.

Toto

And there are also people who claim that Jephthah was not really sacrificed. Attitudes towards human sacrifice have evolved. That'a about all you can conclude from the apparently different endings of the two stories.

ApostateAbe

Yes, I know that there are some apologists who think that Jephthah's daughter was really only sacrificing her opportunity for marriage, and she got to live after all. I think that may be better than fully accepting the story and its original moral lessons.

Julio

Those "tales" are often used to accuse Jehovah of moral inconsistency.
And it reaches its peak with Jesus allowed to die in the horror of the cross.
From any angle, a bloody god with no better moral solution to resolve the problem of his moral insufficiency, as I argue.

semiopen

This confused me for a long time but now I think I understand why.

The patriarchs followed the Torah exactly, even though it wasn't given yet.

To perform a correct sacrifice the animal must be slaughtered and blood must be drained from the animal before it was placed on the altar.

Abraham could not have sacrificed Isaac while he was bound on the altar because he still had blood... big no-no.

In this case, I doubt there is an earlier story (frankly I havent heard that before) because the blood draining and scattering ritual continued through the destruction of the second temple.

When the Talmudic sages saw this story, they must have been puzzled by this unKosher sacrifice and opined that he miust have been previously slaughtered. The minor technical problem with this is that Isaac continues to live, although as something of a space cadet.

Anat

Abraham offered the angels a meal of meat and dairy.

As for Isaac, there was a minority view that he was sacrificed and his ashes became some kind of sacred relic/good luck charm. (No explanation given regarding the paternity of Jacob and Esau in this version, AFAIK.)

jgreen44

There were many occasions wherein Yahweh either ordered or rewarded human sacrifice . . . .

Exodus 22:29-30
29 You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.

30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

1 Kings 16:34 (two "foundation sacrifices" ordered by Yahweh)
In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

2 Samuel 21 (Aztec style harvest sacrifice ordered by Yahweh)
1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the presence of the LORD. And the LORD said, "It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death."

3 Thus David said to the Gibeonites, "What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"

5 So they said to the king, "

6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD." And the king said, "I will give them."

9 Then he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before the LORD, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at the beginning of barley harvest.

2 Kings. 3:26-27 (Yahweh rewards a sacrifice to the Moabite God, Chemosh)
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom; but they could not.

27 Then he took his eldest son who was to reign in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there came great wrath upon Israel; and they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

And then there is the story of Jephthah which you already know (Judges 11:29-40). It has been said that this story is about the dangers of making a "rash vow". But what does the NT say about Jephthah?

Hebrews 11

32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,

33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,

34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

The author of Hebrews does not indicate that Jephthah made a "rash vow". No. Instead, for the author of Hebrews, Jephthah, a practitioner of human sacrifice who murdered his own daughter, was a great guy, a man of faith.