Judges 11: Then the spirit of the L ORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the L ORD, and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand,

31 then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the L ORD ’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt offering.” 32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them; and the L ORD gave them into his hand. 33 He inflicted a massive defeat on them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty towns, and as far as Abel- keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and with dancing. She was his only child; he had no son or daughter except her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the L ORD, and I cannot take back my vow.”

36 She said to him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the L ORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the L ORD has given you vengeance against your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: Grant me two months, so that I may go and wander on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I.”

11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite, the son of a prostitute, was a mighty warrior. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife also bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away, saying to him, “You shall not inherit anything in our father’s house; for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws collected around Jephthah and went raiding with him.

Talmud - the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law and legend comprising the Mishnah and the Gemara. Midrash - an ancient commentary on part of the Hebrew scriptures, attached to the biblical text. The earliest Midrashim come from the 2nd century AD, although much of their content is older.

Mishna - an authoritative collection of exegetical material embodying the oral tradition of Jewish law and forming the first part of the Talmud. Halakha - Jewish law and jurisprudence, based on the Talmud.

Olah – burnt offering… OR This term does not mean literally "burnt offering," but "what is brought up" or presented to the Deity.

Abraham Ibn Ezra – ( ) David Kimche – ( ) Gersonides – ( ) Abarbanel – ( )

Abraham * Abraham is the eldest son of a respectable family * Abraham’s child is named Isaac * God is testing Abraham’s faith, * Abraham consoles his son ‘God will provide the sheep for the burnt offering’ (Gen. 22:8). * An Angel appears to save Isaac * Abraham's story is told clearly. * Abraham leaves many descendants. * Abraham’s child is male, Jephthah * Jephthah is illegitimate * Jephthah’s daughter is unnamed. * Jephthah vow was his own. * Jephthah not does not console his daughter, he bemoans his own fate and puts the blame on her. * Girls appear to lament Jephthah’s daughter. * Jephthah’s story is full of ambiguities. * Jephthah had no other child, and his vow left him childless and without progeny. * Jephthah’s is female.

Our decisions matter…  May we love God with all our heart  May we love our neighbors as ourselves  May we prove it through our actions in community, family, and the world  May we be a forgiving people And may we honor God in all things