I generally take Shof'tim/Judges as "we were really, really f*cked up, and G-d punished us for it even when he was helping us".
The recent VBM course-by-email on Shof'tim suggested an interesting explanation for Yiftach's sacrifice, btw: he might have been Jewish by descent, but culturally he was K'na`ani and as such his sacrificing his daughter was expected when asking (G-d | the Ba`al) for victory in a tough battle. The odd way he phrased his vow was to hide it from the Jews around him.
(I may be able to find this in the VBM archive if you ping me later: I may have to be online during Shabbat, but I won't force indirect m'lakhot on shomer-Shabbat Jews.)
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Date: 2008-10-11 03:47 pm (UTC)The recent VBM course-by-email on Shof'tim suggested an interesting explanation for Yiftach's sacrifice, btw: he might have been Jewish by descent, but culturally he was K'na`ani and as such his sacrificing his daughter was expected when asking (G-d | the Ba`al) for victory in a tough battle. The odd way he phrased his vow was to hide it from the Jews around him.
(I may be able to find this in the VBM archive if you ping me later: I may have to be online during Shabbat, but I won't force indirect m'lakhot on shomer-Shabbat Jews.)