That sacrifice, however, was YHWH’s idea in the first place (Gen 22:1–14). In that case, the lamenting done by both father and daughter would have concerned the loss for the daughter of the normative Israelite roles of wife and mother (a tragedy for Jephthah, too, since she is his only child and, without her children, his patrimony will most likely be lost forever). Meyers, Carol, General Editor. But since Gilead also names the region in Transjordan from which Jephthah comes, the text may be implying that any of the men of Gilead could be Jephthah’s father. Gender Women’s lives and reproductive potential were essential for community and family survival. Ethelbert William Bullinger,[24] looks at the word "and" in Jephthah's vow (Judges 11:31: "whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering"). “Judges.” In Women’s The ensuing conflict proves victorious for Jephthah and his forces. 1993. The loss of the daughter perhaps represents, in dramatic form, the dangers (amid apparent success) of the leadership of the judges. Pennsylvania: One limb would slough away and be buried in one location, and then another would fall off somewhere else and be buried there."[17]. . Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically. This was a normal custom of the time, and Jephtah should have foreseen it.Women normally went out to greet returning military heroes with songs and poems. [16], The Talmud characterizes Yiftach (Jephthah) as a person of poor judgment, who makes "unfitting" vows without proper consideration for consequences (B'reishit Rabbah, 60:3). She asks only that she be allowed a two-month reprieve so as to spend time with her women friends on the mountains, mourning her virginity. The tabernacle was the place where people went to worship God back then. Indeed, this tale of a nameless young woman, with scarcely a voice of her own and with her violent fate precipitated and carried out by her own father, is surely one of the most horrifying tales in the whole Bible. As he explains [25] the Hebrew prefix "ו" that is translated in the above passage as "and" is often used as a disjunctive, and means "or", when there is a second proposition. We wonder why no one—not even YHWH—intervenes. This request is granted. Moreover, an ʿōlāh in the Hebrew Bible exemplifies a pure gift to the deity. Like other judges in the Bible, Jephthah was to conquer the enemies of God’s people Israel. of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. ", Philip Alexander (1988), "Retelling the Old Testament", in, Pieter Van der Horst (1989), "Portraits of Biblical Women in Pseudo-Philo's. context? [34], This article is about the Judge of Israel. Since at least the 12th or 13th century, Jewish scholars, among them the compiler and summarizer David Kimhi (1160–1235) and Levi Ben Gershon (1288–1344), have taken fulfilment of Jephthah's vow as meaning that he only kept her in seclusion. Perhaps he merely offers her up to the service of YHWH; presumably she would have then gone to work for a lifetime in a sanctuary dedicated to YHWH. "[4] The elders of Gilead ask him to be their leader in the campaign against the Ammonites, but he holds out for a more permanent and a broader position, and the elders agree that, provided Jephthah succeeds in defeating Ammon, he will be their permanent chieftain. [7] The story ends by recounting how "the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, four days in the year".[8]. However, in the Hebrew Bible, the same word for 'burnt offering' (Hebrew, ʿōlāh) used in reference to Jepthah and his daughter in Judges 11:31 is also used in other Biblical stories alluding to human sacrifice, such as the story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22) and Mesha of Moab and his son (2 Kings 3:27). "Outlaws collected around Jephthah and went raiding with him. But even if the vow was spoken in private, it is still conceivable that word could have gotten back to the daughter. Jephthah swears an oath: ". The story of Jephthah has influenced a number of literary works. Rather than having faith in the righteousness of God, Jephthah was invoking what was seen in the pagan world to be a powerful ritual. yes being giving and generous is virtuous but that does not mean you must forgo your own interests in the process. And where is the daughter’s mother? and whatever [footnote: Or whoever] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it [footnote: Or him] up for a burnt offering. The midrash (Tanhuma Bechukotai 7) asserts that if Jephthah had read the laws of vows in the Torah, he would not have lost his daughter. The book of Judges contains some of the most horrific events in the history of Israel. (The Hebrew allows either the personal or impersonal pronoun.). The vow made by Jephthah seems to me foolishly vague , with horrifying consequences - though I see your point that the honor and obedience to death displayed by father and daughter after is noble from the point of view of avoiding sin at any cost. 1984. Pennsylvania: Later, Jephthah was forced to fight against the Ephraimites, who refused to aid him in his struggle against the Ammonites. In fact, the book of Judges ends with these haunting words, which are repeated throughout the book: “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right How can you call a story in the Bible horrorifying unless you do not believe in keeping vows or worse do not believe G-d inspired the story? In the narrative of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son, Isaac, YHWH sends an angel to prevent the killing. When his daughter was the first to come out of the house, he immediately regretted the vow, which would require him to sacrifice his daughter to God. The daughter's honor and obedience to a vow seems exemplary and needed in today's Followers. As a potential mother, the daughter represents the future for family and community. Jephthah’s daughter was the first to come out. Jephthah meets his daughter. It is, further, one of the most enigmatic stories in the Hebrew Bible. You have brought me very low!" "[14] John Chrysostom held that God allowed Jephthah to kill his daughter in order to prevent similar rash vows being made in the future and that it was for that purpose that the annual bewailing of the event took place as a constant reminder. New York: 2000. The story of Jephthah's daughter is also sometimes compared to that of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia. Benvenuto Di Giovanni, c. 1470 . Women in Scripture. Her character is elaborated and emphasized;[12][13] "the author has done his utmost to put this woman on the same level as the patriarchs, in this case especially Isaac. 20 March 2009. [10] Solomon Landers believed that the absence of express judgement implies that the sacrifice was not acceptable to God, notwithstanding the fact that the sacrifice nevertheless happened. I don’t think G-d would be pleased with a human sacrifice in His name. This message is here mediated primarily through the victimization of a woman. The text suggests that Jephthah’s vow was made in their hometown of Mizpah; if pronounced publicly, presumably she would have heard it. So the point is, "Let your YES mean Yes". Traditionally, Jephthah is listed among major judges because of the length of the biblical narrative referring to him, but his story also shares features with those of the minor judges, such as his short tenure—only six years—in office. Jephthah was a good man and spent a lot of time teaching his daughter about Jehovah. Or does he think that an animal will be first out of his house? The Lord used him to free Israel from eighteen years of Ammonite oppression. Some writers have observed that the Israelites of the time were decidedly barbarous; that Mosaic law (which forbade human sacrifice) was at this time widely disrespected; and that there are several other examples of rash vows to God with similarly terrible consequences. Does the spirit of YHWH actually move him to the pronouncement of the vow? This questionable parentage leads to Jephthah’s being driven away from his home by his kinsmen. Kentucky: 1992; expanded edition, 1998. Why do the women friends of the daughter not convince her to run away and so escape her doom? The Order of the Eastern Star refers to her as Adah.

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