2 ISRAel FINkelSTeIN • I accept the existence of pre-Deuteronomistic Northern tradi- tions in Judges 8. • The old tales belong to the genre of heroic stories 9; there are no divine acts in them 10. • The old stories are local in nature, representing a town, a clan (Abiezer in the Gideon narrative) or, possibly, a “tribe” (Ben- jamin in the case of ehud). • These old traditions were transmitted orally until collected and committed to writing in the first half of the 8th century Bce (Richter 11 advocated an earlier date, in the second half of the 9th century; others opted for the Assyrian period) 12. The date pro- posed here is based on three considerations: 1) What we know today regarding the proliferation of literacy and scribal activity in the southern levant in general and the territory of the North- ern kingdom in particular 13; hebrew appears in a trickle in Jephthah vow, which will be mentioned only in passing. For recent treatment and literature see M. BAukS, Jephtas Tochter. Traditions-, religions- und rezeptions- geschichtliche Studien zu Richter 11,29-40 (FAT 71; Tübingen 2010); W. GROSS, “Jiftachs Rolle in der erzählung von seinem Gelübde”, Studien zum Richterbuch und seinen Völkernamen (eds. W. GROSS – e. GASS) (SBAB 54; Stuttgart 2012) 8-43; ID., “Jiftachs Tochter”, Studien zum Richterbuch, 44-63. For detailed com- mentaries on the Jephthah story see W. GROSS, Richter (hTkAT; Freiburg 2009) 537-632; J.M. SASSON, Judges 1–12. A New Translation with Introduction and commentary (New haven, cT 2014) 314-455. Much space has also been devoted to ethical issues in the Jephthah narrative, but these are all prone to modern stan- dards and evaluations (GROSS, Richter, 616). 8 RIchTeR, Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, 319-343, esp, 342, 343; contra BeckeR, Richterzeit und Königtum, 300-306. But note that Becker too con- sidered the existence of an older tradition behind the work of the Deuteronomistic historian (Richterzeit und Königtum, 222). A. lOGAN (“Rehabilitating Jephthah”, JBL 128 [2009] 665-685) argues that Jephthah is positively compared to David and sees much of the story as pre-Deuteronomistic Southern narrative from the days of Manasseh. The current article shows why this idea cannot be accepted — either geographically or chronologically. 9 c.l. echOlS, “Tell me, O Muse”. The Song of Deborah (Judges 5) in the light of heroic Poetry (New York 2008); S. ISSeR, The Sword of Goliath. David in heroic literature (SBl Series 6; Atlanta, GA 2003); more below. 10 For the Jephthah story, see GROSS, Richter, 616. 11 RIchTeR, Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, 340-341. 12 e.A. kNAuF, “history in Judges”, Israel in Transition. 2. From Late Bronze II to Iron IIA (c. 1250-850 BCE). The Texts (ed. l.l. GRABBe) (lhBOTS 521; New York 2010) 140-149; k. SchMID, The Old Testament: A Literary History (Minneapolis, MN 2012) 79. 13 I. FINkelSTeIN – B. SASS, “The West Semitic Alphabetic Inscriptions, late