Bernard P. Robinson, «The Story of Jephthah and his Daughter: Then and Now», Vol. 85 (2004) 331-348
In Judges 11 Jephthah is an anti-hero, his rash vow and its implementation being for the Book of Judges symptoms of the defects of pre-monarchical Israel. The daughter is probably sacrificed; the alternative view, that she is consigned to perpetual virginity, has insufficient support in the text. The story speaks still to present-day readers, challenging them not to make ill-considered judgments that may have disastrous consequences; inviting them too to detect a divine purpose working through human beings in their failings as well as their strengths.
The Story of Jephthah and his Daughter: Then and Now
The story in Judges 11 of Jephthah’s vow and its sequel has intrigued
and troubled readers down the centuries. What exactly, readers have
asked, does Jephthah promise to do, and is his vow a proper one? In
the event, is his daughter put to death, or is she consigned to perpetual
virginity? If she dies, is Jephthah at fault in sacrificing her? Among
the Church Fathers, St Augustine in particular agonized over the
narrative at some length (1). Among later readers, Sir Thomas Browne
in the seventeenth century also famously wrestled with it (2). Today it
continues to provoke discussion and analysis, not least on the part of
feminist scholars (3). I shall attempt to identify what the narrative
wants to say about the vow and its implementation, bearing in mind
the story’s place within the Jephthah cycle and within the Book of
Judges as a whole. I shall also ask what form a present-day re-reading
or actualization of it might take.
I. What Does the Narrative Want to Say?
Attempting to identify what the narrative wants to say about the
vow and its implementation I shall follow Webb’s division of the
Jephthah cycle into five episodes (4).
1. Judg 10,6-16: The Scene is Set
The Israelites again did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH…they
abandoned YHWH and did not worship him. So the anger of YHWH
was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the
Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites … (10,6-7).
One is here directed by the Deuteronomic author/editor (the
phrase “did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH†reveals his hand) (5)
(1) Augustine, Quaestiones in Heptateuchum, PL 34.809-822.
(2) See R. ROBBINS (ed.), Sir Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia Epidemica
[1646] (Oxford 1981) I, 404-406.
(3) See list in T.C. RÖMER, “Why Would the Deuteronomists Tell about the
Sacrifice of Jephthah’s Daughter?â€, JSOT 77 (1998) 27 n. 2.
(4) B.G. WEBB, Judges. An Integrated Reading (Sheffield 1987) 41-77.
(5) So 2,11; 3,7.12 [bis]; 4,1; 6,1; 13,1. Cf. Deut 4,25; 9,18; 17,2; 31,29. The
phrase in 11,9 “gives them before me†[ynpl ˆtn], where one might expect “gives
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