Some, such as Alison Assister, observe that on occasion Kierkegaard writes as if he were a woman;[11] others, such as Wanda Warren Berry, accuse him of misogyny and male arrogance. Did Jephthah Actually Kill his Daughter? - TheTorah.com Should He prevent us from sinning? Coakley, Sarah. Meyers, Carol, General Editor. 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. : Reading Bible Stories from Within (Hakodesh Press, 2021). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg and his ordination from Leo Baeck College. You have heard that the ancients were told, YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER and Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, You good-for-nothing, shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, You fool, shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Matthew 5:21-22 (NASB). Why Jephthah may not have Sacrificed his Daughter. If we promise to do something, God says do it! Jephthah's daughter asked for a two month "reprieve," and Jephthah granted her request ( Judges 11:36-38 ). Yes, she too was sacrificed, but her conduct interrupted the order of a male-dominated society. Vayera Morality and Ethics The Sacrifice of Iphigeneia. Did Jephthah keep his vow or not? Bledstein believes the book to have been written around the year 600 BCE by a woman, the prophetess Huldah, a member of the court of King Josiah II, with a view to satirising and censuring men: The standard of faith is embodied by three extraordinary womenDeborah, Jael and Jephthahs daughter. A Nameless Bride of Death: Jephthahs Daughter in American Jewish Womens Poetry. Open Theology 6 (2020), 114. [12] See the suggestion of Abraham Ibn Ezra, later followed by Rabbi David Kimchi in the name of his father, that Jephthah provided her with a house outside the city and sustenance throughout her life. Thru The Bible. Or we can proceed with caution, or even suspicion. Adam Clarke's Commentary has an exposition of the issues at stake in this passage and contends that the vow Jephthah made was not as rash as it sounds. Day, Peggy L. From the Child Is Born the Woman: The Story of Jephthahs Daughter. InGender and Difference in Ancient Israel,edited by Peggy L. Day, 5874. Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. [10] On Kierkegaard, scholars are similarly split. Fifth point, child sacrifice is a great abomination to God. Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2013.10.1017/CBO9781139048958Search in Google Scholar, Coakley, Sarah. Pressler, Carolyn. She encourages Jephthah to fulfill his vow (v. 36) but asks for two months to weep for her virginity (v. 38). Leviticus as Literature. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2007.Search in Google Scholar, Scott, N. Amos. Ecclesiastes 7:29 (NASB). The dialogue in Judges could have been brilliantly and intentionally constructed by the author to suggest that Jephthahs daughter was fighting back. [47] Another possibility is that the daughter is satirising her fathers playing God. Contrary to Fuchs, Bledstein is persuaded that the exaggerated silencing and marginalising of the daughter is intended to prove Jephthah ridiculous and underline the ironic undertones of the story. 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Jephthah's daughter, sometimes later referred to as Seila or as Iphis, is a figure in the Hebrew Bible, whose story is recounted in Judges 11. Rather, I am seeking to demonstrate that there are different forms of power, and that the aggressive form, the form we are called either to mimic or to submit to, must no longer conquer interhuman relations. Bohmbach, Karla. 11:2940) is a peculiar and problematic text. Bullinger goes on to give examples from the Bible where the same word has been translated as "or". There is little problem in agreeing that the daughter is silenced and marginalised, but we should also be interested in the authorredactors motivation for such marginalisation. Thus says the LORD, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me . The King's Daughters (French: Saint-Cyr) is a 2000 French period drama film directed by Patricia Mazuy. Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture. 2 (2007): 180-209. I believe that, like Abrahams silence towards God who asks for his son and Isaacs silence towards his father, the powerlessness of Jephthahs daughter in the face of patriarchal tyranny should be interpreted not as submissiveness but as powerful powerlessness, or, to use Coakleys term, power in vulnerability. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. The loss of the daughter perhaps represents, in dramatic form, the dangers (amid apparent success) of the leadership of the judges. In her account of sacrifice and its legacy in the history of the Jewish nation, Yael S. Feldman concludes that viewed through the lens of typical gender stereotypes Isaacs passivity corresponds to the female principle whereas the active role taken by Jephthahs daughter accords rather with the male principle.[18]. [11] The Book of Judges has been seen as teaching a cycle of pride associated with rejection of God's law and subsequent suffering of the people. 12:7: 'Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and he was buried in the towns of Gilead.' Assister, Alison. Moreover, an lh in the Hebrew Bible exemplifies a pure gift to the deity. Krebs, Ronald R. The Binding of Isaac and the Arts of Resistance. In Reading Genesis: Beginnings, edited by Beth Kisssileff, 13148. Both conceived and bore children. Its position, as well as the events that it narrates, suggests that it functions primarily, though not necessarily solely, as a further explication of the character of her father. Instead, he consecrated her as a perpetual virgin in the service of the Lord. Topical issue: Women and Gender in the Bible and the Biblical World II, edited by Zanne Domoney-Lyttle and Sarah Nicholson, Whose Story? With this horrifying act, Mesha turned defeat into victory. The story of Jephthah's daughter is also sometimes compared to that of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia. Or does he think that an animal will be first out of his house? Gender Difference and the Rabbis: Bat Yiftah as Human Sacrifice. In Human Sacrifice in Jewish and Christian Tradition, edited by Diethard Rmheld, Armin Lange and Karin Finsterbusch, 17590. [5] The girl asks for two months' grace, "that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity". Judges. Assister, Alison. She is not an innocent in this event. Judges 11:29-40 is the story Jephthah and his unnamed daughter. He knew the law well enough to accurately recount for the king of Ammon how the Israelites, three hundred years previous, came to possess territory that the Ammonites controlled (Judges 11:12 - 22). Some writers have observed that the Israelites of the time widely disrespected Mosaic law, which forbade human sacrifice; and that there are several other examples of rash vows to God with similarly terrible consequences. Jephthah and His Daughter. On the basis of these analyses, we will offer an answer to the following questions: Who is to be held accountable for the violent and immature death of Jephthahs daughter? In James 3:8-10 we are told that our tongue is evil and full of poison and we destroy people with it. Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth. Fourth point, Jephthah's daughter encourages his father to keep the vow and didn't even show any fear. In Kierkegaards understanding, Abraham is a single individual whose intention (telos) to sacrifice overcomes the ethical (not to sacrifice). Russaw, Kimberly D.Daughters in the Hebrew Bible. [2], The story of Jephthah is found in the Book of Judges, chapters 1112. Sacrifice: Its Nature and Function. Perhaps rashly, he vowed to sacrifice as a burnt offering "whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me on my safe return" if the Lord would only grant him a victory over the Ammonites (Judges 11:30-31). Jephthah Was a Warrior and Judge, But a Tragic Figure - Learn Religions Comparing the two sacrificial stories, one could conclude that when facing human powerlessness and vulnerability, it may be easier to interrupt the divine rather than the human patriarchy. And the first person out of his house to greet him on his return is his daughter. Marginalization, Ambiguity, Silencing: The Story of Jephthahs Daughter. In Feminist Companion to Judges, edited by Athalya Brenner, 11630. [6] The French scholar Peter Abelard (d. 1142) praised Seila in his lament Planctus virginum Israel super filia Jephte. The answer is twofold: she is a woman fully responsible for herself; however, the responsibility for her premature and violent death is shared by her father, herself, and the biblical authorredactor. Judges. [14] Girards distinction is important for our analysis for a different reason, however. Looking at the story of Jephthahs daughter from the perspective of the personal accountability of the characters and their respective abilities to intervene and move the narrative on gives us ample reason to continue our engagement with the narrative. She is to remain anonymous and as alien to us as possible in order not to arouse any sympathy from us:[40] Herein lies [] the reason Jephthahs daughters name is not preserved: because she is commemorated not for herself but as a daughter.[41] Esther Fuchs neatly captures the line of thinking that explains why Jephthahs daughter is described as a submissive victim of patriarchal tyranny: Had Jephthahs daughter been shown to ask for pity, had she asked to be spared, had she turned to Yahweh with a plea for mercy, the narrative would have tipped the scales too much in her favor, so much so that Jephthahs refusal to grant her freedom would have cast both him and Yahweh in a questionable role []. [11] What is particularly puzzling is why Jephthah did not realize that his daughter might be the one who would come to greet him on his victory. Fuchs is persuaded that the words [] do to me according to [] and the absence of the daughters proper name are proof of her submissive nature and of the fathers dominance over her. The Religion of the Semites. Sacrifice and the Self: Feminine Sacrificial Identity and the Case of Milada Horkov. Feminist Theology 29:2 (2021), 15669.10.1177/0966735020965176Search in Google Scholar, Koplowitz-Breier, Anat. This request is granted. New King James Version The short phrase "And she knew no man" is meaningless if the child (likely a teenager) would soon be offered as a sacrifice to God. Human Sacrifice and Greek Culture, In Human Sacrifice in Jewish and Christian Tradition, edited by Diethard Rmheld, Armin Lange and Karin Finsterbusch, 3564. [53] This has a significant meaning because, Derrida argues, from Abrahams perspective, he had already sacrificed Isaac when he decided to do it. Trible, Phyllis. Daughter of Jephthah: Bible | Jewish Women's Archive The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was . [27], The Order of the Eastern Star refers to her as Adah. Derrida, Jacques. Readings: A New Biblical Commentary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2002. Reclaiming the Hebrew Bible for Women: The Neoliberal Turn in Contemporary Feminist Scholarship. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 24:2 (2008), 4565. Moloch - Wikipedia The meaning of his words is doubt, not faith, it is control, not courage. Do to Me According to What Has Gone Out of Your Mouth: A Reformation Debate on the Tragedy of Jephthah and his Daughter. Reformation & Renaissance Review 21:1 (2019), 326. The New Yearbook of Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, edited by Ludger Hagedorn and James Dodd, 1322. Jephthah would offer him/her/it up as a burnt offering. by re-establishing the unity of the hero and the universal; by making peace. Leiden: Brill, 2007. It was adapted from the novel La maison d'Esther by Yves Dangerfield. London: Bloomsbury, 2016. Berean Standard Bible He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech. But his unconscionable behavior would also have been a sign of Israels depravity and thus an argument for instituting monarchical rule, presumably a more stable and upright form of government than what is currently in place. The making of the vow is an act of unfaithfulness. Which Sacrifice? Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, 2011.Search in Google Scholar, Coakley, Sarah. "Whose Story? However, what I have in mind when talking about sacrifice, and what Watt does not seem to discuss at all, is an interpretation of the individuals experience of sacrifice. Iphigenia presents herself as the heroine whose sacrifice saves the whole of Greece. Prof. In leading a friendly polemic with these two great names in feminist biblical criticism, I will present a philosophicaltheological interpretation of this text of terror. I will seek to overcome the powerfulpowerless dichotomy by understanding the loaded label power in different terms and forms. That sacrifice, however, wasYHWHs idea in the first place(Gen 22:114). The Story Of Jephthah And His Daughter In The Book Of Judges Have you made a vow to God? Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? On the Story of Jephthah's Daughter Sjberg, Mikael. Theory of Religion. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 1964.Search in Google Scholar, Ilan, Tal. The Feminist Companion to the Bible 4. Ren Girards Mimetics Theory. In exchange for victory, he vows a significant sacrifice. "Daughter of Jephthah: Bible." 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). A quick read of the above passage, especially in the King James Bible, would lead one to conclude that a human sacrifice to God was carried out since a vow must be kept (Numbers 30:2). Jephthahs Daughter as Object of Desire or Feminist Icon. Biblical Interpretation 15 (2007), 37794. Thus, unlike Iphigenias victorious speech, in which she understands her sacrifice and is proud of it, Jephthahs daughters response, I conclude, can hardly be understood as her acceptance of sacrifice. Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lords, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering. Judges 11:30-31(NASB). The rejoicing is short-lived, however, for on the return to his house it is his daughter that he sees coming out to meet him. [19] The sacrifice of the knight of faith is a paradoxical act of faith which has no connection to the universal. The text does not state explicitly that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, but only that he did to her as he had vowed (Jud. Did Jephthah Kill His Daughter for a Burnt Offering or Not? There are significant differences between the stories in Judges 11 and Genesis 22, however. Murder is not any worse than anger. The article, Did Jephthah sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering to the Lord? explains that Jephthahs daughter was not sacrificed but became a perpetual virgin. Du Bois, and Religious Rationality in Crisis, Enervating the Divine: Seeking New Intuitions about God from a Time of Pandemic, Foundations of Practical Spiritual Theology: Walter Hilton as a Case Study in Retrieval, The Sceptical Response to the Existential Problem of Systemic Suffering, Reasons for Resisting Darwinism, and Why They Should Not Be Credited, Pauls Divergence from Jesus Prohibition of Divorce in 1 Corinthians 7:1016, Neither Philosophy nor Theology: The Origin in Heideggers Earliest Thought, Sexuality and Gender Diversity in the Liberal Catholic Discourse in Poland in the Pastoral Perspective, Denial and Fear: Psychological Analysis of Covid-19 Information in a Czech Fundamentalistic Catholic Journal. Women are critical for the survival of the family; therefore, Jephthahs willingness to lose his daughter indicates that the text is trying to display the disorder and depravity of Israel before the institution of monarchial rule. In Defense of Sacrifice: Gender, Selfhood, and the Binding of Isaac. In Feminism, Sexuality and the Return of Religion, edited by Linda Martn Lincoff and John D. Caputo, 1738. Kierkegaard, Battersby and Feminism. Women: A Cultural Review 22:23 (2011), 18091.10.1080/09574042.2011.561111Search in Google Scholar, Bataille, Georges. [62] It is rather an open pronouncement of her fathers solo act which brings nothing positive, whether to Jephthah (the deity has already approved his mission), or to the community (victory in battle was secured by the Spirit of the Lord resting upon Jephthah, not by the vow), or to the daughter (although she is commemorated by the virgins of Israel she might rather have chosen not to die). On the contrary, I am seeking to decipher signs of difference from the established male norm in the rhetoric and the acts of Jephthahs daughter which demand our attention and call for a refutation of the sacrifice of any other. As he explains[25] the Hebrew prefix "" that is translated in the above passage as "and" is often used as a disjunctive, and means "or", when there is a second proposition. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1985. Introduction. In Feminist Companion to Judges, edited by Athalya Brenner, 1022. How Should We Understand Old Testament Human Sacrifice?