889 Jephthah’s Daughter 890 Jephthah’s Daughter Bibliography: ■ Bal, M., Death and Dissymmetry: The Politics of Coherence in the Book of Judges (CSHJ; Chicago, Ill./London I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament 1988). ■ Bauks, M., Jephtas Tochter: Traditions-, religions- und II. Judaism rezeptionsgeschichtliche Studien zu Ri 11,29–40 (FAT 71; Tü- III. Christianity bingen 2010). ■ Böhler, D., Jiftach und die Tora: Eine intertex- IV. Literature tuelle Auslegung von Ri 10,6–12,7 (ÖBS 34; Frankfurt a.M. V. Visual Arts 2008). ■ Groß, W., Richter (HThKAT; Freiburg i.Br. 2009). VI. Music ■ Janzen, D., “Why the Deuteronomist Told about the Sacri- VII. Film fice of Jephtah’s Daughter,” JSOT 29 (2005) 339–57. ■ Lan- oir, C., Femmes fatales, filles rebelles (Actes et Recherches; Ge- I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament neva 2005). ■ Römer, T., “Why Would the Deuteronomists The unnamed daughter of the Judge and savior Tell About the Sacrifice of Jephtah’s Daughter?” JSOT 77 (1998) 27–38. ■ Trible, P., Texts of Terror (Philadelphia, Pa. Jephthah (Judg 10–12) appears only in the story of 1984). Jephthah’s vow through which he binds himself to Thomas Römer sacrifice his only child (11 : 30–40). Before waging war against the Ammonites, Jephthah makes the II. Judaism vow to YHWH that in case of victory, “whoever ■ Second Temple, Hellenistic, and Rabbinic Judaism comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, ■ Medieval Judaism ■ Modern Judaism when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be YHWH’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt offer- A. Second Temple, Hellenistic, and Rabbinic ing” (11 : 31). When he returns victorious, his Judaism daughter comes out to greet him, so that he is The fate of Jephthah’s daughter has had an emo- obliged to offer her as a holocaust. While he la- tional reception history. The daughter’s nameless- ments his fate, his daughter tells him that he has no ness and the uncertain outcome of the sacrifice, in choice. She only asks him to give her two months to particular, attracted much attention. Pseudo-Philo, go to the mountains with her companions in order L.A.B 40.2–8 (1st/2nd cent. CE), e.g., pictured the to bewail her virginity. The story ends with the re- daughter, to whom he attributed the name Sheila mark that after that time span Jephthah did with (“questionee”), as a martyr (cf. Josephus, Ant. 5.265, her according to his vow and that it became a tradi- who, at least, emphasizes her fearless devotion). tion in Israel for young girls to mourn the daughter This motif was also adopted by Jerahmeel in the of Jephthah (11 : 40). 11th century CE Midrash TanB 7 (ad Lev 27 : 1–8), This shocking story has been largely com- referring to Lev 1 : 2; Gen 28 : 22, and 1 Sam 1 : 1, mented on by feminist scholars, who have given describes the daughter as challenging the father to Jephthah’s daughter a name (Bat, the Hebrew word avert the sacrifice (cf. YalqShim Shoftim 67; bTaan 4a) for daughter, cf. Bal), and criticized the patriarchal and asking for his permission to consult the Sanhe- and macho ideology of the narrative (Trible). It can drin in order to verify a possible dispensation from easily be shown that the story was inserted later in the oath. The request of Jephthah’s daughter for a its current context, which can be perfectly under- respite to “go to the mountains” (Judg 11 : 37) is stood without 11 : 30–31 and 34–40 (Römer; Groß). interpreted in ShemR 15 : 5 (with reference to Mic Since in the context of the Deuteronomistic His- 6 : 2) as a request for permission to consult the San- tory, Jephthah is portrayed in a positive manner, hedrin (cf. TanB 7). Traditional sources note (ad Gen the story about the sacrifice of his daughter is possi- 22 : 1–19) that human sacrifices – like those offered bly a post-Dtr insertion (Römer; for another opin- by Jephthah or king Mesha – were never demanded ion see Janzen). The narrative “radicalizes” the by God (cf. bTaan 4a; BerR 60 : 3). story of Abraham’s sacrifice in Gen 22, and displays several parallels as already observed by the rabbis. Bibliography: ■ Bauks, M., Jephtas Tochter: Traditions-, reli- In Gen 22 God’s messenger intervenes and replaces gions- und rezeptionsgeschichtliche Studien zu Ri 11,29–40 (FAT 71; Tübingen 2010). ■ Gunn, D. M., Judges (Blackwell Bib- human sacrifice with that of an animal. In Jug lical Commentaries; Malden, Mass./Oxford 2005). ■ Hout- 11 : 30–31, 34–40, God does not show any reaction man, C./K. Spronk, Jefta und seine Tochter: Rezeptionsgeschichtli- and the girl is offered as a sacrifice. The story of che Studien zu Richter 11,29–40 (Altes Testament und Moderne Jephthah’s daughter also contains parallels to the 21; Münster 2007). ■ Hübner, U., “Hermeneutische Mö- Iphigenia legend, especially in Euripides’ two dra- glichkeiten: Zur frühen Rezeptionsgeschichte der Jefta-Tra- mas (Römer; Bauks). The redactor of Judg 11 : 30– dition,” in Die Hebräische Bibel und ihre zweifache Nachgeschich- 31, 34–40 was perhaps familiar with this tradition te, FS R. Rendtorff (ed. E. Blum et al.; Neukirchen-Vluyn and wrote his addition to the Jephthah story at the 1990) 489–501. ■ Ilan, T., “Gender Difference and the Rab- end of the 5th or the beginning of the 4th century bis: Bat Yiftah as Human Sacrifice,” in Human Sacrifice in Jewish and Christian Tradition (ed. K. Finsterbusch et al.; Lei- BCE, thus inventing a “Hebrew Iphigenia.” He was den 2007) 175–89. ■ Kadari, T., “Jephthah’s Daughter: possibly a colleague of Qoheleth and shared his Midrash and Aggadah,” Jewish Women: A Comprehensive His- skepticism with respect to divine intervention that torical Encyclopedia (www.jwa.org/encyclopedia). ■ Marcus, would correct human beings’ foolish vows and ac- D., Jephthah and his Vow (Lubbock, Tex. 1986). ■ Rottzoll, tions. A./D. U. Rottzoll, “Die Erzählung von Jiftach und seiner Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 13 - 10.1515/ebr.jephthahsdaughter © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2016Downloaded from De Gruyter Online at 12/18/2020 05:08:56PM via Bibliotheque Universitaire de Lausanne 891 Jephthah’s Daughter 892 Tochter (Jdc 11,30–40) in der mittelalterlich-jüdischen und Sephardic tradition can be seen in the Duke of Alba historisch-kritischen Bibelexegese,” ZAW 115 (2003) 210– Bible from 15th-century Spain (1422) produced un- 30. ■ Silverman-Kramer, P., “Jephtah’s Daughter: A The- der the direction of R. Moses Arragel who used R. matic Approach to the Narrative as Seen in Selected Rab- David Qimḥi’s exegesis for many of the commenta- binic Exegesis and in Artwork,” in Judges (ed. A. Brenner; ries. FCoB, 2nd series; Sheffield 1999) 67–92. ■ Sjöberg, M., Wrestling with Textual Violence: The Jephthah Narrative in An- Bibliography: ■ Baumgarten, E., “Remember that Glorious tiquity and Modernity (Bible in the Modern World 4; Sheffield Girl: Jephthah’s Daughter in Medieval Jewish Culture,” JQR 2006). ■ Thompson, J. L., Writing the Wrongs: Women of the 97 (2007) 180–209. ■ Berman, J., “Medieval Monasticism Old Testament among Biblical Commentators from Philo through and the Evolution of Jewish Interpretation of the Story of the Reformation (Oxford 2001). ■ Valler, S., “The Story of Jephthah’s Daughter,’’ JQR 95 (2005) 228–56. ■ Carlebach, Jephtah’s Daughter in the Midrash,” in Judges (ed. A. Bren- E., “Water into Blood: Custom, Calendar and an Unknown ner; FCoB, 2nd series; Sheffield 1999) 48–66. Yiddish Book for Women,” in Gender and Jewish History (ed. Michaela Bauks M. A. Kaplan/D. Dash Moore (Bloomington, Ind. 2011) 59– 71. ■ Yassif, E. (ed.), The Book of Memory that is The Chronicles B. Medieval Judaism of Jerahmeel: A Critical Edition (Tel Aviv 2001). [Heb.; esp. The story of Jephthah’s unnamed daughter, the vic- 209–10, 493] tim of her father’s vow when he went to war, was Elisheva Baumgarten well known among medieval Jews. Beyond Jeph- C. Modern Judaism thah’s qualifications as a judge, the most often dis- Victim or victor or both? Scholars are divided over cussed part of the story was the fate of Jephthah’s the ultimate outcome of Jephthah’s daughter. Most daughter. How did he perform his vow and what Jewish commentators, both rabbinic (see Reiss) and did it consist of? This was the question that became modern, assume that she was killed, the unex- a hallmark of differing medieval Jewish schools of pected casualty of her father’s rash vow (Judg interpretation. 11 : 31, cf. 34–40) (Schneider; Niditch). Or is her un- A disagreement over how to understand the timely death a misreading of the text? Did she lin- daughter’s fate was noted already in Saadia Gaon’s ger unmarried, dedicating her life to God (Ma- interpretation of the Bible and his disagreement gonet; Silberberg)? with Yaqūb al-Qirqisānī the Karaite. Whereas Judges 11 : 39 is tantalizingly ambiguous. Jeph- Saadia suggested that Jephthah’s daughter died, thah “did with her according to the vow he had Qirqisani explained that she became a hermit and made. She had never slept with a man.” Jephthah took a celibate life upon herself. Similarly, the Jews sacrificed his only child, literally or figuratively, of Northern Europe (Ashkenaz) and those of Spain and thereby precluded his having heirs. The narra- and Provence (Sepharad) differed on this same mat- tive does not say that he killed her. The “emphasis ter with the Ashkenazic Jews arguing that Jephthah on her remaining a virgin and not on her death … slaughtered his daughter while numerous Sephar- suggests that she wasn’t actually killed, and that dic exegetes such as Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089– she remained a virgin for the rest of her life” (Ma- 1164), David Qimḥi (ca.