FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

HEAR! O ISRAEL:

HOW JEPHTHAH AND ISRAEL BECOME BARREN BY SPURNING THE COMMANDS

OF YHWH

SUBMITTED TO DALE LOEPP

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

OT567 JUDGES

BY

BRITTANY K. HALE

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

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Introduction

If the Torah had an alternate universe in which everything seems to go tragically wrong,

it would be the book of Judges. The narrative of Jephthah is a microcosm of the whole of

Judges, perfectly demonstrating this uncanny and unfortunate pattern. Ultimately Jephthah’s

story functions as a prophetic critique of Israel for failing to keep YHWH’s commandments as

outlined in Deuteronomy. The “Shema” of Deuteronomy (6:4-9),1 which “serves as the

confession of faith in God for Israel through the centuries,”2 contains two main commands: 1) to

love YHWH alone, and 2) to teach your children the words and deeds of YHWH:

Hear, O Israel: [YHWH]3 is our God, [YHWH] alone. You shall love [YHWH] your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. (6:4-7 emphasis mine)

This is central to the fulfilment of the covenant between YHWH and Israel, for the covenant

rests upon the blessing of future generations. Jephthah demonstrates the extreme apostasy of

Israel during the time of the Judges by violating the first and second commandments of the

Shema: 1) the people worship other gods, and 2) not only are children not properly taught the

words and deeds of YHWH, their lives are cut short. The end result of Jephthah’s leadership is

Israel killing the offspring of promise.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate YHWH’s innocence in the sacrifice of Bat-

Jephthah4 by pointing to Israel’s repeated failure to live out the directive of the Shema. I will

1 All biblical citations will be taken from the NRSV unless otherwise noted. 2 Harrelson, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, 254. 3 I chose to write “YHWH” rather than “the LORD,” as most English translations do, not to flaunt the name

of God, but to emphasize the personal relationship between Israel and God. It is YHWH, not Chemosh or Moloch, who save Israel, and it is YHWH alone who is Lord.

4 I will use this title (daughter of Jephthah) rather than supply her with a name as some have because it highlights her father’s self-centeredness and thereby the tragedy of her own short story.

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first show that the commands of YHWH, from the covenant(s) with Abraham and those with

Israel in the wilderness to the instructions given in Deuteronomy, Joshua, and the opening

chapters of Judges, consistently dictate loyalty and obedience to YHWH as well as proper

instruction of each succeeding generation. The failure of Israel to follow both of these directives

is a major theme of the book of Judges. After the contextual foundation is complete, I will

scrutinize the story of Jephthah itself: YHWH’s impatience with Israel, the intertextuality

between Abraham’s story cycle and that of Jephthah, Jephthah’s ignorance of the law, and then

the infamous vow. Finally, I will consider Bat-Jephthah’s characterization as a child willing to

be sacrificed by her father from the perspective of feminist theology, and in light of the sacrifice

of Jesus, the Son of God.

1. The Commands of YHWH

1.1 Promises for Abraham

The primary promise YHWH makes to Abram in Genesis 12, which becomes the basis

for the covenant(s) in Genesis 15 and 17, is that he will be blessed with a multitude of

descendants: “Go … to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. … To your

offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 12:1-2, 7). The promise of land is secondary to that of

heirs. The descendants are not subsequent to the land, rather the land is required as a provision

for those descendants. Though some scholars5 classify the covenant in Genesis 15 as a promise

of land, and the covenant in Genesis 17 as a promise of offspring, the discussion of heirs in

Genesis 15 necessitates the discussion of land. The barrenness of Sarai and Abram is a great

5 Thomas, “Promise-Threat-Fulfillment Pattern,” (video lecture).

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misfortune, economically as well as emotionally.6 Children are highly valued for posterity. This

is why the bloodshed of civil war in the book of Judges is so tragic, and why Jephthah’s sacrifice

of his only child is exceptionally so. Inheritance of land is not possible without heirs to inherit it.

1.2 Commands for Israel

Before there are ever any directives for how to move into the land, how to drive out the

previous inhabitants, or how to treat the land once they have possession of it, first Moses gives

strict instruction for the Israelites to be loyal children of YHWH and responsible parents to

future generations so that they might “multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as

[YHWH] the God of [their] ancestors, has promised” (Deuteronomy 6:3). A major theme of

Deuteronomy, one that seems to be missed by the characters of Judges, is remembrance of

YHWH’s saving work. If “the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of [YHWH]” is the

unfortunate mantra of Judges, then “[YHWH] who brought you out of the land of Egypt” is the

slogan of Deuteronomy (Judges 2:11; Deuteronomy 6:12). The frequent repetition of this refrain

is a case of Moses putting into practice what he preaches in the Shema. In Judges the people fail

to remember, and so YHWH is found reciting to Israel his own words and deeds.

The phrase at the center of the Shema that is translated by the NRSV as “recite them to

your children,” and by the ESV as “teach them diligently to your children,” (“them” being the

commands of Moses to love YHWH), is much more graphic in Hebrew (Deuteronomy 6:7). The

idea is for the Israelites to teach the commands of Moses through repetition, but these

translations do not convey the same degree of intentionality as the Hebrew word picture ִׁשַּנְנָּתם.

6 Throughout the scriptures there are a plethora of examples of barren women who follow in the tradition of Sarah, and are miraculously blessed by God with children.

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The Hebrew root ׁשנן is related to point, whet, or sharpen,7 and the stem is Piel, so the word

picture here is more accurately translated “make [these commands] sharpened for your children.”

The phrases “in sharp relief” or “etched in your mind” in English come close to the meaning of

,in this particular instance. As the commandments were carved into stone tablets for Moses ׁשנן

so too should the words and deeds of YHWH be carved into the collective memory of Israel: “If

you heed these ordinances, by diligently observing them, [YHWH] your God will maintain with

you the covenant loyalty that he swore to your ancestors; he will love you, bless you, and

multiply you” (Deuteronomy 7:12-13).

1.3 Entering the Land and Forgetting the Law

When the first generation begins to enter the land of Canaan, YHWH instructs Joshua

that in order for Israel to have success, “the book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth,

you shall meditate on it day and night” (Joshua 1:8). The Torah, and Deuteronomy in particular,

is the book to which YHWH is referring.8 This, together with the weight of the commands to

remember the words and deeds of YHWH which are discussed above, provides permission to

consider the intertextuality between the story of Jephthah (and the entire book of Judges), and the

Torah. At the beginning of the period of the Judges, the narrator reports that “the people

worshipped [YHWH] all the days of Joshua … who had seen all the great work that [YHWH]

had done for Israel” (Judges 2:7). Evidently Joshua’s generation had already forgotten the

second decree of the Shema, for after the elder Israelites die “another generation grew up after

them, who did not know [YHWH] or the work that he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). This is

7 Brown, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, 1042. The BDB does at least suggest “teach the words incisively.”

8 Harrelson, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, 306.

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the primary theme of the book of Judges, and in this regard the story of Jephthah acts a

microcosm of the whole.

There are curses as well as blessings in Deuteronomy, and those curses are dispensed in

Judges. If Israel does not obey, YHWH promises to send “disaster, panic, and frustration in

everything,” and will cause Israel to “be defeated before [Israel’s] enemies” (Deuteronomy

28:20, 25). The Israelites “did what was evil in the sight of [YHWH], and worshipped the Baals;

and they abandoned [YHWH], the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land

of Egypt … so the anger of [YHWH] was kindled against Israel” and the curses of Deuteronomy

were elicited (Judges 2:11-12, 14). Even the specific misfortunes of Samson and Gideon are

foreshadowed: “You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall lie with her,” and

“a people whom you do not know shall eat up the fruit of your ground and all of your labors”

(Deuteronomy 28:30, 33). Child sacrifice is strictly forbidden as one pagan practice among

many the Israelites are to abhor (Deuteronomy 12:29-32; 18:9-10). Jephthah’s tragedy is the

result of his own ignorance and faithlessness as well as that of the generations of disobedient

Israelites before him.

2. The Story of Jephthah

2.1 YHWH’s Short Patience, and Israel’s Troublemaking

Just preceding the call of Jephthah the Israelites repeat their apostasy one too many times

and YHWH responds to their crocodile tears with a resounding refusal to intervene: “I will

deliver you no more. Go and cry to the gods whom you have chosen, let them deliver you in the

time of your distress” (Judges 10:13-14). Though many have translated the remainder of this

passage in a manner that implies YHWH cannot take the heartache of watching his beloved

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Israel suffer,9 the Hebrew leaves room for YHWH to simply be exasperated or grieved by the

trouble Israel causes (Judges 10:16.). The root being translated by the NRSV and Robert Alter

as “could no longer bear,”10 and by the ESV as “became impatient,” is קצר which literally means

“be short” or “be cut short,” and can mean “be impatient.”11 In Hebrew this clause reads:

“YHWH’s spirit was short.” Likewise, the word translated by the NRSV as “suffer,” and by the

ESV as “misery,” is the noun עמל which means “toil,” “trouble,” or “mischief.”12 I propose that

the technical, albeit stilted, translation should read “YHWH’s spirit was short at the trouble of

Israel,” and that the smoother translation/interpretation would be “YHWH reached the limit of

his patience at the trouble Israel caused.”13 This changes the mood of the passage significantly

from the translations of the NRSV and the ESV. YHWH does send his spirit upon Jephthah to

deliver them from the outside threat (Judges 11:29, 32), and so keeps his promise to always save

a remnant, but he has had enough of their disobedience. YHWH is noticeably silent throughout

the story of Jephthah, and refrains from intervening in the internal troubles of either Jephthah or

Israel.

Outside enemies are not Israel’s true problem in the book of Judges. Israel, and therefore

YHWH, is Israel’s problem. When Jephthah is finally called to be a judge deliverer it is the

elders of Gilead, not YHWH, who call him. They question “one another” who will “begin the

fight” rather than continuing their plea before YHWH (Judges 10:18). YHWH is invoked, or at

least his name is used, as a witness to their bargain, but he does not open his own mouth to bless,

9 The NRSV reads “and he could no longer bear to see Israel suffer, and the ESV has “and he became impatient over the misery of Israel,” which is closer to my own translation.

10 Alter, The Former Prophets, location 3482. 11 Brown, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, 894. 12 Brown, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, 765. 13 Webb, The Book of Judges, location 6505 - 6622. Webb offers the same flexibility in his translation(s) of

v. 16b: “and he became exasperated with the misery of Israel.”

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guide, or rebuke their schemes (Judges 11:9-11). When Jephthah makes his rash vow, YHWH

neither accepts nor rejects Jephthah’s faithless attempt to entice him (Judges 11:30-31). When

Jephthah bewails that he has opened his own mouth YHWH keeps his shut (Judges 11: 35). And

when the narrator mumbles an embarrassed euphemism to describe the sacrifice and burning of

Bat-Jephthah (“[he] did to her according to the vow he had made”), YHWH’s silence is

deafening (Judges 11:39).14 Before one writes off YHWH’s apparent unconcern for Bat-

Jephthah as merely evidence of biblical misogyny, YHWH is silent even when the Gileadites

slaughter 42,000 Ephraimites, who are presumably all male. YHWH saves Israel from

annihilation by the Ammonites because “he could no longer bear to see Israel suffer,” but he

remains aloof and unmoved by the trouble Israel and Jephthah cause because his patience is cut

short by their repeated apostasy.

2.2 Jephthah, Abraham, and Heirs to the Covenant

The book of Judges cries out to be read with the Torah in mind. Though the “final form”

of the Torah as well as the books that constitute the Former Prophets were likely completed

during and/or after the exile,15 it is entirely plausible that the majority of the content of the Torah

was kept alive through both oral tradition and the circulation of story cycles.16 Though this

paper is focusing on the final form of the story of Jephthah, it would be irresponsible to not

acknowledge the potential discrepancy between what Jephthah the man might have known and

what Jephthah the character should have. Nevertheless, I shall take the Shema at its word: the

Israelites are taught by Moses to keep their history and the law sharp in their minds from

14 For a book marked by the often macabre description of bloodshed and death, this line is shockingly discreet.

15 Harrelson, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, 343. 16 Ibid. “Behind the edited traditions, however, are likely kernels of genuine historical memory.”

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generation to generation. The stories of Abraham should have been known to Jephthah the man,

and they are most definitely in the mind of the narrator.

What gives the covenant of YHWH with Abraham that divine je ne sais quoi is the

undeniable barrenness of Sarai and Abram, a couple way past childbearing years. Isaac gets his

name because both of his parents literally “LOL” at YHWH’s promise that their children would

be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. Perhaps it is just a case of nervous laughter. That

anxiety about heirs begins not with Genesis 15, when Abram complains to YHWH that he and

his wife “continue childless” (Genesis 15:2), but in Genesis 12:10-20 when Abram pretends (the

first time) that Sarai is merely his sister and allows Pharaoh to take her as a wife. He repeats that

mistake with Abimelech in Genesis 20. YHWH saves the covenant by visiting the two kings and

their families with plagues and sterility. The issue is not only Abram’ willingness to loan out his

wife’s sexuality to save his own neck, but also that the covenant promise for miraculous

offspring is at stake. YHWH reassures Abram that “no one but your very own issue shall be

your heir,” yet if there are interlopers, even royal ones, the promise would be null and void.

Sarai’s plan to use Hagar as a surrogate is not accepted for the same reason. Instead of diseases

Sarai is plagued by jealousy as her attempt to control YHWH backfires. This child must be a

legitimate heir to the miraculous promise of YHWH for the covenant to be fulfilled.

Jephthah’s own illegitimacy as an heir of Israel is a cause of anxiety and strife. He is

introduced as “the son of a prostitute,” and of a father rather obliquely named “Gilead” (Judges

11:1). Unlike Isaac, and even Ishmael, the implication in the text is that Jephthah’s mother

cannot say with any degree of certainty precisely which Gileadite is his father. His story begins

already tainted by the sins of his father(s). Perhaps with the memory of another far less

reasonable Abimelech in mind, Jephthah’s “brothers” expel him from Gilead lest he attempt to

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claim an inheritance, for he is “the son of another woman” (Judges 11:2). At this point Jephthah

has been cast in the role of Ishmael, the illegitimate son who is sent away. Even identifying

Jephthah as a “mighty warrior” is evocative of Ishmael, who “became an expert with the bow”

(Judges 11:1; Genesis 21:20). This not exactly the correct pedigree for a leader of Israel who

would help fulfill the covenant.

This deep-seated anxiety in regards to legitimate heirs reaches its climax for Abraham

with the binding of Isaac, so one would think that Jephthah’s personal history would have

prepared him to be more mindful of his own child. Despite the diverse origins and outcomes of

these twin dilemmas, Abraham and Jephthah seem to behave in much the same way. On one

hand, it is perplexing that Abraham negotiates with YHWH for Sodom and Gomorrah, for Lot,

and for Ishmael, but not for Isaac.17 On the other hand, it is uncanny that Jephthah negotiates

with the elders of Gilead for himself, with the king of the Ammonites on behalf of Israel (both

times invoking the name of YHWH as witness to his just case), and even makes a vow to

negotiate with YHWH for his victory, but he makes no attempt to plead with YHWH to spare his

innocent daughter’s life. There is a key difference between these twin horror-stories, but it is not

their outcomes; it is the discrepancy between the degree and nature of Abraham and Jephthah’s

personal knowledge of YHWH himself.

2.3 Jephthah’s Dull Mind

Jephthah cannot claim ignorance of the law. He certainly knows the history of the

Exodus from Egypt; his long-winded message to the king of the Ammonites proves that someone

has made the stories of wandering in the wilderness sharp in his mind. More importantly, he also

17 Fox, The Schocken Bible, 92. “Avraham the bargainer, so willing to enter into negotiations … here falls completely silent.”

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knows that the glory goes to YHWH who “conquered the Amorites for the benefit of his people

Israel,” and that YHWH “who is judge” will decide for either Israel or Ammon (Judges 11:23,

27). His insane determination that he “cannot take back” his vow to sacrifice that which comes

out to meet him, is grounded in the law: “If a man makes a vow to [YHWH], or takes an oath to

bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all

that proceeds out of his mouth” (Numbers 30:2). Both Jephthah and Bat-Jephthah’s statements

about his vow echo this command from Numbers 30: he moans “I have opened my mouth to

[YHWH],” and she robotically repeats “if you have opened your mouth to [YHWH], do to me

according to what has gone out of your mouth” (Judges 11:35, 36). Father and daughter are not

ignorant of the law, they are ignorant of the character of the God who has given the law, and so

they make a fatal error of judgment.

What Jephthah does not seem to know is that sacrificing children as burnt offerings is

strictly prohibited by YHWH, and it is listed as an example of the very pagan wickedness which

costs the inhabitants of Canaan their land:

When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire. … For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the LORD; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the LORD your God is driving them out before you. (Deuteronomy 18:9-10, 12)

Could not Jephthah the skilled negotiator have argued from this law that his vow was made void

by the appearance of his daughter? There are examples of YHWH allowing foolish vows to be

retracted. When Saul determines to follow through with his own rash oath, though it would cost

the life of his son, the Israelites intervene and ransom Jonathan from Saul’s folly (1 Samuel

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14:24-46).18 Numbers 30 also provides for the annulment of rash vows made by women. A

father can forbid his daughter from keeping any vows he deems unwise, and “none of her vows

or her obligations by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the LORD will forgive her

because her father had forbidden her” (Numbers 30:5). This same pattern for fathers and

daughters is repeated for husbands and wives in Numbers 30:6-15. Though there is certainly no

provision for a daughter to forbid a father from carrying out his own rash vow, the principle of

retraction and forgiveness is there. This law assumes women are unable to decide for themselves

what constitutes a proper vow to YHWH and what does not.19 Likewise it presumes men,

fathers, and leaders (like Jephthah), are capable of wise judgment in this matter. The underlying

principle is not that fathers are always right, but that wisdom should prevail over folly.

2.4 The Faithless Vow

To ask how YHWH can ask for Isaac as a burnt offering, or accept that same fate for Bat-

Jephthah (especially if the covenant rests upon the blessing of future generations), is to approach

the issue from the wrong perspective. The better question is to ask “why?” In Genesis, YHWH

is testing Abraham’s faith. Is YHWH responsible for Jephthah opening his own mouth? It has

been held against YHWH that his spirit has already come upon Jephthah before he makes his

infamous vow (Judges 11:29), as if this implies divine sanction of all that comes after. As Barry

Webb concludes, “the same expression that was used in relation to Othniel in 3:10 and Gideon in

6:34, and at last leaves us in no doubt that God has chosen to use Jephthah, too, to deliver

18 Saul may be prevented from committing this sin, but he later consults a medium (1 Samuel 28:3-25), which is also explicitly forbidden by Deuteronomy 18:9-12. This story, as well as that of the Levite in Judges 19, negatively foreshadows Saul in 1 Samuel. To fully explore the relationship between Jephthah and both Abraham and Saul is beyond the scope of this paper.

19 This becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy if females are not given the same education as their brothers.

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Israel.”20 Surely Jephthah’s travels through Gilead, Manasseh, Mizpah, and on to the

Ammonites is the guidance of the spirit. Furthermore, after the battle against the Ammonites is

won, the narrator confirms that it was YHWH who “gave them into his hand” (Judges 11:32).

YHWH’s spirit is certainly with Jephthah before, during, and after the making of the vow.

And yet, as Allen O’Brien has wisely and wise-crackingly observed: “God’s

Spirit doesn’t prevent you from doing something stupid.”21 Jephthah, like Gideon, should have

trusted YHWH. His message to the king of the Ammonites boasts of his confidence in YHWH’s

ability to deliver Israel. Once the battle actually looms before him, Jephthah discovers his

proclaimed faith is merely a display of bravado. Whereas Gideon begins his judgeship as a timid

man, but quickly gains confidence with the gift of the spirit, Jephthah’s time fending for himself

as an outcast seems to have only provided him with a tough exterior that belies a truly insecure

core. This vow is Jephthah’s own “fleece test,” only it is far more ill-conceived. As Phyllis

Trible astutely observes, “Jephthah desires to bind God rather than embrace the gift of the spirit.

What comes to him freely, he seeks to earn and manipulate.”22 Jephthah is attempting to control

the God who brought Israel out of the land of Egypt by coaxing him with a burnt offering as if he

were some local god of the Canaanites. YHWH remains silent, and inferably unimpressed, in

response to such petty bartering.

2.5 What’s in a Vow?

Some have attempted to argue that Jephthah does not sacrifice his daughter but only

sends her away to live as a virgin devoted to YHWH by translating the ְו in front of ַהֲעִליִתהּו as

20 Webb, The Book of Judges, location 7078.21 O’Brien, “The Spirit Doesn’t Protect You From Stupidity,” September 3, 2014. 22 Trible, Texts of Terror, 97.

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“or” rather than the standard meaning “and.” This is attempting to stretch a pinprick into a

loophole so that the vow reads: “then whoever/whatever comes out of the doors of my house to

meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the LORD’s, [or] be offered up

by me as a burnt offering.” This rendering complements the flexibility of meaning of ֲאֶׁשר:

“what” or “who” or “which.” The argument goes that if a “what” rather than a “who” had come

out to meet Jephthah, as in a sheep or a goat, then that would be offered as a burnt offering.

Since it was a human and not livestock, then Jephthah must have given his daughter to devote

her life in service to YHWH much like Hannah gives Samuel. If Jephthah were this shrewd he

could have found a way to avoid losing his daughter altogether. Moreover the report that “for

four days every year the daughters of Israel would go out to lament the daughter of Jephthah”

implies that she has died (Judges 11:40). Aside from the weakness of the tiny hinge on which

this argument turns (a shape shifting vav), the narrator’s innocuous report that “he did with her

according to the vow he had made” implies embarrassment at the outcome of that vow (Judges

11:39). As the narration of Judges is marked by vivid descriptions of characters’ actions, one

would presume that if Bat-Jephthah were not being offered as a burnt offering the narrator would

have spelled out the details of her new life. As it stands the uncharacteristic euphemism signals

deep embarrassment and shame over Jephthah’s actions.

3. Bat-Jephthah, a Feminist’s Worst Nightmare?

3.1 His Only Child

Bat-Jephthah, the only child and sole posterity of a man with no family to speak of,

should have been sharp in her father’s mind. The narrator echoes YHWH’s description of Isaac

in Genesis 22:2 as Abraham’s “only son,” with the detail that Bat-Jephthah was her father’s

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“only child,” in order to clinch the reader’s mental link between these two narratives.23 Unlike

Abraham who did have another child, Ishmael (hence why YHWH had to specify Isaac by

name), Jephthah “had no son or daughter except her” (Judges 11:34). Not only is she his only

family, for even the woman who must have produced Bat-Jephthah is absent, but as insulting as

this might sound she is his economic and nationalistic posterity.

Despite patriarchal readings of the Scriptures,24 daughters had value in the time of Early

Israel. As Carol Meyers has demonstrated in her enduringly informative article “Family in Early

Israel,” though men were patriarchs, women shared an equal and even technically more

specialized role within the household. Their work with mill stones, cookware, and looms

required adept understanding of machinery, whereas the men’s field work merely required

strength.25 Only women can perform that most valuable of functions: bearing and nursing

children.26 Children were both a labor force of economic value and the literal future of the

family’s advancement, daughters as well as sons. Furthermore, in Numbers 36 Moses rules in

favor of daughters retaining their father’s tribal property in the absence of sons. This would

mean that if Bat-Jephthah married outside of her tribe, not only would her father receive a bride

price for her, any land of his would not go to her husband’s family but would remain within his

own tribe.

23 Brown, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, 402. ָיִחיד which means “only,” or “sole,” with the implication of a beloved one, is used in both Genesis 22:2, and Judges 11:34.

24 Green-McCreight, Feminist Reconstructions of Christian Doctrine, 53-54. Modern day complementarians as well as mainstream feminists often see the same chauvinistic messages within the Bible. The former group lauds this as the design of God, and the latter derides it as the sinful bias of man. “The remedy here suggested for feminist theology in particular and for modern theology in general is a reappropriation of narratival reading … this would also enable some feminist theologies to embrace the Old Testament as a witness to the healing presence of Jesus Christ instead of dismissing it as patriarchal prologue to Jesus’ liberation.”

25 Meyers, “The Family in Early Israel” 24-27. 26 Yee, Judges & Method, 75. “In the androcentric economy, bearing children was a woman’s most

important function … to die without offspring meant to die unfulfilled and incomplete.” This is the antithesis of the covenant.

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When Jephthah tears his clothes in grief at the sight of his daughter coming to meet him

in celebration of his victorious return, one is tempted to believe he is grieving her loss. What

comes out of his mouth next reveals the sordid truth: “You have brought me very low; you have

been the cause of great trouble to me” (Judges 11:35). The root translated here as “trouble” is

not the same as in Judges 10:16, it is עכר; as it is used in here it means “disturbance” or

“calamity.”27 Rather than despair his mistake, console his daughter, or plead to YHWH,

Jephthah’s first instinct is the accuse her of causing him a calamity. In light of her economic

value as his only heir and his self-centered accusation, it would seem that financial ruin rather

than sorrow is what motivates his response.

3.2 Her Loss

Because Bat-Jephthah is a virgin she is not only losing her life, but also her potential to

fulfill her purpose both as an individual and as a member of the nation of Israel. Like her father,

she negotiates for herself, but only up to a point. Her request for a two month period with her

female companions is not to bewail the end of her short life, but to “bewail [her] virginity”

(Judges 11:37). As I have discussed above, a woman’s reproductive ability is a major part of her

value as an Israelite. The covenant rests upon the blessing of future generations. It is grim math.

If daughters are killed before they can reproduce, then there will be no more future generations.

Israel’s wickedness and Jephthah’s faithlessness have led to this sickening irony: Israel sacrifices

offspring to the God who delights in giving children to barren people in order to secure the land

that was meant to provide for that offspring. By cutting his daughter’s life short Jephthah

contributes to the trouble that cuts YHWH’s spirit short. Jephthah’s leadership leads to the

27 Brown, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, 747. It is a Qal participle.

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massacre of 42,000 Ephraimites, and by the end of Judges Israel is bewailing the near

annihilation of the tribe of Benjamin (which includes all of the Benjaminite females). Her loss is

a microcosm of Israel’s loss.

3.3 A Dutiful Daughter or Misguided Martyr?

Perhaps the second most disturbing element of this story, after YHWH’s silence, is Bat-

Jephthah’s dutiful acceptance of her fate. She does not know what she is stepping into when she

emerges from her home to meet her father,28 but at some point in her father’s gesticulations she

seems to come to understand the matter and “she subordinates her life to her community

importance, accepting her role as a sacrificial victim.”29 She shows no signs of emotional

distress, instead she calmly reassures her father: “My father, if you have opened your mouth to

[YHWH], do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that [YHWH] has given

you vengeance against your enemies, the Ammonites” (Judges 11:36). She is not the first to

submit to this fate. Though Isaac does not know Abraham’s plans when they begin their journey,

he must put two and two together at some point between his inquiry about the missing lamb and

Abraham binding him up, and yet the text records no protest or struggle from him either (Genesis

22:7-10). While the outcome for each child is vastly different, a common sense knowledge of

human nature expects at least a peep of protest from both children. The fact that both act in

dutiful submission is surprising and laden with meaning. By invoking the memory of the

28 Ryan, Judges, 90. Ryan’s proposal that she knows about the vow beforehand and offers herself willingly is victim blaming, and as offensive as Jephthah’s response to his daughter. When the time comes in his argument to defend why she might have done this Ryan takes a cop-out: she “deliberately exits the family home in order to present herself for sacrifice for her own reasons about which we can only speculate.” He does not go on to speculate. Considering Ryan’s book is marked by wild speculation (the chapter on Samson’s birth announcement is a prime example), this refusal to speculate about his own thesis is dumbfounding.

29 Yee, Judges & Method, 75.

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binding of Isaac, the narrator elevates the memory Bat-Jephthah: she, too, is a promised child of

the covenant.

What message is being sent to daughters and sons of Israel? Are sons to obey YHWH

with the reward of salvation, while daughters submit to patriarchs with the reward of self-

sacrifice? This seems to be the message that modern day so-called “Complementarians” have

gleaned: “women must submit!” If there were not a third story to weave together with these two

one might have to conclude the same. Fortunately (in oh-so-many ways), there is another story

of a child offered as a sacrifice. The same YHWH who promised Abraham he would provide,

the same one who does not accept Jephthah’s manipulative vow and wicked offering, is the God

and father of Jesus of Nazareth who was sacrificed on a cross so that so that Israel and even the

world might be saved. Unlike both Isaac and Bat-Jephthah, the Son of God does express

emotional distress and even dares to open his mouth to negotiate with YHWH:

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” (Matthew 26:34-39, emphasis mine)

As “God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (John

1:18). Jesus can “approach the throne of grace with boldness” that neither Abraham nor

Jephthah possess (Hebrews 4:16). While Abraham’s lack of protest might be chalked-up to his

fear of YHWH, Jephthah’s voluntary vow is purely the result of a lack of faith in the God who

rescued Israel from Egypt. Isaac’s submission may be attributed to his trust in his father. Bat-

Jephthah’s willingness to become martyred for Israel’s victory is based solely on her ignorance;

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no one has made sharp in her mind the truth that Israel’s God desires “steadfast love and not

sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).

Conclusion

The story of Jephthah is a microcosm of the whole of Judges, and a horrifying alternate

universe to that of Abraham in Genesis. Jephthah’s brief stint as judge-deliverer of Israel

includes an appalling retelling of the binding of Isaac. His ignorance of the words and deeds of

YHWH results in the sacrifice and burnt offering of his only child, and bloody civil war between

Gilead and Ephraim. Had Israel kept the commands of the Shema to remember that YHWH is

God alone, and had Jephthah and his daughter known the history and laws of YHWH, tragedy

could have been averted. YHWH is innocent in the sacrifice of Bat-Jephthah. By sacrificing the

life of his only daughter, Jephthah demonstrates the extreme apostasy of all of Israel: 1) he does

not love and trust YHWH with all of his mind, and 2) he fails to raise a new generation to know

YHWH, reverting himself to a state of barrenness. When Christians read this heart-rending

narrative we must keep both the stories of Isaac and Jesus in mind. Ours is the God who

provides, who sacrifices himself, and who demands only faith and love in return.

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