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JEPHTHAH

(Heb. yiptaḥ)

A military leader who successfully directed Gilead’s resistance of Ammonite occupation and subsequently served as judge (Judg. 10:6–12:7). Jephthah’s victory is tempered by its tragic and morally ambiguous consequences: his vow, resulting in his daughter’s death, and his battle against Ephraimite kinsmen.

The main body of the Jephthah cycle, a collection of older traditions and later interpolations, begins inauspiciously with Jephthah, son of a harlot and “Gilead” (probably the personification of the territory) expelled from his home by his half-brothers. Like Abimelech (Judg. 9:4) and David (1 Sam. 22:1-2), Jephthah becomes a brigand chief. Later, the Gileadite elders appeal to Jephthah to use his fighting skills against their Ammonite oppressors. After negotiating to become not only Gilead’s temporary military commander but also permanent chief, Jephthah consents.

Jephthah attempts to press Israel’s claims to the disputed Transjordanian territory diplomatically. Jephthah’s diplomacy (Judg. 11:12-28) presents historical-critical problems, in that he addresses an Ammonite king with arguments pertaining to Moab. The passage may have been conflated with an account of conflict with Moab. Alternatively, by the time the passage was written Ammon, having taken over Moabite territory, may have assumed Moabite claims to the land. In any case, the attempted diplomacy fails; battle is joined.

The report of Jephthah’s victory (Judg. 11:32-33) is subordinated to the story of his vow and its execution. Whether propelled by Yahweh’s Spirit or despite it (Judg. 11:29), Jephthah vows that if God gives him victory, he will offer as a burnt offering whoever (or whatever) first comes to greet him when he returns home. Jephthah does triumph; the first to greet him is his daughter, an only child. Jephthah mourns but persists. The daughter submits and, after a two month delay in which to lament her maidenhood, is sacrificed. The story is editorially connected to an annual ritual of lament, possibly a rite of passage.

The final story of the cycle is also ambiguous. In a scene reminiscent of their conflict with Gideon (Judg. 8:1-3), the Ephraimites confront Jephthah over his failure to enlist their aid. While Gideon diplomatically averts intertribal warfare, here conflict leads to battle. Jephthah routs the Ephraimites. The ethnicity of Ephraimite survivors is disclosed by their inability to pronounce the “sh” sound in “Shibboleth” (“stream”) and they are slaughtered. The cycle ends with the notice that Jephthah judged Israel six years, died, and was buried in Gilead.

The tradition’s evaluation of Jephthah is mixed. Both OT and NT acclaim Jephthah’s faithfulness (1 Sam. 12:11; Heb. 11:32). Such positive assessment is reflected in modern scholars who deem Jephthah an “exemplary judge.” Other traditions condemn Jephthah’s cruelty; the Haggadah recounts that Jephthah’s prideful, ignorant immolation of his daughter was punished by dismemberment (Gen. Rab. 60:3). Modern scholars have criticized the patriarchal values of unquestioning submission and female self-sacrifice encoded in the text. Others interpret the stories of Jephthah and Samson as a portrayal of social disintegration in premonarchical Israel.

Bibliography. R. C. Boling, Judges. AB 6A (Garden City, 1975); P. L. Day, “From the Child Is Born the Woman: The Story of Jephthah’s Daughter,” in Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel (Minneapolis, 1989), 58-74; J. C. Exum, Fragmented Women: Feminist (Sub)Versions of Biblical Narratives (Valley Forge, 1993); D. Marcus, “The Bargaining between Jephthah and the Elders (Judg. 11:4-11),” JANES 19 (1989): 95-100; A. D. H. Mayes, Judges. OTG 8 (Sheffield, 1985).

Carolyn Pressler

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JEPHTHAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)