Chapter 11: The Story Of Jepthah

Throughout the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible, many bizarre and horrifying stories take place. In the book of Judges and chapter eleven, a story is told of a man named Jepthah who sacrificed his only child, a daughter, to the Lord. At first glance, this story may seem purely atrocious, but one must view it from multiple standpoints to understand the meaning behind it. After understanding the events that occur in the narrative, one must view those events through historical context, how the story fits into the larger surrounding biblical narrative, insights from other text-analyses that have been made, and other insights that do not fit into the above categories. At the beginning of Judges Chapter eleven, Jepthah is preparing to go to war

Phyllis Trible, author of a popular text analysis entitled Texts of Terror, gives insight on the story of Jepthah’s daughter from a feminist standpoint. Trible points out that Jepthah pressures God during the making of his vow. By bargaining victory for a sacrifice, Jepthah pushes his bargain to a limit that may have been insulting to God. In the vow itself, the words chosen by Jepthah are broad concerning the factor of the sacrifice. It is not clear whether he intended to offer up an animal, servant, or other living creature. This makes a point that no one is for sure what Jepthah actually intended to sacrifice, and in connection to the culture of women greeting the victorious men upon their return from battle, Jepthah may have known a woman would be the first to come out of his house. Trible also points out that, in the end, the victorious commander Jepthah receives what he had asked for, but did not understand that to win is to lose. An intended slaughter turned into the ultimate sacrifice. While a child should not have to pay for the sins of their parents, it is evident here that the daughter had no choice but to pay for her father’s sins. In the narrative, the writer’s description of the daughter being his only child causes readers to pity the daughter for her impending death and to feel sympathetic toward Jepthah because he is losing his most prized and precious possession. While the readers do feel sympathy toward Jepthah, Trible discusses the fact that Jepthah did not comfort his daughter after informing her of what he had done. Furthermore, the daughter does not seem to be phased as she does not put up a fight over the death that looms ahead of her. The only action taken by Jepthah’s daughter is to offer up her conditions of going into the mountains for two months to mourn her virginity with her female companions. Because