Jephthah’s Daughter and her sacrifice
Victor Ludlow approaches the text knowing Hebrew, thus giving readers at least a couple of options in examining this text. He was a Danforth Fellow at Harvard and Brandeis University where he received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. From Victor Ludlow’s commentary on the Old Testament we have the following:
Although a social outcast, Jephthah was recognized for his leadership abilities. As he confronted the Ammonites, he reviewed the biblical history of how the Israelites had conquered the Transjordan area from the Amorites, thus disproving the Ammonite claims to the land. The Ammonites still desired to control that area, and Jephthah gathered an Israelite army to repel the invasion. Before going into battle with the Spirit of the Lord upon him, Jephthah vowed that if he returned victorious he would dedicate to the Lord whatever came first out of his house to meet him. Then he added, “and I will offer it up for a burnt offering” (11:31). This promise and its fulfillment have disturbed Bible readers and confused Bible scholars for centuries.
When Jephthah returned victorious, his only child, a daughter, came out to meet him. He told her of his promise and she was willing to abide by it. She asked for a two-month period of fellowship and mourning with her friends. Then she returned to her father “who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man” (11:39).
Scholars agree that she was dedicated to the Lord and that she left Jephthah’s home. They disagree as to whether her dedication to the Lord comprised a lifetime of religious service (probably at the tabernacle) without the opportunity of raising a family (like being a fulltime, lifelong welfare or proselyting missionary), or the taking of her life as a burnt offering or human sacrifice.
Joseph Smith apparently did not question the Lord about this dilemma, because he made no changes in the text of his inspired translation. The story as contained in the original Hebrew is, however, ambiguous as to how the vow was to be fulfilled. The phrase “and I will offer it up for a burnt offering” (11:31) could be translated a number of ways: “and/also/but/therefore/then/or I will offer/give/rise/lift/carry it as an offering/gift/ascent/lifting/sacrifice.” It is perhaps significant that the fulfillment of this vow as recorded in verse 39 concludes with the phrase “and she knew no man.” This phrase could be another way of saying “she died childless (as she was sacrificed as a burnt offering).” But it seems to mean that “she did not marry and raise a family (as she served the Lord the rest of her natural life).”
With the limited material available, and lacking revealed commentary, the answer to this dilemma is left to the individual reader. Regardless of what type of sacrifice Jephthah’s daughter became, there are some positive objectives to be derived from this story:
1. Be precise and sincere when you enter any covenants with the Lord.
2. Be willing to give what is most precious to the Lord.
3. Children will be blessed eternally if they will honor and obey their parents in righteousness.
4. Absolutely fulfill any vow you make with the Lord.
(Unlocking the Old Testament, Victor Ludlow)
Another commentator on this text took this approach:
After a great slaughter, the children of Ammon were “subdued before the children of Israel.” (V. 33.) And who comes out “with timbrels and with dances” (v. 34) to meet her victorious father on his return from battle? Jephthah’s daughter, his only child! Now this great warrior, full of victory and power, does not berate himself for this state of affairs. Instead he berates his daughter. “When he saw her, . . . he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.” (V. 35.) In contrast, with remarkable equanimity, she sees what must be and offers herself so that her father can fulfill his vow. We have no record of her fear or of any need for pity or for apology from her father. The record does tell us, though, that she asks for time—time to “bewail her virginity” (v. 37), time to grieve for the family she will not have, two month’s time to go into the mountains with her friends before she yields herself as her father’s sacrifice. There was no substitution this time. God had not required this act, but Jephthah’s daughter submitted herself for her father’s honor. That she took comfort with companions suggests strongly to me the importance of and strength in sisterhood. Much later, in Hebrews 11:32-33, the rash Jephthah is remembered for his faith, but I remember his nameless daughter for her courage and for her strength in her friends. Her friends remembered her, too. Judges 11 concludes, “And it was a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.” (Vv. 39-40.) (Aileen Hales Clyde, as found in Women Steadfast in Christ: Talks from the 1991 BYU Women’s Conference, “Old Testament Insights: Women, Wit, Wisdom,” 2010, Deseret Book)
I found this insightful commentary from the website Mormon Matters regarding Jephthah (written 5.20.2010) to be not only well written, thoughtful, but also full of excellent questions worthy of discussion:
This strange little story begins with an “unlikely hero,” Jephthah, the son of a prostitute. He was taken into his father’s family and raised there, but after the death of his father the legitimate children forced him to leave. He made some reputation for himself among a band of “vain men,” so that when his countrymen needed help against the Ammonites, they came to him. Jephthah agreed to captain an army against Ammon, in return for being named their titular head. His first military action was an attempt to negotiate with the enemy. When that did not work, he gathered together the men of Israel. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went forth to battle, making a interesting vow to the Lord. If the Lord would help him win the battle, he would dedicate to the Lord and offer up for a burnt offering whatever should come forth from the doors of his house to meet him when he returned.
After a successful conquest, Jephthah returned home and was greeted by his daughter, his only child. That she was a precious and only child is pointed up by the fact that the judges immediately before and after him were Jair (who had thirty sons who rode on thirty ass colts), and Ibzan (who had thirty sons and thirty daughters). The number of children is the only fact we are told about these two judges, making it very likely that they are there solely for the reason of emphasizing Jephthah’ only begotten child. But she was a female.
Not only was human sacrifice forbidden by the Lord, (Deut. 18:10), but burnt offerings were to be firstborn males (Lev. 1:3). Nevertheless, Jephthah had made a vow, and intended to keep it. His daughter acquiesced, asking only for two months time to go up to the mountains with some friends and “bewail her virginity.” At the end of the two months, she returned to her father, and he “did with her according to his vow which he had vowed, and she knew no man.” Thereafter it became a custom for the daughters of Israel to go up four days in a year to lament the fate of the daughter of Jephthah.
The tradition of Biblical scholars is to interpret this vow of Jephthah’s as an impetuous and evil action which had disastrous consequences. That Latter-day Saints have followed in this tradition is clear from the chapter heading of Judges 11: “He makes a rash vow which leads to sacrifice of his only daughter.”
This interpretation is problematic for at least two reasons. First, if this was a “rash vow,” why would the Lord be given credit for bringing about the victory of Jephthah’s army? In the Book of Judges, the people are punished with captivity and defeat when they forsake the Lord. Second, why would Jephthah make such a vow? Did he think perhaps an animal would be the first out the door to greet him? (In ancient Israel the animals were sometimes kept in the house.) What if the animal was an unclean one, such as a dog? To offer up such a sacrifice would be a great affront. But perhaps the greatest problem Biblical scholars face in the exegesis of this passage is the inclusion of Jephthah in Hebrews 11 — the “faith chapter.” Here Jephthah is included along with the great heroes of the Old Testament in obtaining “a good report through faith.”
I rather favor an interpretation that became popular in medieval times and has been revived recently — that Jephthah was promising only to dedicate his daughter to the Lord and not to kill her. This would parallel Jephthah’s daughter more to Samson and to Samuel than to Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. But it would preserve the Messianic shadowing. Several points make this interpretation possible:
- The Hebrew “vav” usually translated “and” may also be translated as “or” rendering the reading in Judges 11:31: “whatsoever cometh forth…to meet me…shall surely be the Lord’s, or I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” Thus Jephthah’s method of sacrifice would depend upon what came forth out of his door.
- The daughter departed into the mountains to “bewail her virginity,” not her death. It is possible that she was being offered to some type of temple service which would necessitate her remaining unwed for the rest of her life. Note verse 39 which says that Jephthah kept “his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man.” This last clause would seem awkward and unnecessary if she were being put to death.
- Certain Hebrew scholars believe that for as long as she lived, the virgins of Israel went at different times, each for four days in the year, to provide comfort and encouragement to the daughter of Jephthah at the tent of meeting. This custom must have ended at her death, since there is no further reference to it in scripture or Jewish history.
You see that it is possible to fit this story quite nicely into our Latter-day Saint canon. Faithful Jephthah makes a promise to the Lord, and keeps his promise. Faithful Jephthah’s daughter yields herself to her father’s vow and becomes a type of Christ. Handel uses a variation of this interpretation in his oratorio, Jephthah. I’ll share with you a lovely aria from the oratorio below. Here Jephthah is reconciled to the blood sacrifice of his daughter, and sings “Waft her, angels, through the skies,” before learning that her death is not required, and she shall instead be dedicated to God in a pure and virgin state for the rest of her life.
The story doesn’t fit quite so nicely into feminist thought, however…or does it? What was the name of this intriguing daughter? What was she like? Didn’t she deserve to make her own decisions? Why must her life be subject to her father’s vow? Here’s the other side of the question: if Samuel and Isaac were obedient to the vows of their parents, isn’t it equal treatment for a young woman in the scriptures to show the same dedication? Is submission not a principle that Christ modeled, and which males and females must all learn? In my search for spiritual submission, is it helpful to have a female role model? Or would this simply reinforce unrighteous patriarchal domination which tends to crop up in religious settings? Can it be possible to spin this story into a celebration of a strong woman character who makes her own decisions and chooses on her own to follow the Lord? And what of my own life? … Is the surrender I give freely in this holy place simply that required of all Christian disciples? Or does God require of women an additional offering? Does Jephthah’s daughter hold the key? Am I to become a daughter on the pyre? I’m still wondering.