Jephthah's daughter, sometimes later referred to as Seila or as Iphis, is a figure in the Hebrew Bible, whose story is recounted in Judges 11. The judge Jephthah had just won a battle over the Ammonites, and vowed he would give the first thing that came out of his house as a burnt offering to God. However, his only child, an unnamed daughter, came out to meet him dancing and playing a tambourine (v. 34). She encourages Jephthah to fulfill his vow (v. 36) but asks for two months to weep for her virginity (v. 38). After this period of time, Jephthah fulfilled his vow and offered his daughter.
One opinion among commentators is that after she mourned for her virginity in light of the Biblical commandment to "be fruitful and multiply", which she would now no longer be able to fulfill, Jephthah killed his daughter in an act of human sacrifice.[1] There is an opposing opinion that Jephthah's daughter was "offered to the Lord" in the same way Samuel was offered after birth, and spent the rest of her life in seclusion. This is based on considerations arising from the narrative, such as that weeping for her virginity would make no sense if she were about to die. Commentators holding this view include David Kimhi,[2] Keil and Delitzsch,[3] James B. Jordan,[4] and the Jehovah's Witnesses.[5]
Later influence
editJephthah's daughter was not given a central role in many pre-medieval texts: the major exception was the first-century Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum of "Pseudo-Philo", which devoted an entire chapter to her (and gave her the name of "Seila").[6] The French scholar Peter Abelard (d. 1142) praised Seila in his lament Planctus virginum Israel super filia Jephte.[6] In a letter to his lover Héloïse d'Argenteuil, Abelard also portrayed Seila as a model for monastic women who devote their whole lives to God.[6] In other medieval Christian texts, Jephthah's daughter was portrayed as a type of Virgin Mary and her death was likened to the Purification of the Virgin.[6]
In the medieval period, some Jewish communities refrained from drinking water from wells and rivers for a few hours at four key times of the year, a custom called the tekufah. In the twelfth century Rabbi Judah the Pious wrote that the tekufah that fell during the month of Tishre was observed because of Jephthah's daughter.[6]
Jephthah's daughter is called "Adah" by the Order of the Eastern Star and is one of its five heroines, representing obedience to duty.[7]
In the field of Jewish exegesis, the work titled Dirshuni: Contemporary Women's Midrash names Jephthah's daughter as "Tannot" (or "Tanot") and appears in various chapters. The name is derived from the verse in Judges 11:40 "for the maidens of Israel to go every year, for four days in the year, and chant dirges ("tannot") for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite."[8][9][10]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Stone, Lawson (2016). Joshua, Judges, Ruth. Tyndale House. p. 358. ISBN 9781414398792. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
But did Jephthah actually offer his daughter as a burnt offering?
- ^ Hirsch, Emil. "Jephthah (יפתח)". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ Keil and Delitzsch. "Judges 11". Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ Jordan, James (June 1996). "Jephthah's Daughter". Biblical Horizons. 86. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ "She Was Loved by God and by Her Friends | Teach Your Children". JW.ORG. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Baumgarten, Elisheva. (2007). ""Remember that glorious girl": Jephthah's Daughter in Medieval Jewish Culture". Jewish Quarterly Review. 97 (2): 180–209. doi:10.1353/jqr.2007.0010. ISSN 1553-0604. S2CID 161293832.
- ^ "Eastern Star". Symbol Dictionary: A Visual Glossary. 26 Jan 2018. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Archived 27 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ רבקה לוביץ, 'מדרשי בת יפתח', בתוך נחמה וינגרטן־מינץ ותמר ביאלה (עורכות), דרשוני: מדרשי נשים, א, תל אביב 2009,עמ' 100
- ^ ADELMAN, R. (2022). CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF HOME: JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER FROM THE HEBREW BIBLE TO MODERN MIDRASH. Feminist Interpretations of Biblical Literature, 1.
- ^ Roded, R. (2015). Jewish and Islamic religious feminist exegesis of the sacred books: Adam, woman and gender. Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues, (29), 56-80.
External links
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