Analyzing The Issue of Father and Daughter, in Judges 11 of The Holy Bible

Victim Placement of Father and Daughter

In Judges 11, soldier Jephthah must confront his impulsive promise of offering a sacrifice to God for a victory in battle. The victim of this sacrifice turns out to be his only child: his daughter. Feminist critic Phyllis Trible argues how Jephthah and his daughter are both victims: Jephthah due to his shortsightedness, and his daughter due to the resulting circumstances. Trible cites Judges 11:34 as evidence of making the daughter an unfortunate victim by evoking pity from the reader and Jephthah through heavy language: “She was his one and only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.” (Trible 1984, 101) Meanwhile, Esther Fuchs debates how the ambiguity of the daughter’s fate “both expresses and suppresses, presents and erases” her while Jephthah’s backstory and dramatic behavior ensure him being the “center of attention.” (Fuchs 1989, 35) Both feminist critiques hold strong, but Trible’s argument is the most sound and supported by the scripture while giving the unnamed daughter a strong impact in the limited time the reader sees her.

Trible describes her objective in her argument as studying the verse “with care for its central female character, the unnamed daughter of Jephthah.” (Trible 1984, 93) Given her stance, Trible examines how the act of killing is addressed: publicly on the battlefield and privately as a sacrifice. On the battlefield, Jephthah is depicted as a great warrior. In Judge 11:29-32, the Lord YHWH comes to the soldier, yet it is the Lord who is at the mercy of Jephthah’s promise. Upon realizing the daughter is to be sacrificed, Jephthah throws himself on the ground, tearing his clothes and proclaiming how she is at fault for exiting the house to greet him after his battle. Jephthah overly dramatic and melancholic declarations come across as unmanly when compared to how the daughter responds:

“My father,

You have opened your mouth to Yahweh;

do to me according to what goes forth

from your mouth,

since Yahweh has done to you deliverance

from your enemies, from the Ammonites.” (Judges 11:36)

Tribble labels the daughter’s dialogue as “direct discourse”—defined as the daughter speaking authoritatively about a topic—which is out of her sphere of influence. With this information, Jephthah’s daughter is made aware of the decision her father has made and fate, but points out his consequences for making such a promise to YHWH. As a result, the daughter has agency in her fate. However, her father grants the agency as he allows her to have time with her friends to mourn her virginity. In the end, the story goes back to Jephthah: the central argument of Esther Fuchs.

Though the reader is meant to sympathize for both of the characters, Fuchs argues how the scripture erases the daughter to the point of her being a footnote and minor character. This point is supported given what is known about her: she’s the only child of Jephthah, a virgin, and possibly the only person in the home explicitly mentioned. From Trible’s piece, all that is given about Jephthah’s family is his mother being a prostitute and his father’s identity not being known. With a checkered lineage, Fuchs argues how much the Judges verse makes him the center of the narrative. As a result, the daughter “is yet another one of the forgotten women of the Bible…abused and consigned to oblivion” and “marginalized” (Fuchs 1989, 35-36). Jephthah’s daughter is only introduced after his return from battle. Her importance is minimal due to her father’s foolish vow; she’s never mentioned in earlier moments of the verse. When introduced, Jephthah's daughter first appears without a “proper introduction. [The readers] are not told who her mother was; [the readers] do not know her name.” She is placed in the larger context of Jephthah's history. Fuchs states how the girl’s impending death “is constructed as a sad interlude that disrupts the flow of two success stories: Jephthah's victory over the Ammonites and his successful conquest in his battle with the Ephraimites.” Her arrival and mere existence is summarized as being crucial to her relationship with Jephthah—the man who determines her significance—rather than the narrative as a whole. Her death, as the one child Jephthah has, will be something Jephthah will face continually.

Both articles present Jephthah as a man who “suffered for the sins of his parents” a prostitute mother and an unknown man. Despite his unknown lineage, Jephthah is given a great deal of backstory, making him the focal point of Judges 11; something both critics agree upon. While the daughter unknowingly seals her destiny, she is obedient to her father and to the Lord upon realizing her doom—“a most welcome characteristic from a patriarchal point of view” (Fuchs 1989, 38). In addition, both articles recount the girl’s death as an inhuman sacrifice, something readers can readily recognize. Whether or not she has been “forsaken” by God or Jephthah remains a mystery, but it is her death God regrets doing and Jephthah regrets unknowingly promising.

Despite the limited time the daughter is seen, she displays moments of agency and free will through her exiting the home to greet her father and speaking out of turn concerning Jephthah’s reckless vow. Despite the first choice sealing her fate, the action reveals the girl to be a kind and loving daughter. The action of greeting her father while dancing represents a custom of greeting soldiers after a victorious battle; something Jephthah should have been aware of. Her second strong moment, her declaration against Jephthah, would be revolutionary in a patriarchal society, yet it is presented as more powerful than Jephthah’s overacting upon her arrival. She’s calm and remains loyal to Jephthah in addition to asking politely if she can join her friends to mourn her virginity. This is a wish Jephthah grants as if to make up for his recklessness.