Why would the Deuteronomists tell about the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter?

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

Volumn 23, Issue 77, 1998, Pages 27-38

  Römer, Thomas C ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE   (Switzerland)

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EID: 60949687886     PISSN: 03090892     EISSN: 14766728     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/030908929802307703     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. This does not mean that deuteronomism started with the Exile. I agree with N. Lohfink, 'Kerygmata des Deuteronomistischen Geschichtswerks', in J. Jeremias and L. Perlitt (eds.), Die Botschaft und die Boten (Festschrift H.W. Wolff; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1981), pp. 87-100, that some texts of the DH (e.g. Josh. 1-12) were probably written during the reign of Josiah
2. P. Trible, 'The Daughter of Jephthah: An Inhuman Sacrifice', Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), pp. 93-115
3. M. Bal, Death and Dissymetry: The Politics of Coherence in the Book of Judges (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988), pp. 41-68
4. J. Cheryl Exum, 'On Judges 11', in A. Brenner (ed.), A Feminist Companion to Judges (The Feminist Companion to the Bible, 4; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), pp. 131-45
5. L.R. Klein, The Triumph of Irony in the Book of Judges (JSOTSup, 68; Bible and Literature Series, 14; Sheffield: Almond Press, 1989), pp. 83-99
6. idem, 'A Spectrum of Female Characters', Brenner (ed.), A Feminist Companion to Judges, pp. 24-33
7. E. Fuchs, 'Marginalization, Ambiguity, Silencing: The Story of Jephthah's Daughter', in Brenner (ed.), A Feminist Companion to Judges, pp. 116-30
8. P.L. Day, 'From the Child is Born the Woman: The Story of Jephthah's Daughter', in P.L. Day (ed.), Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989), pp. 58-74
9. B. Gerstein, 'A Ritual Processes: A Look at Judges 11.40', in M. Bal (ed.), Anti-Covenant: Counter Readings Women's Lives in the Hebrew Bible (Bible and Literature Series, 22; Sheffield: Almond Press, 1989), pp. 175-93
10. W. Richter, 'Die Überlieferungen um Jephtah. Ri 10,17-12,6', Bib 47 (1966), pp. 485-556 (491)
11. Cf. also B.G. Webb, The Book of Judges: An Integrated Reading (JSOTSup, 46; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987), p. 62
12. H.W. Richter, Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Richterbuch (BBB, 18; Bonn: Peter Hanstein, 1963), p. 326: According to 11.39 Jephthah has been at home for two months, whereas in 12.1-6 his has not come home yet
13. cf. R. Polzin, Moses and the Deuteronomist. I. A Literary Study of the Deuteronomistic History (New York: Seabury Press, 1980), pp. 179-81
14. Richter, 'Überlieferungen', p. 490
15. Fuchs,'Marginalization', p. 123
16. R.G. Boling, Judges: Introduction, Translation and Commentary (AB, 6A; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975), p. 209
17. M. Görg, Richter (NEB, 31; Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1993), p. 67
18. Cf., for instance, P. Trible, 'Daughter', p. 96
19. R. Bartelmus, 'Jephtha - Anmerkungen eines Exegeten zu G.F. Händeis musikalisch-theologischer Deutung einer «entlegenen» alttestamentlichen Tradition', TZ 51 (1995), pp. 106-27 (115)
20. T.W. Cartledge, Vows in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (JSOTSup, 147; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992), p. 179
21. Cf. already G.F. Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 2nd edn, 1908), p. 299
22. We cannot discuss here the enigma of 'Bedan', cf. A. Caquot, P. de Robert, Les Livres de Samuel (CAT, 6; Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1994), p. 149
23. J.D. Martin, The Book of Judges (CNEB; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), p. 145
24. Cf. R.G. Boling, 'Jephthah', ABD, III, pp. 680-83 (681)
25. Generally, 2 Kgs 3.6-27 is considered pre-Dtr. According to E.A. Knauf, Die Umwelt des Alten Testaments (NSKAT, 29; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1994), p. 130, the story is a Judaean interpretation of the Israelite annals in 2 Kgs 3.4-5
26. E. Würthwein, Die Bücher der Könige: 1.Kön. 17-2.Kön 25 (ATD, 11.2; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1984), p. 284
27. Cf. also J. Robinson, The Second Book of Kings (CNEB; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), pp. 37-38
28. G.N. Knoppers, Two Nations Under God: The Deuteronomistic History of Solomon and the Dual Monarchy (HSM, 53; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994), II, p. 186 n. 24
29. Cf. also U. Becker, Richterzeit und Königstum: Redaktionsgeschichtliche Studien zum Richterbuch (BZAW, 192; Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1990), p. 221. Becker, however, thinks that the story may be old, but its insertion certainly due to a post-Dtr redactor
30. D. Marcus, Jephthah and his Vow (Lubbock, TX: Texas Technical Press, 1986), pp. 20-21, offers a convenient synopsis
31. The classification of Num. 21.1-3 is quite difficult. It was traditionally ascribed to 'J'. Today, most scholars agree that the insertion of this notice is due to one of the latest redactors, cf. J. Scharbert, Numeri (NEB, 27; Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1992), p. 83
32. J. Van Seters, In Search of History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), p. 325
33. T. Veijola, 'Das Opfer des Abraham - Paradigma des Glaubens aus dem postexilischen Zeitalter', ZThK 85 (1988), pp. 129-64
34. Cf. also F. García López, 'Gen 22, entre la interpretación Histórico-Crítica y la Literario Teológica', F. García López and A.G. García (eds.), Biblia, Literatura e Iglesia (Salamanca: Publicaciones Universidad Ponitificia, 1995), pp. 47-62
35. A.J. Bledstein, 'Is Judges a Woman's Satire on Men Who Play God ?', in Brenner (ed.), A Feminist Companion to Judges, pp. 34-54 (53)
36. Cf., e.g., Marcus, Jephthah, pp. 40-41
37. A.G. Auld, Joshua, Judges and Ruth (The Daily Study Bible; Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press; Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1984) p. 200
38. W. Baumgartner, 'Jephtas Gelübde', AfR 18 (1915), pp. 240-49
39. idem, 'Israelitisch-griechische Sagenbeziehungen', in Zum Alten Testament und seiner Umwelt. Gesammelte Aufsätze (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1959), pp. 147-78 (152-54)
40. Baumgartner, 'Gelübde', p. 243
41. The other contemporary attestation is the Hesiodic Catalogue, cf. K. Dowden, Death and the Maiden: Girl's Initiation Rites in Greek Mythology (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 9-11
42. Against his statement that Homer may have known the legend of Iphigenia, see P. Bonnechere, Le sacrifice humain en Grèce ancienne (KERNOSSup, 3; Athens: Centre International d'Etude de la Religion Grecque Antique, 1994), pp. 39-41, see also n. 99: 'Pourquoi faudrait-il absolument qu'Homère ait connu tous les développements postérieurs à son œuvre?'
43. J.-M. Glikson, Iphigénie de la Grèce antique à l'Europe des Lumières (Paris: Presses Universitaires, 1985), pp. 13-15
44. Bonnechere, Le sacrifice humain, pp. 41-42
45. Cf., e.g., G.M.A. Grube, The Drama of Euripides (repr.; London: Methuen; New York: Barnes & Noble, 1941), pp. 437-38
46. W. Stockert, Euripides, Iphigenie in Aulis (Wiener Studien Beiheft, 16.1; Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1992), pp. 79-81
47. Cf. Bartelmus, 'Jephta', pp. 117-18. In those plays Jephthah's daughter is named 'Iphis'. As in Euripides we find a mother and a virtual fiancé
48. Iphigenia at Aulis 631-32: 'O mother, let me run ahead of you! Do not be angry at me if I am first to clasp my father against my heart' ; Judg. 11.34
49. Dowden, Death, pp. 26-32
50. may also be translated by 'adolescence' and understood as a social recognition of puberty, cf. K. Keukens, 'Ri 11,37f.: Rite de passage und Übersetzungsprobleme', BN 19 (1982), pp. 41-42
51. Cf. also Boling, Judges, p. 210
52. A. de Pury, 'Le canon de l'Ancien Testament', Protestantisme et construction européenne. Actes du Colloque des Facultés de théologie protestante des pays latins d'Europe (Brussels: Ad Veritatern, 1991), pp. 25-45 (37-41)
53. Cf., e.g., A Prologue to History: The Yahwist as Historian in Genesis (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992)
54. Cf. Gliksohn, Iphigénie, pp. 22-24
55. S.L. McKenzie, 'Cette royauté qui fait problème', in A. de Pury, T. Römer, J.-D. Macchi (eds.), Israël construit son histoire: L'historiographie deutéronomiste à la lumière des recherches récentes (Le Monde de la Bible, 34; Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1996), pp. 267-95
56. Scholars often postulate a root, cf. Boling, 'Judges', p. 209
57. J. Gray, Joshua, Judges, Ruth (NCBC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Basingstoke: Morgan & Scott, 1986), p. 319
58. J.A. Soggin, Le livre des Juges (CAT, 5b; Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1987), p. 186
59. S. Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 33
60. The deus ex machina substituting an animal for the girl is used by Euripides in a quite subversive manner, cf. Gliksohn, Iphigénie, p. 45
61. This openness and ambiguity explains the difficulties of Jewish and Christian interpretaters handling this text, cf. U. Hübner, 'Hermeneutische Möglichkeiten. Zur frühen Rezeptionsgeschichte der Jefta-Tradition', in E. Blum et al. (eds.), Die Hebräische Bibel und ihre zweifache Nachgeschichte (Festschrift Rolf Rendtorff; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1990), pp. 489-501