Jephtha (also spelled Jephthah) (Heb./Aram. יפתח Yiftach / Yipthaχ) is a character in the Old Testament who served as one of the Judges in Israel for a period of six years (Judges 12:7) between the conquest of Canaan and the first king. Jephtha lived in Gilead and was a member of the Tribe of Manasseh. His father's name was also Gilead. Biblical judges are not to be confused with modern legal judges. ... Book of Judges (Hebrew: Sefer Shoftim ספר שופטים) is a book of the Bible originally written in Hebrew. ... Othniel Ben Kenaz (Hebrew: , Standard  Tiberian  ; lion of God) is the first of the Judges. ... For other people named Ehud, see Ehud (disambiguation). ... The Philistines from the maritime plain had made incursions into the Hebrew upland for the purposes of plunder, when Shamgar, the son of Anath, otherwise unknown, headed an uprising for the purpose of freeing the land from this oppression. ... For information on the nurse of Rebeccah, mentioned in Genesis, see Deborah (Genesis) Deborah or Dvora (Hebrew: ‎ Bee, Standard Hebrew DÉ™vora, Tiberian Hebrew Dəḇôrāh) was a prophetess and the fourth Judge and only female Judge of pre-monarchic Israel in the Old Testament (Tanakh). ... Barak (בָּרָק Lightning, Standard Hebrew Barak, Tiberian Hebrew Bārāq) is one of the Judges from the Book of Judges in the Bible. ... Gideon (גִּדְעוֹן, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew ), also known as Jerub-Baal, is a judge appearing in the Book of Judges, in the Bible. ... In the Tanakh or Old Testament, Abimelech was a son of the great judge Gideon (Judges 9:1). ... For other uses, see Tola. ... JAIR: Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (ISSN 1076-9757) covers all areas of artificial intelligence (AI), publishing refereed research articles, survey articles, and technical notes. ... In the Bible, Ibzan was one of the Judges of Israel. ... For other uses, see Elon (disambiguation). ... Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, the tenth judge of Israel mentioned in the Book of Judges. ... Samson and Delilah, by Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) This article is about Biblical figure. ... The Books of Samuel (Hebrew: Sefer Shmuel ספר שמואל), are part of the Tanakh (part of Judaisms Hebrew Bible) and also of the Old Testament (of Christianity). ... Eli (Hebrew: , Standard  Tiberian  ; Ascent) was, according to the Books of Samuel, the name of a priest of Shiloh, and one of the last Israelite Judges before the rule of kings in ancient Israel. ... Samuel or Shmuel (Hebrew: שְׁמוּאֵל, Standard Tiberian ) is an important leader of ancient Israel in the Book(s) of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. ... “Hebrew” redirects here. ... Aramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. ... Note: Judaism commonly uses the term Tanakh to refer to its canon, which corresponds to the Protestant Old Testament. ... // [[Image:]] Map of Canaan For other uses, see Canaan (disambiguation). ... From the Scriptures, Gilead means hill of testimony or mound of witness, (Gen. ... The Tribe of Manasseh (Hebrew alphabet מְנַשֶּׁה, Samaritan Hebrew Manatch, Standard Hebrew MÉ™naÅ¡Å¡e, Tiberian Hebrew MÉ™naÅ¡Å¡eh: from נשני naššānî who makes to forget) is one of the Hebrew tribes, which the Bible says was founded by Manasseh, the son of Joseph. ...

The Return of Jephtha, by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini.

Being driven out by his half-brothers, he took up dwelling in Tob, east of Gilead. Here some men opposing the Ammonites put themselves under his command. (Judges 11:3) When Israel was gathering to go to war against Ammon, they looked for a God-appointed man and decided to go to Jephtha. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 483 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2024 × 2512 pixel, file size: 416 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 483 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2024 × 2512 pixel, file size: 416 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... The Return of Jephtha (detail), by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. ... TOB or Tob may refer to: TOB (KTOB) – IATA airport code for Dodge Center Airport – Dodge Center, Minnesota, United States TOB , takeover bid), an acronym used in Japan. ... Ammon or Ammonites (עַמּוֹן People, Standard Hebrew ʻAmmon, Tiberian Hebrew ʻAmmôn), also referred to in the Bible as the children of Ammon, were a people living east of the Jordan river who along with the Moabites traced their origin to Lot, the nephew of the patriarch Abraham, and who were...

Josephus describes Jephtha as a "potent" man "on account of his father's virtue, and on account of that army which he maintained at his own expenses." The Israelites promised him dominion over them all his lifetime (Antiquities 5:7,8) A fanciful representation of Flavius Josephus, in an engraving in William Whistons translation of his works Josephus (37 – sometime after 100 CE),[1] who became known, in his capacity as a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus,[2] was a 1st-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and...

Before leaving for the war, he vowed to God that if he were to return home victorious, "whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house" to meet him would be sacrificed to God "as a burnt offering". He was victorious, and return he did, but he was met by his daughter, an only child. It is written that after a period of isolated mourning "she returned to her father and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed" (Judges 11:39).

Later, Jephtha went to war against the Ephraimites, who refused to acknowledge him. The story is remembered for the killing of the fugitive Ephraimites who were identified by their accent; they said the Hebrew word shibboleth as sibboleth. In this rebellious action, 42,000 people lost their lives (Judges 12:5,6). This entry incorporates text from the public domain Eastons Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

He is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 30. // 1 Third Day of the Fast of the Nativity 2 Fourth Day of the Fast of the Nativity 3 Fifth Day of the Fast of the Nativity 4 Sixth Day of the Fast of the Nativity 5 Eve of the Nativity and Theophany of our Lord Jesus Christ 6 Feast... Official standard of Karekin II Catholicos of Armenia The Armenian Apostolic Church (Armenian: Հայ Առաքելական Եկեղեցի, Hay Arakelagan Yegeghetzi), sometimes called the Armenian Orthodox Church or the Gregorian Church, is the worlds oldest national church[1] [2] and one of the most ancient Christian communities [3]. // Baptism of Tiridates III. The earliest... is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Interpretations of the sacrifice

Jephtha and his daughter by J.E. Millais

The nature of Jephtha's vow and his fulfilment of it has been the subject of many debates among readers. Some have argued that this was a practice of dedicating women to virginity, but others regard it likely that he really sacrificed her as an offering. The Judaean writer Josephus actually believed that she was literally sacrificed, depicting the incident as follows: Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... John Everett Millais (June 8, 1829–August 13, 1896) was a painter. ... A fanciful representation of Flavius Josephus, in an engraving in William Whistons translation of his works Josephus (37 – sometime after 100 CE),[1] who became known, in his capacity as a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus,[2] was a 1st-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and...

Smith's Bible Dictionary from the 1860's also claims that the offering was literal:

Others highly disagree. E.W.Bullinger (Great Cloud of Witnesses in Hebrew 11 (1911) ISBN 0825422477), looks at the word "and" in the Jephtha’s vow (Judges 11:31: "whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering"). As he explains ^[1] the Hebrew word ו that is translated in the above passage as "and": Ethelbert William Bullinger (December 15, 1837 - June 6, 1913) was a Vicar of the Church of England and Biblical scholar. ...

is often used as a disjunctive, and means "or", when there is a second proposition. Indeed this rendering is suggested in the margin of the A.V.

Bullinger goes on to give examples from the Bible where the same word has been translated as "or". According to him, the right translation of this passage is: "whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, or I will offer it up as a burnt offering." Jephtha’s daughter, being the first that came out of the house, was thus, according to Bullinger, dedicated to God. Bullinger gives also further evidence in support of his view. As he says for verse 39 of Judges:

It is recorded that Jephtha “did with her according to his vow which he had vowed, and she knew no man” (v. 39). What has this to do with a burnt offering, one way or the other? But it has everything to do with the former part of his vow, in dedicating her to Jehovah. This seems to be conclusive. It has nothing to do with a sacrificial death, but it has to do with a dedicated life. She was dedicated to a perpetual virginity.

He also says:

In any case, it should have been unlawful, and repugnant to Jehovah, to offer a human being to Him as a burnt-offering, for His acceptance. Such offerings were common to heathen nations at that time, but it is noteworthy that Israel stands out among them with this great peculiarity, that human sacrifices were unknown in Israel.

Furthermore, another source, Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) says:

Ancient Jewish writers interpreted it as a human sacrifice, as seen explicitly, for example, in the classical Pseudo-Philo, where the daughter sings a lament about her impending death and its necessity to fulfil Jephtha's vow. That Jephtha's daughter was indeed offered as a burnt-offering was also the common opinion amongst Fathers of the Christian Church since the Holy Spirit is said to be upon Jephtha when he made his vow. According to their interpretation Jephtha was foreshadowing the sacrifice of Jesus. Leviticus 27:16-29 is used in support of both positions. On one hand it can be argued that these items are destroyed, but the cited text also allows for ransoming and also mentions land which can not be destroyed and was traditionally turned over for temple use. Some Jewish sources claim that Jephtha may have expected an "unclean" animal such as a dog to greet him upon returning home. Alternatively, the main point of this story may be to instruct young girls as to how to behave should they ever be selected for service (verses 37-38). That is, it could be a normative tale. Whatever the case, it became a custom in Israel (perhaps only in the region of Gilead) that women should go out four days every year and lament the daughter of Jephtha. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Pseudo-Philo is the name commonly used for a Jewish pseudepigraphical work in Latin, so called because it was transmitted along with Latin translations of the works of Philo of Alexandria but is very obviously not written by Philo. ... A lament or lamentation is a song or poem expressing grief, regret or mourning. ... Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, also the third book in the Torah (five books of Moses). ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Jephtha

• Abel-cheramim
• Biblical judges
• Book of Judges

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Abel-cheramim (ay behl-chehr uh mihm) was a village of the Ammonites, east of Jordan. ... Biblical judges are not to be confused with modern legal judges. ... Book of Judges (Hebrew: Sefer Shoftim ספר שופטים) is a book of the Bible originally written in Hebrew. ...

Notes

1. ^ Did Jephthah really sacrifice his daughter? An analysis of Judges 11:31. The Journal of Biblical Accuracy, Reprint of the original contribution of E.W. Bullinger. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.