Sacrificed or Spared? The Fate of Jephthah's Daughter in Early Modern Theological and Literary Texts

Abstract

AbstractThe story of Jephthah's rash vow to Yahweh and the subsequent sacrifice of his only daughter is told in the Old Testament book of Judges. Over the centuries the account has fascinated commentators: Jephthah's actions contradict biblical prohibitions of human sacrifice, yet he is named in Hebrews 11 as one of the great heroes of faith. This article examines the story's reception in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, focusing particularly on an argument which claims that the daughter was not killed, but merely dedicated to lifelong virginity. This argument was quickly co‐opted into a bitter controversy about the validity of vows and religious orders in the early years of the Reformation, yet literary workings of the story by such dramatists as George Buchanan, Jakob Balde and Christian Weise hold firmly to the idea that the daughter was slain. The reasons for this are analysed, and links are drawn with the literary treatment of that other sacrificed virgin, Iphigenia.