The Sacrifice of Jephthah's Daughter (Judges 11) as a Reflection Story of the Rebecca's Betrothal and Marriage (Genesis 24)

The story in Judges 11 of Jephthah offering of his daughter as a sacrifice to the Lord, in fulfillment of his vow, focuses on the tragedy of Jephthah himself who, in slaying his only daughter, severed his family line with his own hand and thereby caused the elimination of his name from Israel. In the present article I add another level to the analogy between Judges 11 and the stories of the Patriarchs. This link, too, highlights the tragic nature of the extinction of Jephthah’s family in Judges 11, but from anunexpected perspective, onethat focuses on the female characters. I compare the story of Jephthah’s daughter, sacrificed while still a virgin, with that of Rebecca’s betrothal and marriage to Isaac (Genesis 24) - a parallel previously unremarked upon by scholars. As we shall see, the sacrifice of Jephthah’s daughter is a “reflection story”- a term coined by Yair Zakovitch - of Rebecca’s betrothal and marriage.