Jephthah the Gileadite made a vow before battle: whatever came out of his house first to greet him upon his victorious return would be offered as a sacrifice to God. He crushed the Ammonites. But when he came home, his daughter Seelah ran out first, dancing with timbrels at the head of all the women.
According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Jephthah tore his garments and cried out: "Who will put my heart and my flesh on the scale to weigh them? You have grieved me beyond measure." But Seelah's response was remarkable. She did not beg for her life. She reminded her father that one of the patriarchs had been willing to offer his own son, and both the offerer and the offered were accepted by God. "Do to me as you have spoken," she said.
She asked for only one thing: two months of freedom to mourn her virginity on the mountains. Seelah's lament was extraordinary. "The trees of the field shall weep for me," she declared. "The wild beasts shall mourn for me. I do not grieve for my death. The one thing I fear is that my offering will not be accepted, that my death will have been for nothing."
She went to the sages of her people, but they answered her nothing. She climbed Mount Tlag, and there God spoke in the night, saying He had closed the mouths of the sages so that Jephthah's vow would be fulfilled, and Seelah's soul would be accepted. When the two months ended, Jephthah fulfilled his vow. The chronicle records that the Israelites established a custom of mourning Seelah for four days every year, lamenting the daughter who faced death with more courage than the warriors who had won the battle.
LIX. (1) Yair was succeeded by Jephthah the Gileadite,
who delivered the Israelites from the hands of the
Ammonites. And Jephthah and all Israel prayed to God
in Mizpah, saying, ' We pray Thee, 0 Lord, save us, and
do not deliver Thy inheritance to the slaughter and Thy
vineyard to be a spoil. Eemember, we beseech Thee, the
vine which Thou hast planted and which Thou hast brought
up from Egypt.' Jephthah then sent messengers to Giteal
('^^^D^), King of the Ammonites, saying, 'What dost thou
want, since thou hast come to me ?' etc.
(2) And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and
he went out to wage war against the Ammonites; and he
made a vow unto the Lord, saying, ' If Thou wilt deliver
the Ammonites into my hand, then that ^Yhich cometh
forth from my house to meet me on my peaceful return
from the Ammonites shall he the Lord's, and I shall offer
it to God as a hurnt-offering.' And Jephthah smote the
Ammonites so that they were humhled before the Israel-
ites. "When Jephthah returned to Mizpah, behold, all
the virgins and women came forth with timbrels and
dances to meet him, and his daughter, the only child he
had, went in front of the others and was the first to greet
him.
(3) When, however, he saw her, he rent his garments,
saying, ' Alas ! my daughter, thou hast sorely grieved and
troubled me. Who will put my heart and my flesh in
one pan of the scale to see it go down? for thou hast
grieved me sorely at the feast in honour of my victories in
battle, for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and now^
I am not able to retract.'
(4) Then said his daughter Seelah (^^^^•f), 'Why dost
thou grieve for my death, since the Lord hath wrought
vengeance for thee upon thine enemies ? Eemember our
forefathers, one of whom offered up his son as a burnt-
offering, and the offerer and the offered were both accepted
by God. Therefore, my father, do unto me as thou hast
spoken. But before I die I will ask thee a favour. Grant
me two months' liberty, that I may during that time pray
unto Him to whom I return my soul. I shall go upon the
mountains and sojourn among the hills; I shall tread
the clefts of the rock and lament my virginity, I and
my companions; there I shall shed my tears and thus
soften the grief of my youth. The trees of the field shall
w^eep for me, and the wild beasts of the fields shall mourn
for me; but I do not grieve for my death, nor do I grieve
that I must give up my soul on account of the vow which
my father made to sacrifice me as a holocaust to God.
The one thing I fear, however, is that the offering of my
soul may not be accepted, that my death shall have been
for nothing.'
(5) Her father having granted her request, she went forth
178 [LIX. 6
with her maidens and told the sages of her people, but
they answered not a word. She then went up to the
mount Tlag (^^r>), and the Lord remembered her in the
night, saying, 'Behold, I have closed the mouth of the
sages of My people, so that they answered not the daughter
of Jephthah; now her soul shall be accepted at her request,
and her death shall be very precious in My sight, for the
wisdom of the sage belongs to her.'
(6) Seelah, the daughter of Jephthah, then fell upon her
mother's bosom, and went on the mountain of Tlag weeping,
and bewailed her fate in these words, ' Hearken, 0 ye moun-
tains, to the lamentation of my grief; mark, 0 ye hills, the
tears of mine eyes; and ye clefts of the rocks, testify to the
weeping of my soul. Alas ! how has my soul been delivered
to death ! but not in vain; my words will be atoned for in
heaven, and my tears shall be written on the firmament,
for the father who has vowed to sacrifice his daughter did
not have compassion on her. He did not listen to his
princes, but said that he would confirm his vow by ofiering
his only daughter. I have not beheld my bridal canopy,
nor has the crown of my betrothal been completed.
I have not been decked with the lovely ornaments of the
bride who sits in her virginity, nor have I been perfumed
with the myrrh and the sweet- smelling (odoriferous) aloe.
(7) I have not been anointed with the oil of anointment
that was prepared for me. Alas ! 0 my mother, it was in
vain that thou didst give me birth. Behold, thine only one
is destined for the bridal chamber of the grave. Thou
hast wearied thyself for me to no purpose. The oil with
which I was anointed will be wasted, and the white
garments with which I was clothed the moths will eat;
the garlands of my crown with which thou hast exalted
me will wither and dry up, and my garments of fine
needlework in blue and purple the worm shall destroy.
And now my friends will lament all the days of my
mourning; the trees shall incline their branches and
their shoots and weep for my youth. The beasts of the
forest shall come together and trample upon my virginity,
Lix. 11] 179
for my years are cut off and the days of my life grow old
in darkness.'
(8) It came to pass, at the end of two months, that she
returned to her father. He then fulfilled the vow he had
made, and the virgins of Israel buried her, and mourned
for her, and from time immemorial the daughters of Israel
have adhered to the custom of devoting four days in the
year to Jephthah's daughter. At the time of the death of
Jephthah's daughter Ercules committed suicide by throw-
ing himself in the fire, and was consumed by the flames.
(9) Ibsan, of Bethlehem, succeeded Jephthah, and was
followed by Elon the Zebulonite. About this time
Alexander captured Helena (for his wife). (10) After Elon
•came Abdon, the son of Hillel the Pirathonite. During his
reign the royal city of Troy was captured, and 406 years
after its capture began the Olympiad, for after the victory
of the Greeks they began to calculate their Olympiad, which
consisted of four years, just as we calculate the date from
the destruction of the temple. Then Menelaus and
Helena came to Egypt, and in the third year after the
•capture of Troy Agnios reigned over Italy, where Janus,
Saturnus, Ficus, and Faunus reigned. Three years after
the capture of Troy — some say eight years — Aeneas ruled
the empire, and during his reign there arose the city of
Kome — i.e., the Latini, so called because the inhabitants
spoke the Latin language. In the reign of Ahaz, King
•of Judah, two twin brothers were born, Eemus and
Eomulus, who founded the great city. They were the first
kings of Eome, and reigned in Kome thirty-eight years.
(11) In the ' Shocher Tob ' I have found it narrated that at
the birth of these twins their mother died from the pangs
of travail, and that God prepared a young she- wolf to
suckle them until they were grown up. Eomulus it was who
built the city of Eome. At the end of the reign of Hezekiah,
King of Judah, Huma Pompilius (C'-ix^S^D^ls s?D-in) suc-
•ceeded Eomulus and reigned forty-one years. He added
two months to the calendar year, viz., Januarius and
Februarius (c'-vxnn:;iD), which were not included in the
12—2
180 [LIX. 12
Koman year, which origmally consisted of ten months. At
the end of the reign of Menasseh, King of Judah, Tullus
OstiHus succeeded Numa, and reigned for thirty-two years.
This Tullus, King of Eome, was the first person to clothe
himself in purple robes.
(12) We now return to the judges. Many people say
that in the days of Abdon, the son of Hillel the Pirath-
onite, occurred the incidents of Gibeah and Micah. Micah
acted just as his mother bade him. He made for him-
self three images of man, and three of calves, and the
likeness of an eagle, lion, and serpent. Whoever desired
to obtain sons had to pray to the images of man; who-
ever desired riches had to entreat the eagle; whoever
wished for strength had to entreat the hon; whoever desired
sons and daughters had to beseech the calves; whoever
desired long life had to entreat the serpent; and whoever
desired something of everything had to entreat the dove.
Thus all the Israelites went astray, forsook the Lord, and
worshi]3ped these idols, so that the Lord sold them to the
nations of the earth; but when they at intervals repented
the Lord visited them.
(13) It came to pass, when the Israelites, on account of
the concubine who was found dead in Gibeah, waged war
against the tribe of Dan (!) that they were smitten by the
Danites (!), so that on that day 22,000 men of them were
destroyed. The Israelites, then going up, wept before the
Lord until the evening, and said, ' Let us ask of the Lord,
saying, ''What is this iniquity through which we have
stumbled?'" Thus they asked the Lord, saying, 'Shall
we still continue to wage war against Benjamin our
brother?' And the Lord replied, 'Go up, and I shall
afterwards make known to you whereby ye have stumbled.'
On the second day they accordingly went forth again to
battle with Benjamin, and there fell of the Israelites
18,000 more men. The Israelites then went up to Bethel,
for there the ark of the Lord was placed, and on that
day they wept and fasted until the evening, and they
offered Ijurnt-offerings and peace-offerings unto the Lord.
(14) Then Pinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, prayed unto
God, saymg, ' 0 Lord God, if what we have done was con-
sidered right in Thine eyes, why hast Thou caused us to
fall into the hands of our brother? And if it was evil in Thy
sight what these have done, why have we fallen before
them? I pray Thee, tell Thy servant in whom this iniquity
rests and we shall set it right, for, behold, I remember
what I have done. In my jealousy I pierced Zimri with
the sword, and Thou didst deliver me from his people, and
didst slay of them 24,000 men. Now Thou didst say to
the tribes of Israel, " Go up and fight Avith Benjamin." '
(15) The Lord heard the entreaty of Pinehas, and said,
' The Israelites showed their zeal for Me in this wickedness
which was committed (in Gibeah), but they do not show it
against Micah and his idols, who caused all the Israelites to
go astray after them. Therefore, I was jealous, and wreaked
my vengeance on them, for they were astounded at the one
sin of the concubine and wanted to root it out, but they did
not root out the worshippers of Micah's idols. Now, let the
Israelites go up once more against Benjamin, and to-
morrow I shall deliver him into their hands.' (16) Thus
the Lord smote Benjamin before the Israelites, so that there
fell 18,000 men. The total number of the Benjaminites
that were slain was 25,000; 600 of them fled to the cleft of
Pvimmon and escaped. The Israelites then had pity upon
their brother Benjamin, and made peace with those that
remained, restoring them to their inheritance, where they
built cities and dwelt therein; and the Israelites went
each one to his tribe and his inheritance.
(17) Now, the days of Pinehas drew nigh to die, and
the Lord said to him, 'To-day thou art 120 years old,
which are the years of a man's life; now arise and get
thee to My mountain, where thou shalt remain many
days. I shall command the ravens and the eagles to feed
thee, but do not go down until the end has arrived. Then
thou shalt close the heavens, and at thy command they
shall again be opened. And then thou shalt be lifted up
to the (Divine) place, where thy fathers have been before
182 [LX. 1
thee, and there thou shalt remam until I remember the
world.' And Pinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, did as
God had commanded him.
The Eight Exiles.
