The Story of Jephthah and his Daughter: Then and Now 347 How then can the authorial meaning of the story of Jephthah’s vow instruct and challenge the reader today; how is this text to be actualized for such a reader? In the first place, since Judges sees Jephthah as an instrument of God but deplores his behaviour both in making and in executing his vow, the story says to us, as it did to Augustine, that God uses human beings not only when they are being faithful and dutiful, but also when they are deficient and sinful. Next, the story can be seen more specifically as a dire warning against rash oath making. Some of the Church Fathers indeed took the passage in this way, notably Chrysostom, Theodoret and Anastasius of Sinai (64). This interpretation of the story may be as old as Qoheleth (Qoh 5,3-4) (65). That Matt 5,33-37 is intended as a reflection on our text, is more than I should want to assert, but it certainly chimes in with the Jephthah story as I have interpreted it. Similarly with Jas 5,12. The story of Jephthah’s daughter is, as observed earlier, a “type- scene”, in this instance a type-scene that occurs over a number of cultures. Attention has already been drawn to other instances of rash oaths (though not leading to human sacrifice) in Judges. Two biblical examples of ill-considered vows that lead to a death may be mentioned. Ahasuerus offers Esther whatever she wants, up to half the value of his kingdom (Esther 5,3.6; 7,2) with the result that the Jews escape death and Haman perishes; and Herod promises Herodias / the daughter of Herodias whatever she wishes, again up to the value of half his kingdom, and has to sacrifice the life of John the Baptist (Mark 6,17-19, Matt 14,1-12). How to explain the existence of “type- scenes”? In the case of, say, the type of story in which a man encounters his future wife at a well and goes to eat at her house, the reason why it recurs so often in Scripture is presumably at least in part that it was a common occurrence in real life. But why should the story of a person offered in sacrifice as a result of a rash vow (in real life, an uncommon event, one hopes) appear across the continents? What is (64) See WEITZMANN, “The Jephthah Panel”, 350-51 (referring to PG 49.147- 148; 80.508-509; 89.580-581). (65) The Jephthah story certainly exhibits an attitude to vows comparable to Qoh 5,3-4. RÖMER says, “Judges 11.30-40 is a narrative application of Qohelet’s sceptical maxim. This means that the author of the story of Jephthah’s sacrificing his daughter is a colleague of Qohelet, trained as he was in Jewish and Hellenic culture and criticizing official Dtr theology” (RÖMER, “Why Would the Deuteronomist”, 38). Why should not the influence have been in the opposite direction?