The drama of obedience and emotion : the Sacrifice of a child, authority, and the human trial in the narratives of Abraham and Jephthah (Gen 22:1-19; Judg 11:29-40)
Drama pokorščine in čustva : daritev otroka, avtoriteta in človekova preizkušnja v pripovedih o Abrahamu in Jefteju (1 Mz 22,1-19; Sod 11,29-40)

english

2025

volume 85, issue 3

authority   hermenutics   Isaac   Jephthah   literary analysis   test   vow

Univerza v Ljubljani, Teološka fakulteta
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

The narrative of Abraham’s sacrifice of his only son Isaac at God’s command (Gen 22:1-19) and the account of Jephthah’s sacrifice of his only daughter as the consequence of his rash vow (Judg 11:29-40) belong to the broad and diverse corpus of Old Testament texts that explore the motif of human testing. The story of Adam and Eve already reveals humanity confronted with divine autho-rity, demanding obedience and exposing the limits of human freedom. Yet the cases of Abraham and Jephthah introduce a new and more dramatic dimension of the motif: the test is no longer merely a matter of obedience but involves the ultimate decision over the life and death of one’s own child. In this respect, the two narratives are comparable, but at a fundamental level they diverge sharply. Both have received considerable attention since antiquity, but interpreters have often overlooked the decisive role of authority in shaping the drama of the trial. Abraham is tested directly by God, whose supreme authority explicitly aims to examine his faith and obedience. Jephthah, by contrast, is tested amid the circumstances of war, where, in his role as judge, he exceeds his limited human authority by making a vow that fatally endangers his daughter. The outcomes are paradoxical: Abraham, through unconditional obedience, preserves both himself and his son, while Jephthah, bound by his own promise, destroys his daughter. This article employs close literary and comparative analysis on semantic, stylistic, and hermeneutical levels. It demonstrates the distinctive form and meaning of the texts in their original contexts and shows how subsequent Jewish and Christian interpretations have reshaped their original emphases over time.

17.02.2026