The purpose of this paper is to present a plausible answer to the vexing questions about the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter. Many scholars and commentators have tried to give the answers, narrowing down one of the three ways: 1) Jephthah's rash vow, 2) God's tacit agreement with silence, or 3) the esoteric-religious behavior of Jephthah's daughter. But these are mainly the answers about why Jephthah's daughter was sacrificed. The right question should be "Why cannot it be avoided, but eventually happen in Israel?" Only then, the Jephthah story is considered in the whole scope of the book of Judges. As the book of Judges unfolds, the specific reason for human sacrifice in Israel comes to surface. To deal with this question, the methodology is spontaneously limited. Here is adopted the canonical approach based on the literary and theological integrity of the book of Judges. And the Jephthah story is compared with the Canaanite Baal myth. The Jephthah story is composed in the process of the Baal cycle. Both stories emphasize strife for becoming king and protecting the position they(Jephthah and Baal) have acquired at the risk of their lives. Even in the case of Jephthah, he sacrificed the most valuable possession, his only daughter, to obtain the headship of the Gileadites. Thus, no one can claim Jephthah's crown. In this sense, the tragedy of fratricidal war against the Ephraimites who covet the headship can be a logical conclusion. Jephthah's life is an embodiment of Baalism. Yahwism is nominally present, and Baalism becomes substantially the core of Jephthah and Israel's faith. Thus, even though Jephthah calls the name of Yahweh 7 times, in a syncretistic way, the sacrifice of his daughter must be intended for the Canaanite chief god, Baal. This can answer the reason for the book of Judges flowing from fighting against the Canaanites to fighting against the fellow Israelites. Baalism is one of the chief causes of the death of Jephthah's daughter and Israel's self-destruction.

The purpose of this paper is to present a plausible answer to the vexing questions about the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter. Many scholars and commentators have tried to give the answers, narrowing down one of the three ways: 1) Jephthah's rash vow, 2) God's tacit agreement with silence, or 3) the esoteric-religious behavior of Jephthah's daughter. But these are mainly the answers about why Jephthah's daughter was sacrificed. The right question should be "Why cannot it be avoided, but eventually happen in Israel?" Only then, the Jephthah story is considered in the whole scope of the book of Judges. As the book of Judges unfolds, the specific reason for human sacrifice in Israel comes to surface. To deal with this question, the methodology is spontaneously limited. Here is adopted the canonical approach based on the literary and theological integrity of the book of Judges. And the Jephthah story is compared with the Canaanite Baal myth. The Jephthah story is composed in the process of the Baal cycle. Both stories emphasize strife for becoming king and protecting the position they(Jephthah and Baal) have acquired at the risk of their lives. Even in the case of Jephthah, he sacrificed the most valuable possession, his only daughter, to obtain the headship of the Gileadites. Thus, no one can claim Jephthah's crown. In this sense, the tragedy of fratricidal war against the Ephraimites who covet the headship can be a logical conclusion. Jephthah's life is an embodiment of Baalism. Yahwism is nominally present, and Baalism becomes substantially the core of Jephthah and Israel's faith. Thus, even though Jephthah calls the name of Yahweh 7 times, in a syncretistic way, the sacrifice of his daughter must be intended for the Canaanite chief god, Baal. This can answer the reason for the book of Judges flowing from fighting against the Canaanites to fighting against the fellow Israelites. Baalism is one of the chief causes of the death of Jephthah's daughter and Israel's self-destruction.

Jephthah, oath, YHWH, Baal, human sacrifice