Yiftah and Shemuel: The Power of Speech

This lecture was delivered at the Tanakh Study Days sponsored by Herzog Academic College, and is shared courtesy of the HaTanakh.com website.

Yehoshua 24  Shoftim 11:1-12:7

The Tanakh often presents us with similar characters who at their core have similar kinds of personalities, but their spiritual lives wind up taking very different directions. The Tanakh, in presenting these kinds of characters, and Chazal, in picking up on these “mirror characters” are offering a distinction between a person’s fate and their destiny. The deciding factor is not the fate that they are born with, but the destiny that they choose. This lecture explores the similarities and differences between the figures of Yiftach and Shmuel.