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Jephthah's Daughter - Judges 9,10,11
A Hebrew Raider fierce,- a Gileadite-
Named Jephthah, from his clan and tribe exiled,
Was summoned from exile to lead the fight
Against the Ammonites, - he had an only child.
His daughter was his joy and all his pride,
And great the love between the child and dad,
Her loveliness a comfort to man’s sight
And to the warrior dad from Gilead.
He’d make the Moabites’ ramparts fall,
And deal the Ammonites a deadly blow,
Assault and smash the city’s ancient wall,
And batter haughty pagan Moab’s brow.
Elected chieftain Jephthah had to lead
The battle armies ‘gainst the cruel foe;
He prayed to God for victory in need
And swore and made to God a solemn vow.
He made this oath before the soldiery
All strong arrayed and the assembled crowd,
Exhorting all to pray for victory,
To put the vicious Ammonites to rout.
He spoke: “Oh Lord I’ll sacrifice to Thee,
The first that I shall meet by my abode,
The first that on return encounters me,
I’ll offer as burnt sacrifice Lord God!”
Wild Jephthah thought his dog would surely bound,
Be first to welcome him upon return,
There was no ill to sacrifice the hound
Who was now dim, and could no longer learn.
Rash reckless warrior from Gilead,
With unenlightened vows and promises
That does not know who he’ll be looking at
When he the victim of his rashness sees.
But horror, that all narrative defies
No canine did his homestead’s portals burst.
But his beloved child - the sacrifice,
Who did precede all others as the first.
She did precede the joyous lengthy train
Of hearty welcome shouters drawing near,
She ran and leaped along the homestead’s lane,
And then across the field to father dear.
Her father had returned victorious!
She ran to his encounter with swift feet
Her victor father strong and glorious,
She thrilled, to be the first with him to meet.
In festive garments with bright glowing face
With golden hair in amber radiance,
Her heart throbbed loud awaiting his embrace,
Her tambourine accompanied her dance.
Woe unto you poor father Gileadite,
Your child appeared the first before your eyes,
Abysmal horror and soul’s darkest night
His only child the promised sacrifice.
She shouted loud with joy, her tambourine
Rang rhythmically to her mirthful dance,
Eyes luminous, the features of a queen,
Revealing boundless joy's exuberance.
“Ah welcome home again, my father dear,
I waited for you anxiously so long!”
She capered, frolicked, and the servants’ cheer
Accompanied the maiden’s joyous song.
His child, a paradigm of love and life,
That with great longing had awaited him,
Woe Jephthah woe! -would Jephthah wield his knife,-
His vision blurred, his sight grew weak and dim.
Oh wretchedness, Oh desperation wild,-
His only offspring loved with tenderness,
And now to sacrifice this only child!-
Woe rash and unconsidered promises!
Sinister images rose from the ground,
His consciousness beclouded, the poor dad,
Stood paralized and felt that he was bound
By vow to God to do the deed of dread!
The maiden learned the truth and then professed
Both valor and obedience unheard of,
She listened to the father and caressed
His hand in meek and tender filial love.
The sweet obedient maiden heroine
Said softly: “father dearest do not weep“,
And dropping to the ground the tambourine
Spoke” What you promised father you must keep.”!
Allow me though two months for a retreat
For prayer with my friends upon the hill,
When I come back, then father do the deed,
That shall your vow before the Lord fulfill.
In Hebrew lore this maiden exemplar,
That all the maidens mourn and much bewail,
Shines as her people’s brightest shining star
The pride of all the tribes of Israel.
No more speaks scripture after that of her,
Nor of the father, Jephthah’s wretched lot,
Oh grief and pain untellable to bear,-
His solemn promise to Almighty God.
But scripture exegetes did assert
That hapless Jephthah got sound counseling
To put back in his sheath the killing sword
And not the dreadful sacrifice to bring.
T’is said that during prayer’s interlude
The elders learned that the Yahweh much abhorred
All human sacrifice, and dared transmute
the dreadful vow as hateful to the Lord.
And exegetes claim that Jephthah got
Advice from Israel’s sages to abstain
From human sacrifice that pleases not
The Lord, but the brave maiden to ordain
As tabernacle virgin serving God.
The maiden served the Lord by day and night
But Israel’s maiden would but weep and wail,
No off-spring for poor Jephthah,- so they cried,
And to posterity passed on this tale.
© Elizabeth Dandy
Yes,- Vows were biding and final" under usual circumstances. However
there also were circumstances that nullified them. (One that only in
"principal" applies to this case is the fact that a woman's vow to
God
could be nullified by a husband or father with no consequences. Numbers
30:6-16)
However even for men, a vow to YHWH was set aside under certain
serious
circumstances. According to the Mosaic law a sworn vow could be
forgiven
just on the basis that he was without knowledge somehow. Leviticus
5:4-10: "Or if any one swear rashly with his lips to do evil, or to
do
good, whatsoever it be that a man shall utter rashly with an
oath...and
it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he has become guilty
as
respects one of these things.5...he shall confess that wherein he
hath
sinned. 6 And he shall bring his trespass-offering to Jehovah for his
sin that he has sinned...and the priest shall make atonement for him
as
concerning his sin. 10...and he shall be forgiven."--ASV
Her father had returned victorious!
She ran to his encounter with swift feet
Her victor father strong and glorious,
She thrilled, to be the first with him to meet.
In festive garments with bright glowing face
With golden hair in amber radiance,
Her heart throbbed loud awaiting his embrace,
Her tambourine accompanied her dance.
Woe unto you poor father Gileadite,
Your child appeared the first before your eyes,
Abysmal horror and soul’s darkest night
His only child the promised sacrifice.
She shouted loud with joy, her tambourine
Rang rhythmically to her mirthful dance,
Eyes luminous, the features of a queen,
Revealing boundless joy's exuberance.
“Ah welcome home again, my father dear,
I waited for you anxiously so long!”
She capered, frolicked, and the servants’ cheer
Accompanied the maiden’s joyous song.
His child, a paradigm of love and life,
That with great longing had awaited him,
Woe Jephthah woe! -would Jephthah wield his knife,-
His vision blurred, his sight grew weak and dim.
Oh wretchedness, Oh desperation wild,-
His only offspring loved with tenderness,
And now to sacrifice this only child!-
Woe rash and unconsidered promises!
Sinister images rose from the ground,
His consciousness beclouded, the poor dad,
Stood paralized and felt that he was bound
By vow to God to do the deed of dread!
The maiden learned the truth and then professed
Both valor and obedience unheard of,
She listened to the father and caressed
His hand in meek and tender filial love.
The sweet obedient maiden heroine
Said softly: “father dearest do not weep“,
And dropping to the ground the tambourine
Spoke” What you promised father you must keep.”!
Allow me though two months for a retreat
For prayer with my friends upon the hill,
When I come back, then father do the deed,
That shall your vow before the Lord fulfill.
In Hebrew lore this maiden exemplar,
That all the maidens mourn and much bewail,
Shines as her people’s brightest shining star
The pride of all the tribes of Israel.
No more speaks scripture after that of her,
Nor of the father, Jephthah’s wretched lot,
Oh grief and pain untellable to bear,-
His solemn promise to Almighty God.
But scripture exegetes did assert
That hapless Jephthah got sound counseling
To put back in his sheath the killing sword
And not the dreadful sacrifice to bring.
T’is said that during prayer’s interlude
The elders learned that the Yahweh much abhorred
All human sacrifice, and dared transmute
the dreadful vow as hateful to the Lord.
And exegetes claim that Jephthah got
Advice from Israel’s sages to abstain
From human sacrifice that pleases not
The Lord, but the brave maiden to ordain
As tabernacle virgin serving God.
The maiden served the Lord by day and night
But Israel’s maiden would but weep and wail,
No off-spring for poor Jephthah,- so they cried,
And to posterity passed on this tale.
© Elizabeth Dandy
Yes,- Vows were biding and final" under usual circumstances. However
there also were circumstances that nullified them. (One that only in
"principal" applies to this case is the fact that a woman's vow to
God
could be nullified by a husband or father with no consequences. Numbers
30:6-16)
However even for men, a vow to YHWH was set aside under certain
serious
circumstances. According to the Mosaic law a sworn vow could be
forgiven
just on the basis that he was without knowledge somehow. Leviticus
5:4-10: "Or if any one swear rashly with his lips to do evil, or to
do
good, whatsoever it be that a man shall utter rashly with an
oath...and
it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he has become guilty
as
respects one of these things.5...he shall confess that wherein he
hath
sinned. 6 And he shall bring his trespass-offering to Jehovah for his
sin that he has sinned...and the priest shall make atonement for him
as
concerning his sin. 10...and he shall be forgiven."--ASV
.
.
This is an excellent exegesis on a difficult problem that confounds many preachers who attempt to present a hayseed solution to it. Several years ago, I actually heard a preacher (whose preaching, since then, I avoid whenever I can) state that God, Whose Word is forever settled in Heaven, and Who has no respect of persons, made a momentary exception in the Law of Moses to allow Jephthah to actually kill his daughter to the glory of the Lord. The only human sacrifice God ever accepted was His own Son's; to have allowed Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter would have been to set her equal to Christ---an impossibility for obvious reasons. When teaching adult Sunday School, I pointed out the key to the entire event (and the solution to the problem), as it is translated in the KJV. There, Jephthah does not vow to kill anyone or anything; he vows to offer it. A vow to offer, on the part of the giver, does not bind the receiver to accept. Now, did she go to Shiloh to serve as a Temple handmaiden, with lifelong celibacy? Yes, and I think she was more than aware of that when she asked two months to mourn her virginity (notice that: she does not mourn her life, but her virginity). She mourns what was being sacrificed, what was being declared as acceptible by the receiver not the giver. Her father kept his vow totally---he vowed to offer, and he made the offer. But the offer of her sacrificial death was declined by the Law itself. (Who could imagine the priests at Shiloh allowing anyone to drag a screaming teenaged girl into the Holy of Holies and there slice her throat open with a shiny knife?) Although Jephthah was rash, God foresaw his rashness; and placed in his mouth the grammatical construction that allowed him to avoid profanation of the altar at Shiloh while retaining some degree of honor in fulfilling his vow. You have done a great job in this poem of demonstrating the difficult situation!
Starward