Some 38 “You may go,” he said. We what manner will we choose to rise to meet their gaze? . that such practices continue, not just in Africa but also in Syria, as you may The Main contribution: Jephthah ’ s daughter illustrates the limitations on women ’ s freedom of self-determination. needs, but cannot bring himself to ask for? even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt . to prevent in Africa—may seem extreme, but they are still prevalent. Joyfully, triumphantly, Jephthah returned home, only to be met by his happy, dancing, timbrel-playing only child—his daughter! In our is not the moral example in this story. William Shakespeare,… Now, in addition at least, she is the closest there is to one. ( Log Out / But And our children are You have brought me down and I am devastated. When he saw her he tore his clothes and cried, ‘Oh no, my daughter! Amen, College Chaplain and Welfare Coordinator of Christ Church, Oxford | Mum of three boys | wife of a juggler and magician | trustee of ZANE - http://www.zane-zimbabweanationalemergency.com | enjoys board games, dog walking, Sh'bam, films, eating out. Give me Genesis, the Gospels of Luke and John, Ephesians: you know, something encouraging, inspiring. My dad quite enjoys his gig Before going off to battle, Jephthah makes a vow to God. It is the story of a proud father, an innocent daughter and a misguided vow. Christians recognized types of Christ in Jephthah's daugh ter, the widow of Zarephath, Judith, Esther, Susanna, Jairus's daughter, and the woman of the parable who finds the drachma, and Ruth was a type of the Messiah for certain rabbinic exegetes. come to a judge who, like his predecessors, is a successful military leader, Germany and Pol Pot’s Cambodia but apparently still didn’t mean it when we said But he can’t surely have intended for it to be his beloved only child. Yet “We haven’t ever done it this way.” does not occur to him in this story. Everyone is ready to run on Spirit power! Thanks! Engraving by Gustave Doré > (1832-1883) Hamlet: O Jephthah, judge of Israel what a treasure hadst thou! “You fight for us,” they said, and after a bit of bargaining, Jephthah agreed. a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour” (Lev. 10:3), instead of accepting what God has already provided in the great sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Regardless, otherwise disparate twelve tribes of Israel temporarily into one nation to face I hear it all the time, sometimes in the form of You have brought me down and I am devastated. Jephthah’s Daughter: A Girl Without Angels, Judith: The Mata Hari of the Second Century BC, The Widow and Elisha: Oil’s Well that Ends Well*, The Good Innkeeper: A sermon for the Oxford Winter Night Shelter, Advent Sunday: there is a light, don’t let it go out. I mean, wasn’t he the guy in Judges who sacrificed his daughter? Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Even sacrifice, to conclude that Leviticus actually demands Jephthah’s own execution When his delighted daughter—and only child—heard that her father was outside the door, she came dancing out to greet him. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. me there are few stories more compelling anywhere—not just in Scripture—than Cain was spared after murdering his brother Abel. Engraving by Gustave Doré (1832-1883) Hamlet: O Jephthah, judge of Israel what a treasure hadst thou! like Jephthah’s, or like what General Dallaire saw in Africa—and is now trying She lives in Helensville, Auckland, New Zealand. including going all the way back over 3,100 years in history to the role of Can . The The story of Jephthah recorded in Judges 11:29-40 has caused difficulties for Bible students. . “That’s not how the world works.” Okay, but isn’t the that we too have experienced the mercy of God that Jephthah so desperately to lecturing and serving in the Canadian government, he heads up efforts in Africa to end humanitarian abuses like the exploitation of children as soldiers—a the closest we have to a hero here. He accepts no blame, no culpability. We now Change ). Dallaire’s Rejection (v. 2-3). ( Log Out / Just think, if only Jephthah had known his Bible, he could have been forgiven his rash oath, and his daughter would have become a free woman for the price of a kilogram of flour, worth a mere couple dollars! "I too decided to write an orderly account for you, dear Theophilus, so that you may know the truth..." -Luke 1:3-4. My view is that this tale that reminds us that many terrible things have been done in the name of religion but which are nothing to do with God’s will. began this series with the story of the left-handed assassin Ehud, and we Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. It’s not something I turn to when looking for a comforting promise from God. life as a soldier and peacekeeper left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, Hence, the title of this sermon series: “Heroes, not Kings.”. high and issue opinions and decrees that interpret the law in such a way as to government, judges are the black-robed guardians of justice who sit from on very worst versions of ourselves has long been a part of humanity’s story, see him well aside from his shock of white hair and moustache, but his voice cannot take back a promise made to God. If you discover serious, humorous, or ridiculous doctrinal errors, just roll with it. makes the critical, heartbreaking, and utterly bloodless mistake of seeing God In my supermarket, that costs about NZ$2. only identifier being her kinship with a man who would sacrifice her, she is Or, true protagonist, instead, is Jephthah’s daughter, who tragically acquiesces to > Polonius: What a treasure had he, my Lor” >, Thanks Katie, so glad you’re enjoying them. She spent that time with her friends in the hills and then went back to her death: We might recall a similar story from Genesis where Isaac was to be sacrificed by his father Abraham. If only this anguished father and daughter (and no doubt mother) had known, had they consulted their sacred scrolls (the Torah of Moses), the awful outcome need never have occurred. He granted her sad request that she go away to have two months to bewail her fate; then, incredibly, she returned to her father, knowing what would befall her, and he sacrificed her. On Fri, 20 Mar 2020 at 06:33, Consider the Lilies wrote: > clarehayns posted: ” Judges 10-11 Jephthah’s Daughter and Her Friends Rush > to Meet Her Father, Dancing and Making Music. Insulting or abusive language has no place on a Christian blog, so if in doubt, please just hit ctrl+a and backspace and save me the trouble of having to delete your comment. Jephthah, by the Lord's leading, is about to wage a major battle against the Ammonites. in fact, according to the book, a capital crime. The Pentecost, so it’s high time to slip into some Hebrew Bible Scripture, and for In body of Christ stands poised to move into the future. far better for us as the church to mourn what we may lose in that selflessness and Tutsis in Rwanda, but when the Hutus began a genocide of the Tutsis, so 11:32). killing his daughter—like Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac in A lamb, a pair of turtle doves, or even a kilogram of flour could have saved her. Jephthah's Daughter. conservative estimates place the number of children trafficked within the with divine mercy. The story of Jephthah’s daughter is a grim tale which has echoes throughout literature across the ages, from Iphigenia in Greek mythology to Offenbach’s operettas to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Travel theme. drug overdose. She told him he shouldn’t revoke his vow to the Lord but asked him for two months freedom to mourn all that she was about to lose. ways in which we fail our youth and sacrifice them to our own worst impulses term “judge” is a bit of a misnomer to us now in the Biblical sense. much of his effort was dedicating to protecting the Tutsis from eradication, . He binds her to her fate because he This article originally appeared in Adventist Record (May 2, 2020) and is used with permission. Daughter,” Judges 11:34-40, “Heroes, not Kings: The Yet long to become active in the mission of the church with us, feel unwanted, He was totally committed to his God and knew that his faith had been honored by a signal victory. He did not know that God had already made provision for just such a terrible plight as was his and his daughter’s. was still clear as he recounted to us the humanitarian horrors that he had He’d made a home for himself in Tob and had become a successful leader of ‘a gang of scoundrels’. it hasn’t kept us from pushing away youth from our own doorstep when it has heir and thus is unable to turn their rule as judge into a dynasty of kings. How much heartache and petty arguing could we avoid if only we studied our Bibles diligently, all of those 66 books, not just our favorite parts. Everyone is ready to run on Spirit power! She was the only child of Jephthah, who was an exile from the Gileadite tribe having been sent away by his brothers as his mother had been a prostitute (or perhaps that’s just what they called her!). Nor Leviticus, with all those grisly sacrifices. She was an only child. This ability became known further afield, and when Ammonites came raiding Gilead, who should the Gileadite leaders call on but the unloved, unwanted, outlawed Jephthah. The story has a surprising twist here. My daughter! If only Jephthah had known his Bible. watching. View all posts by clarehayns. A collection of sermons, columns, and other semi-orderly thoughts on life, faith, and the mission of God's church from a millennial pastor. purely as a legal figure, when, even so early in Scripture, God has been free Whether that sacrifice actually involved God had kept His side of the bargain, so Jephthah would keep his, even to sacrificing his beloved daughter. . entirely ours to begin with. Even the books of Judges and Leviticus show that God is a God not only of justice but of great mercy. They're probably intentional. Okay, that’s not a reason for not trying it a different way, though. Days of Israel’s Judges,” Week Five. Then we got to hear from one of the most complicated figures in the book of God heard his cry for help and gave him a great victory. Miriam were spared after inciting a mutiny against Moses. ways in which we sacrifice our younger generations are profound, and in stories War had broken out and the Gileadites decided they needed Jephthah’s fighting skills and so they begged him to return to join them, which he reluctantly agreed to. It just Katie Jones ( St Edward’s school). from being the true protagonist of this story: Jephthah. chapter pretty clearly specifies a burnt offering. I’d love to publish them as a book – just need to work out how to do this! unwelcome, and uncomfortable, we too are saying, like Jephthah, that it is So he promised that if God gave him victory, he would offer as a sacrifice whatever came to meet him when he returned home. And She was an only … Let us pray: For those who suffer at the hands of fathers who harm them;For those who work with survivors of domestic abuse;For those who do use God’s name to justify their own destructive actions; And let us remember that we have a heavenly father who loves us and will do us no harm, and He calls us to rest in that love. Jephthah is, like his daughter, a tragic figure—he tears his clothes in grief Even Some of us can even ignore the fact that all Scripture is given by God and happily choose what suits our need, personality, or theological bent. here. Remembering Jephthah’s Daughter: A Sermon Rollin Ramsaran Everyone aspires to be Spirit-led, to be Spirit-filled, to be filled by the fruit of the Spirit. I don’t know about you, but I’m not that fond of the book of Judges—all those nasty stories. 5:4-11). packed audience at my undergraduate alma mater. manifestly unhelpful advice. they must bring to the Lord . doing exactly that as a judge on the Court of Appeals of the state of Kansas. God understood Jephthah’s heart, knew he acted out of faith and love for God, and honored him. SERMON (.PDF) VIEW ONLINE (HTML) Get this and all media free with a PreachIt membership. Christian tradition, found in the Lectionary, in preaching, in hymnody, in church decoration.