Jephthah's daughter

[zeborah]

Jephthah was the son of a prostitute and driven away by his father's legitimate children, but unlike Abimelech he's turned out okay. More or less.

While he's off in battle, his only daughter (Judges 11:34-40) is waiting at home. No doubt she's anxious for her father. She hears news of his victory, and hears that he's coming home -- coming down the road even now. Overjoyed at his victory, his safety, and his homecoming, she picks up her tambourines and comes dancing out the door to meet him.

Only to see her father tearing his clothes in despair. Because before the battle he promised that if God should give him the victory, he would sacrifice as a burnt offering the first thing that came out the door to meet him. (This seems foolish when one has a daughter. Maybe they had a pet sheep which kept running outside at any random noise, except this time his daughter tied it up. Who knows?)

Still, a promise to the Lord is a promise. His daughter submits to the inevitable -- "you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised" -- asking only two months to say goodbye to all her friends and weep because she'll never marry. After this, she comes back, is killed (still, the story assures us, a virgin), and is commemorated (still unnamed) in a custom where young women go out each year for four days.

It's a little bit like the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22). Except for the part where God jumps in at the crucial moment and says, "You can stop now, I was just kidding."

Comments

[via-pigeon.livejournal.com]

...Okay, honey, now bring me breakfast in bed. I PROMISED GOD that I wouldn't get up until I'd eaten a delicious meal. You wouldn't want me to break my word to the Lord, now, would you?

[zeborah]

Fortunately you didn't promise God that you'd force me at gunpoint to bring you breakfast in bed. :-)

Do you know, New Zealand playing Brazil in soccer is a truly pitiful sight.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

They're different types of books. Judges is meant to show us how to make decisions, and clearly this shows that one shouldn't make this kind of promise to god, but if you do, you must follow through.

[zeborah]

True; and Abraham didn't make a rash promise, he was just Obedient, thus gets the reward of having God change his mind.

Still sucks to be the kid, of course (in either case: I can just imagine Isaac watching the goat being sacrificed and thinking "That was going to be me...")