Day 22nd, February 27th, 2008

Of Human Ego

“And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, ‘If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt-offering.’” Judges 11:30-31

One of the most heart-rending and perplexing stories in the Bible is the story of Jepthah and his daughter.  Jephthah was the son of Gilead and a harlot.  His brothers, sons of Gilead’s wife, drove Jephtha out so as not to share their inheritance with him.  “Then Jephthah fled with from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him”  (Judges 11: 3).

Some time after, the children of Ammon made war against Israel, and so the elders of Israel went to seek out Jephthah to convince him to come back and lead the army against the Ammonites. Jephthah accepted the offer and became the leader of the army.  Before the confrontation between the two armies took place, Jephtha made the now infamous vow: “If you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s and I will offer it up as a burnt offering” (Judges 11:31).

God delivered Israel and gave them a great victory and “the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel” (Judges 11:33). Ecstatic Jephthah returned home “with timbrel and dancing” but, unfortunately, the first one to welcome him was his only child. Jephthah was devastated by what he saw and “tore his clothes” and said to his daughter, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back on it” (Judges 11: 35).

George Handle wrote an Oratoria based on this story. Here is what Jephtha says in Handle’s oratorio:

"Horror, confusion! Harsh this music grates
Upon my tasteless ears. Begone, my child,
Thou hast undone thy father! Fly, begone,
And leave me to the rack of wild despair!
Open thy marble jaws, O tomb,
And hide me, earth, in thy dark womb,
Ere I the name of father stain,
And deepest woe from conquest gain.  Open…
O Zebul, Hamor and my dearest wife,
Behold a wretched man,
Thrown from the summit of presumptuous joy,
Down to the lowest depth of misery.
Know, then, I vow'd the first I saw should fall
A victim to the living God. My daughter,
Alas, it was my daughter, and she dies.” (Acts 2, Scene 1)

Jephtha’s daughter reacted with a total spirit of submission. She simply asked her father that she be allowed to wander on the mountains for two months to “bewail her virginity” (Judges 11:38). At the end of the two months, “she returned to her father and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed” (Judges 11:39).

I have struggled with this text for a long time because this story seems so incongruous with our Lutheran understanding of God as a merciful and gracious God.  Also, God intervenes in various examples in the Old Testament.  God intervened with Abraham and Isaac.  Is God not averse to human sacrifices? Did God not cleanse the land of Canaan of its inhabitants because, in large part, they “passed their children through the fire” (That is, they sacrificed their children to their gods).  How could that same God allow Jephtha to kill his own daughter?

The answer may be found in Jephtha himself.  I read this story as a story of selfishness and ego.  I interpret this as a story of a man who was concerned with one thing; winning the war.  He was so focused on winning the war that he was not able to think of anything else.  For him, victory was the only thing to be concerned about and victory also meant that glory would be bestowed upon him. 

So Jephtha makes this rash agreement with God and ends up regretting it.  God didn’t ask for the covenant but God was willing to help Jephtha.  It was Jephtha who made the rash covenant (promise) with God and it was his small mind and short-sightedness that got him into this horrible situation.

How often have we made decisions that we regret?  How often have we done things that had we thought it through further, we would have seen the stupidity or negativity of it?  Luckily, a lot of our rash decisions are not life-threatening for our family members or for ourselves but we regret them just the same. 

I read this story as a wakeup call to remember the larger picture of life.  It is in the larger vision that God allowed Christ to die on the Cross and it is in the same scope that the disciples went on to become apostles and eventually dying for the faith.  Great things have been done because of a large vision of God, not narrow mindedness or self driven desires.

In this self-reflection and penitential time, let us see a whole new vision of God and how we can help make his grace become more visible and available in this world. Let us do great things because of our ability to see the great sight of Christ and His Creation.

Prayer: Lord of all universe and creation, help us to forget ourselves to focus on all of humanity through our devotedness to you and your works. Amen.