Saturday, February 07, 2004
Judges 14 - The Wife, the Prostitute, and the Lover
As he moves in rapid succession from one woman to the other, Samson's libido seems more powerful than his thought processes. That judgment is perhaps unfair, for the narrative portrays Samson as a poet and riddler as well as a man of action.
That he happens to choose both a wife and lover who succumb to threats and bribery and betray him, and do so by nagging him in ways that should have alerted even the least sensitive that there was trouble afoot, suggests either a blindness caused by either lust or love, or a subtle knowing that plays along with the wiles of the women in his life in the expectation that God will work everything for good, one way or another.
Here is the odd narrative of Samson's wooing:
Judges 14:1 Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. 2 Then he came up, and told his father and mother, "I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."
3 But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our1 people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?"
But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she pleases me."
There is no romantic love here. Everything seems driven by Samson's lust. His parents do not seem to be alarmed by this, but they are alarmed that Samson desires a non-Jew. But, the narrator immediately explains what is really going on is something else entirely.
Judges 14:4 His father and mother did not know that this was from the LORD; for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
This reads as if Samson knew what he was doing all along -- it was just a ploy to get at the Philistines. Taking another track, the Tenack translation reads:
His father and mother did not realize that this was the LORD's doing: He was seeking a pretext against the Philistines,...
This makes God the protagonist who wrests good from Samson's lust. In either case, in the context of the Samson cycle, it is required to remember that "good end" in mind is fulfillment of the prophecy that accompanied his birth:
Judges 13:5 It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.
There is, I think, no endorsement of Samson. The point is that God is able to work through even such a one as Samson to accomplish deliverance. After God's miraculous appearances in the birth narrative, there is no mention of God in Samson's affairs. God only appears as the "the spirit of the Lord" rushing on Samson to strengthen him for war, as the fall-out of his affairs give occasion for conflict and retribution. (See Jdg. 14:6, 19; 15:14, 18-19. and then his final prayer for strength in Jdg. 16:28.)
Can God work with sin to accomplish his ends? Samson, the arrogant husband. Samson, the prostitute's john. Samson, the besotted lover. This is the material that God was able to use. If God can use Samson, he can use you or me.
That he happens to choose both a wife and lover who succumb to threats and bribery and betray him, and do so by nagging him in ways that should have alerted even the least sensitive that there was trouble afoot, suggests either a blindness caused by either lust or love, or a subtle knowing that plays along with the wiles of the women in his life in the expectation that God will work everything for good, one way or another.
Here is the odd narrative of Samson's wooing:
Judges 14:1 Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. 2 Then he came up, and told his father and mother, "I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."
3 But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our1 people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?"
But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she pleases me."
There is no romantic love here. Everything seems driven by Samson's lust. His parents do not seem to be alarmed by this, but they are alarmed that Samson desires a non-Jew. But, the narrator immediately explains what is really going on is something else entirely.
Judges 14:4 His father and mother did not know that this was from the LORD; for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
This reads as if Samson knew what he was doing all along -- it was just a ploy to get at the Philistines. Taking another track, the Tenack translation reads:
His father and mother did not realize that this was the LORD's doing: He was seeking a pretext against the Philistines,...
This makes God the protagonist who wrests good from Samson's lust. In either case, in the context of the Samson cycle, it is required to remember that "good end" in mind is fulfillment of the prophecy that accompanied his birth:
Judges 13:5 It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.
There is, I think, no endorsement of Samson. The point is that God is able to work through even such a one as Samson to accomplish deliverance. After God's miraculous appearances in the birth narrative, there is no mention of God in Samson's affairs. God only appears as the "the spirit of the Lord" rushing on Samson to strengthen him for war, as the fall-out of his affairs give occasion for conflict and retribution. (See Jdg. 14:6, 19; 15:14, 18-19. and then his final prayer for strength in Jdg. 16:28.)
Can God work with sin to accomplish his ends? Samson, the arrogant husband. Samson, the prostitute's john. Samson, the besotted lover. This is the material that God was able to use. If God can use Samson, he can use you or me.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Judges 13 - Manoah's wife
The four-chapter story of Samson poses significant problems -- strength residing in hair seems more magical than spiritual; Samson, himself, seems far from the brightest star in the firmament, suffering as he does from the bimbo factor; and the climactic slaughter of women and men at the end is abhorrent. But the birth narrative as the story opens is lovely.
The protagonist is Samson's mother. We never hear her name, typical of the sexism of many Scripture texts, but she rules!
Judges 13:2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. 3 And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her....
.... good news, "you shall conceive and bear a son." (Judges 13:3) and he instructed her that her son was to be a nazirite from birth and that he would "deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines." (Judges 13:5)
So, she tells her husband what she had heard. Her husband wasn't quite as accepting as Joseph when he received a rather similar message, so Manoah prayed God to send "the man of God...to us again." Presumably he wanted to hear for himself. We infer that Manoah is thinking, "You can’t trust a woman." The text says that
Judges 13:9 God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.
That's pretty funny. Regardless of what Manoah wanted, God was interested in talking with the woman. Perhaps the text won't bother to name his wife, but God certainly disrespects Manoah. So, the woman runs to tell her husband and he comes and tries to interrogate the "man" asking, what are we supposed to do?
Judges 13:13 The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her.
In other words, "Who are you, bozo? I'm talking with this woman!"
So, Manoah asks for the angel's name, but the angel refuses to answer, and suggests that they make a burnt offering instead. That is a sign that this is no ordinary man they are talking with.
Judges 13:20 When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on;
This scared the heck out of Manoah, who says, "we're going to die."
Judges 13:23 But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these."
That is a good line of reasoning. The wife teaches the husband the things of the Spirit. I think that St. Paul could learn a lesson or two about God's attitude toward women from this episode and whether it is acceptable for women to teach men, or not.
The protagonist is Samson's mother. We never hear her name, typical of the sexism of many Scripture texts, but she rules!
Judges 13:2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. 3 And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her....
.... good news, "you shall conceive and bear a son." (Judges 13:3) and he instructed her that her son was to be a nazirite from birth and that he would "deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines." (Judges 13:5)
So, she tells her husband what she had heard. Her husband wasn't quite as accepting as Joseph when he received a rather similar message, so Manoah prayed God to send "the man of God...to us again." Presumably he wanted to hear for himself. We infer that Manoah is thinking, "You can’t trust a woman." The text says that
Judges 13:9 God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.
That's pretty funny. Regardless of what Manoah wanted, God was interested in talking with the woman. Perhaps the text won't bother to name his wife, but God certainly disrespects Manoah. So, the woman runs to tell her husband and he comes and tries to interrogate the "man" asking, what are we supposed to do?
Judges 13:13 The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her.
In other words, "Who are you, bozo? I'm talking with this woman!"
So, Manoah asks for the angel's name, but the angel refuses to answer, and suggests that they make a burnt offering instead. That is a sign that this is no ordinary man they are talking with.
Judges 13:20 When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on;
This scared the heck out of Manoah, who says, "we're going to die."
Judges 13:23 But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these."
That is a good line of reasoning. The wife teaches the husband the things of the Spirit. I think that St. Paul could learn a lesson or two about God's attitude toward women from this episode and whether it is acceptable for women to teach men, or not.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Judges 12 - odds & ends, ends & odds
As with Gideon (Judges 8:1), so with Jephthah, the Ephraimites get violently angry because they have not been called to join in the war -- even though in fact, Gideon and Jephthah did both call on the Ephraimites to join them.
Judges 12:1 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down over you!"
Jephthah's response is reasonable:
Judges 12:2 Jephthah said to them, "My people and I were engaged in conflict with the Ammonites who oppressed us severely. But when I called you, you did not deliver me from their hand. 3 When I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hand, and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day, to fight against me?"
The Ephraimites continue to insult Jephthah's men from Gilead, and the upshot is that Jephthah slaughters some 42,000 Ephraimites (Judges 12:6).
The text offers no moral. There is no claim that God is active in this story. What is going on?
Frankly, I don't know. Is this story emblematic, as some commentators say, of conflict with the northern tribes (Ephraim becomes synonymous with the northern Kingdom in later books)? I see no evidence of an anti-Ephraim bias in Judges – several of the judges, including Deborah, are Ephraimites. Is it part of a larger conflict between the tribes of "the land" (Ephraim) and of the Transjordan (Gilead)? Is it simply the sad working out of the already tragic story of Jephthah? Is it simply part of the remembered history of the people of God?
The story of Jephthah ends with a typical sumamry:
Judges 12:7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in his town in Gilead.
Jephthah's story is bracketed by two lists of judges who ruled uninterrupted by oppression. Hardly anything is remembered about these judges, but one each from before and after Jephthah seem fixated on the fine balancing of numbers. Note these -- again without a moral lesson:
From after Jephthah:
Judges 12:13 After him Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys; he judged Israel eight years.
Even better is this brief account from before Jephthah:
Judges 10:3 After him came Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; and they had thirty towns....
The Tanak translations gives this, which they footnote as reflecting the pun in the Hebrew:
Judges 10:4 He had thirty sons, who rode on thirty burros and owned thirty boroughs ....
Hmmm. Well, that's odd.
Judges 12:1 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down over you!"
Jephthah's response is reasonable:
Judges 12:2 Jephthah said to them, "My people and I were engaged in conflict with the Ammonites who oppressed us severely. But when I called you, you did not deliver me from their hand. 3 When I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hand, and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day, to fight against me?"
The Ephraimites continue to insult Jephthah's men from Gilead, and the upshot is that Jephthah slaughters some 42,000 Ephraimites (Judges 12:6).
The text offers no moral. There is no claim that God is active in this story. What is going on?
Frankly, I don't know. Is this story emblematic, as some commentators say, of conflict with the northern tribes (Ephraim becomes synonymous with the northern Kingdom in later books)? I see no evidence of an anti-Ephraim bias in Judges – several of the judges, including Deborah, are Ephraimites. Is it part of a larger conflict between the tribes of "the land" (Ephraim) and of the Transjordan (Gilead)? Is it simply the sad working out of the already tragic story of Jephthah? Is it simply part of the remembered history of the people of God?
The story of Jephthah ends with a typical sumamry:
Judges 12:7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in his town in Gilead.
Jephthah's story is bracketed by two lists of judges who ruled uninterrupted by oppression. Hardly anything is remembered about these judges, but one each from before and after Jephthah seem fixated on the fine balancing of numbers. Note these -- again without a moral lesson:
From after Jephthah:
Judges 12:13 After him Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys; he judged Israel eight years.
Even better is this brief account from before Jephthah:
Judges 10:3 After him came Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; and they had thirty towns....
The Tanak translations gives this, which they footnote as reflecting the pun in the Hebrew:
Judges 10:4 He had thirty sons, who rode on thirty burros and owned thirty boroughs ....
Hmmm. Well, that's odd.
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Judges 11 - tragic obedience
(Apologies for taking two days and writing twice as long as usual. Ben)
Jephthah's is a tortured and tragic story. I have known Jephthah as a figure of horror, the father who burned his daughter as a sacrifice, to fulfill an bargain with God for military victory. I find him a more complex character than I had expected, and his story both troubling and perplexing.
Jephthah is introduced as the son of a prostitute who was driven from his father's home by his half-brothers. Then, he gathered a band of raiders around him and became something of an outlaw king. When the Ammonites were oppressing Israel, the elders of Gilead, looking for someone with military experience to aid them, asked him to become their "chief" and "head." Jephthah agreed, claiming the headship only if he was successful in the fight against Ammon.
In heading to war against the Ammonites that Jephthah made the rash vow for which he is remembered and justly hated:
Judges 11:30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, (31) then 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."
After his victory, it was his daughter, his only child (c.f., Gen 22:2), who came through the door, dancing to celebrate his homecoming.
Judges 11:35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow."
Now, it is true that Moses taught the sanctity of vows:
Numbers 30:2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
But Moses also taught that God prohibited child sacrifice, warning Israel against imitating the worship of the gods of the land that they were to occupy:
Deuteronomy 12: 30 take care that you are not snared into imitating them, ... saying, "How did these nations worship their gods? I also want to do the same." 31 You must not do the same for the LORD your God, because every abhorrent thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods. They would even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
So Jephthah was caught between two commandments of God, and he didn't know the way out.
Jephthah was not spiritually sophisticated, but he was not devoid of spiritual feeling either. He was a rough and ready brigand leader, but his first instinct in taking on the assignment from the elders to end the oppression of the Ammonites was to offer a peace initiative. In the course of that message, he said, in effect, we really don't have a quarrel between us, we each have our own territory and can live in peace:
Judges 11:24 Should you not possess what your god Chemosh gives you to possess? And should we not be the ones to possess everything that the LORD our God has conquered for our benefit?
This is fair-minded, politically, if a little troubling, theologically. It implies that Chomosh and YHWH are similarly territorial gods, each with their own sphere of influence. Jephthah, perhaps, did not understand YHWH’s claim to be uniquely the creator and ruler of all the earth. On the other hand, a little later in the message, Jephthah makes the remarkable statement:
Judges 11:27 It is not I who have sinned against you, but you are the one who does me wrong by making war on me. Let the LORD, who is judge, decide today for the Israelites or for the Ammonites."
In the Book of Judges, it is unique to Jephthah to attribute to YHWH the role of Judge. Although the text concludes his story by saying Judges 12:7 "Jephthah judged Israel six years", he never claimed to me more than a chief, preferring to acknowledge God's direct rule over Israel as Judge.
So, Jephthah loved God and honored him above all else, to the best of his understanding and ability. He also loved his only child, his daughter whom he had rashly condemned to death by his thoughtless vow. He was an honest man, and believed that loyalty to God took precedence over his own feelings. Religious fealty caused him to do a great evil for Judges 11:39 says, he “did with her according to the vow he had made.”
In Leviticus, there is a section that deals with unwitting sin and how to atone for it. One of the provisions, it seems to me, could have helped Jephthah:
NRS Leviticus 5:4 ... when any of you utter aloud a rash oath for a bad or a good purpose, whatever people utter in an oath, and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall in any of these be guilty.
Jephthah’s oath was a bad one in any case, but he only became aware when he saw his daughter welcoming him home. This passage in Leviticus goes on to instruct the guilty one to confess his sin before a priest and then to offer of animal sacrifice to atone for the guilt of the thoughtless (rash) oath.
King Saul made a similarly foolish oath when he prohibited his army from eating during a day of battle against the Philistines, and then condemned to death anyone who was guilty. His son Jonathan had unwittingly violated that oath. Like Jephthah, Saul was prepared to kill Jonathan, in order to fulfill his vow:
1 Samuel 14:44 Saul said, "God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan!" 45 Then the people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great victory in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground; for he has worked with God today." So the people ransomed Jonathan, and he did not die.
The text does not tell us how the people ransomed Jonathan. Perhaps they used the Leviticus 5 provision. In Jephthah's daughter's case, we are left to wonder why the people did not ransom her.
Why did Jephthah not realize that an oath to do something as evil as the sacrifice of his own child was not a valid oath? Why does rigid obedience to religious law sometimes blind us to countervailing commands? Why are we sometimes unwilling or unable to see the flexibility - call it mercy - that God provides? Is judgment sometimes more attractive than love?
Why did a man who was expelled from the bosom of his own family by his half-brothers grow up to be a loving father? Why did an outlaw raider attempt a peace initiative before going to war? Why was a man with such an incomplete understanding of the heart of God yet able to make such an important affirmation of God's sovereignty?
Why did the community not intervene to ransom this loving and joyful girl?
In all these questions, in these sins of commission and omission, in these unexpected flashes of goodness, is it not possible to see ourselves, as we attempt to work out our salvation "with fear and trembling"? In the end, don’t we, like Jephthah fail to "get it right"? Don’t we need to look to the cross for the atonement that overwhelms our sin with God’s mercy?
Jephthah's is a tortured and tragic story. I have known Jephthah as a figure of horror, the father who burned his daughter as a sacrifice, to fulfill an bargain with God for military victory. I find him a more complex character than I had expected, and his story both troubling and perplexing.
Jephthah is introduced as the son of a prostitute who was driven from his father's home by his half-brothers. Then, he gathered a band of raiders around him and became something of an outlaw king. When the Ammonites were oppressing Israel, the elders of Gilead, looking for someone with military experience to aid them, asked him to become their "chief" and "head." Jephthah agreed, claiming the headship only if he was successful in the fight against Ammon.
In heading to war against the Ammonites that Jephthah made the rash vow for which he is remembered and justly hated:
Judges 11:30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, (31) then 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."
After his victory, it was his daughter, his only child (c.f., Gen 22:2), who came through the door, dancing to celebrate his homecoming.
Judges 11:35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow."
Now, it is true that Moses taught the sanctity of vows:
Numbers 30:2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
But Moses also taught that God prohibited child sacrifice, warning Israel against imitating the worship of the gods of the land that they were to occupy:
Deuteronomy 12: 30 take care that you are not snared into imitating them, ... saying, "How did these nations worship their gods? I also want to do the same." 31 You must not do the same for the LORD your God, because every abhorrent thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods. They would even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
So Jephthah was caught between two commandments of God, and he didn't know the way out.
Jephthah was not spiritually sophisticated, but he was not devoid of spiritual feeling either. He was a rough and ready brigand leader, but his first instinct in taking on the assignment from the elders to end the oppression of the Ammonites was to offer a peace initiative. In the course of that message, he said, in effect, we really don't have a quarrel between us, we each have our own territory and can live in peace:
Judges 11:24 Should you not possess what your god Chemosh gives you to possess? And should we not be the ones to possess everything that the LORD our God has conquered for our benefit?
This is fair-minded, politically, if a little troubling, theologically. It implies that Chomosh and YHWH are similarly territorial gods, each with their own sphere of influence. Jephthah, perhaps, did not understand YHWH’s claim to be uniquely the creator and ruler of all the earth. On the other hand, a little later in the message, Jephthah makes the remarkable statement:
Judges 11:27 It is not I who have sinned against you, but you are the one who does me wrong by making war on me. Let the LORD, who is judge, decide today for the Israelites or for the Ammonites."
In the Book of Judges, it is unique to Jephthah to attribute to YHWH the role of Judge. Although the text concludes his story by saying Judges 12:7 "Jephthah judged Israel six years", he never claimed to me more than a chief, preferring to acknowledge God's direct rule over Israel as Judge.
So, Jephthah loved God and honored him above all else, to the best of his understanding and ability. He also loved his only child, his daughter whom he had rashly condemned to death by his thoughtless vow. He was an honest man, and believed that loyalty to God took precedence over his own feelings. Religious fealty caused him to do a great evil for Judges 11:39 says, he “did with her according to the vow he had made.”
In Leviticus, there is a section that deals with unwitting sin and how to atone for it. One of the provisions, it seems to me, could have helped Jephthah:
NRS Leviticus 5:4 ... when any of you utter aloud a rash oath for a bad or a good purpose, whatever people utter in an oath, and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall in any of these be guilty.
Jephthah’s oath was a bad one in any case, but he only became aware when he saw his daughter welcoming him home. This passage in Leviticus goes on to instruct the guilty one to confess his sin before a priest and then to offer of animal sacrifice to atone for the guilt of the thoughtless (rash) oath.
King Saul made a similarly foolish oath when he prohibited his army from eating during a day of battle against the Philistines, and then condemned to death anyone who was guilty. His son Jonathan had unwittingly violated that oath. Like Jephthah, Saul was prepared to kill Jonathan, in order to fulfill his vow:
1 Samuel 14:44 Saul said, "God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan!" 45 Then the people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great victory in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground; for he has worked with God today." So the people ransomed Jonathan, and he did not die.
The text does not tell us how the people ransomed Jonathan. Perhaps they used the Leviticus 5 provision. In Jephthah's daughter's case, we are left to wonder why the people did not ransom her.
Why did Jephthah not realize that an oath to do something as evil as the sacrifice of his own child was not a valid oath? Why does rigid obedience to religious law sometimes blind us to countervailing commands? Why are we sometimes unwilling or unable to see the flexibility - call it mercy - that God provides? Is judgment sometimes more attractive than love?
Why did a man who was expelled from the bosom of his own family by his half-brothers grow up to be a loving father? Why did an outlaw raider attempt a peace initiative before going to war? Why was a man with such an incomplete understanding of the heart of God yet able to make such an important affirmation of God's sovereignty?
Why did the community not intervene to ransom this loving and joyful girl?
In all these questions, in these sins of commission and omission, in these unexpected flashes of goodness, is it not possible to see ourselves, as we attempt to work out our salvation "with fear and trembling"? In the end, don’t we, like Jephthah fail to "get it right"? Don’t we need to look to the cross for the atonement that overwhelms our sin with God’s mercy?
