Jephthah's Vow Wasn't Rash (I Don't Think)
And I loved K-Pop Demon Hunters
Hello! Hope you’re well. Here’s the latest:
The Balm, the Negotiator, and the Casualty
Brand new episode of Holy Ghost Stories this week: this one’s the tale of the infamous Jephthah—the gang leader from Gilead who makes a crazy vow resulting in his daughter’s death. Quite a story, and one with much for us to ponder.
I’m excited to share this one with you—it was a top pick for this season’s offerings when I polled the HGS patrons. Here are some details I thought were interesting or helpful:
BITS AND BOBS:
“Jephthah’s Rash Vow”?
After spending extended time with this story, I’m forced to take issue with the usual charactierization of Jephthah’s vow. I really can’t get behind the idea of it being “rash.” Sure, the vow itself seems crazy and he certainly comes to regret making it, but let’s back up. We’ve got a lot of Jephthath in the text before the vow is made, and what is he like? We’re told he’s a mighty warrior, and we’re shown that he’s a shrewd negotiator. Negotiation is mostly what he’s up to, in fact:
When the elders of Gilead come to him asking if he’ll lead their forces into battle, he first puts them on their heels by calling them on their prior rejection (Judges 11:7) and then presses them into making their offer an official “Yahweh as our witness” guarantee.
Once he takes the lead of the Israelite army, his first move is diplomacy with the king of Ammon (Judges 11:12). When his first volley is returned, he sends a long reply that’s full of thoughtful, elevated argumentation (imperfect and synchretistic as it may be). That passage (Judges 11:14-27) is one of the longest instances of a person speaking in the Old Testament and an excellent glimpse into Jephthah’s mind.
All of this to say: by the time Jephthah makes his vow in Judges 11:30, we’ve been offered an entire chapter full of insights into his personality—and what we’ve seen is not someone who’s impulsive or foolhardy, but a man who’s quite thoughtful and calculated. Jephthah is not a loose cannon; he’s a tactician. (I found that Daniel Block expresses a similar conclusion in his excellent commentary on Judges.)
So why would someone like that make such a foolish vow? There’s the interesting question—and it’s one that only surfaces when we pay attention to the whole story. You’ll have to listen to my telling to see if you agree with my theory.
Idolatry Like Never Before
The Jephthah narrative opens (Judges 10:6) with a lavish seven-fold description of Israel’s idolatry—the most extensive detailing of their unfaithfulness in the entire book of Judges, in fact. (That’s quite a high bar.) Bottom line: the narrator wants us to understand that the faith situation in Israel is very, very bad. I think we should take this into account as we navigate our evaluation of Jephthah, grading on a bit of a curve (and from the looks of Hebrews 11, it seems Yahweh did the same).
A Break in the Cycle
Chapter 11 interrupts the cycle of merciful deliverance so familiar to us in the Book of Judges. When Israel cries out for help, Yahweh flatly refuses. When He does finally intervene, it seems His involvement in the rescue is somewhat mitigated. We get the impression that Yahweh is at the end of His (very long) rope.
Yahweh Doesn’t Raise Him Up
Speaking of breaks in the cycle, God doesn’t “raise up” Jephthah the way He does other deliverers in the Book of Judges. The pattern is established in Judges 2:18 (“Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge…”) and then repeats throughout the narrative: “he raised up Othniel” (3:9); “he gave them Ehud” (3:15); he called Gideon by saying, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior”; etc. Jephthah, however, seems to be more Israel’s idea than Yahweh’s—there’s nothing in the text about God raising him up to deliver Israel. Yahweh does use him, of course (His Spirit even descends on Jephthah), but this endorsement seems almost a capitulation of sorts. In fact, the Judges narrator portrays Yahweh exibiting a crescendo of disengagment during this part of the book—presumably tied to Israel’s gratuitous unfaithfulness.
Jepthah v Samson
Like Samson after him, Jephthah is a formidable warrior and a shrewd tactician. As a nod to this, I echoed some of the language I used in Season 6’s episode about Samson, “The Source and the Supernova.”
S6E7:
“Samson stands at the mouth of the cave, chewing some salted beef, perhaps, as the men gather around him. […] Rolls his eyes. Spits a wad of meat onto the ground.”
S7E15:
“Jephthah leans in the doorway, neck flexing as he works a hunk of salted beef with his molars. […] Smiles. Throws the meat on the ground.”
I think Jephthah and Samson would have liked each other. Or hated each other. Definitely one of those.
The Hebrews 11 Question
After reading/hearing this story, you can’t help but be a little surprised to see Jephthah’s name pop up in the ‘Hall of Faith’ of Hebrews 11: “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, […] These were all commended for their faith…” What about Jephthah’s faith makes him commendation-worthy? I’d say that’s a great question to meditate on and/or discuss with someone once you listen to this episode. I’d be happy to hear your thoughts as well if you want to come back to this email and reply.
“You Have Brought Me Down”
For some reason, Jephthah’s reaction to his daughter coming out of the gate first reminds me of Adam’s response to Yahweh in Genesis 3:12.
Dynasty on His Mind
I don’t agree with Alistair Roberts’s take on parts of this story, but I did appreciate him pointing out Jephthah’s apparent fixation on legacy. His hope and his grief (and possibly his vow?) seem to be bound up in the hope for a dynasty of some kind.
“Wait—How Is This Different Than Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac?”
Great question. Instead of an extended response, I’ll offer this chart from Daniel Block for your consideration. It’s a little harder on Jephthah than I might be, but helpful nonetheless:
The Balm of Gilead
Jepthah is the son of a man named Gilead, a resident of the town of the same name—the center of a region well known in the ancient world for its production of an aromatic balm used medicinally to treat everything from psoriasis, eczema, and sunburn to rashes, insect bites, and chapped skin. (Here’s a quick article from the Biblical Archeological Society.)
In Jeremiah 8 the prophet will famously wail, “Is there no balm in Gilead? / Is there no physician there? / Why then is there no healing / for the wound of my people?”
And of course, there’s the old campfire song “A Balm in Gilead”—though I found this recording which, admittedly, sounds a little different than when we sang it at church camp:
For all these reasons, I chose to lean in to the metaphor and use “Balm” for the Yahweh-specific term in the title of this episode.
LISTEN
This one was a lot of work, and I hope it blesses you. It certainly blessed me.
LISTEN ON: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | AUDIBLE | WEB
3 Cool Things
Bikes, Man - Even though it was 1989 when I was 10, these photos of kids jumping their bikes in the 70s hit hard. This is what we did all day everyday. Are kids still obsessed with making ramps and jumping their bikes? If not, what do they spend all their doctor money on??
This one, by the way, bears an uncanny resemblance to Justin in 1989:
But I like to think the amount of air I got was more like this:
K-Pop Demon Hunters - Okay, here’s the deal: I watched this with my two teenage daughters because we thought it’d be a funny thing to do together. But—and I assure you I’m not joking—it was great.
For real. Funny, well-written, a solid story arc, and I’d be shocked if somebody involved in its creation isn’t a Christian. The themes and metaphors are kind of Entirely Gospel. I’m telling you, I was flabbergasted.
Dare you to watch it, even without teenage daughters.
90 Minutes on Writing and Rivers - As any faithful reader of The Latest will know, Robert Macfarlane is one of my absolute favorite living authors. I love both nature and words, so reading one of his books is sitting down to a feast. He’s one of those rare people, though, who isn’t just a profoundly gifted written communicator; he’s unbelievably articulate in casual conversation. I just find myself shaking my head as I listen to him talk.
No surprise, then, that I loved this conversation:
That’s the latest! I hope “The Balm, the Negotiator, and the Casualty” leads you into the presence of the God who loves you.
Gratefully,
Justin
This post is chock full of some of my favorite corners of culture! And it's about my least favorite Bible story. But also maybe a favorite? I've always felt a deep connection to Jepthah's daughter. But maybe that's because I was a moody little girl. :)