This is our final week in our four-week worship series on troubling texts from the Bible. We have chosen stories from the Hebrew scripture which are often neglected because of the difficulty of the content. Our hope is to wrestle with these stories and see what meaning may lie hidden beneath the difficult circumstances of the women’s lives that are depicted. This week our worship will focus on the story of Jephthah’s Daughter (Judges 11:29-40).
OUTLINE: Closer Readings of Troubling Texts
A four-week worship series on troubling texts from the Bible.
October 30: Hagar’s Story
Scripture: Genesis 16:1-16; 21:9-21
November 6: Tamar’s Story
Scripture: 2 Samuel 13:1-22
November 13: An Unnamed Woman
Scripture: Judges 19:1-30
November 20: Jephthah’s Daughter
Scripture: Judges 11:29-40
Our Scripture this week tells the story of the unnamed daughter of Jephthah. Read Judges 11:29-40. Feminist biblical scholar Phyllis Trible writes this about Judges 11, “Once before in the traditions of Israel such language occurred with comparable poignancy. On that occasion God spoke to a mighty warrior who had been victorious in battle (Gen. 14:13-24).” “Abraham, . . . take your son, your only one (yehideka), whom you love, Isaac … and offer him as a burnt offering …” (Gen. 22:2; cf. 22:12, 16). That utterance by God began a divine test of faithfulness, but our description by the narrator belongs to a human vow of unfaithfulness about which God has kept silent. Jephthah is not Abraham; distrust, not faith, has singled out his one and only child. Furthermore, the son of promise had a name: Isaac. He also had a respectable family lineage: a mother named Sarai (Gen. 11:29) and a grandfather named Terah (Gen. 11:27). By contrast, the daughter of the mighty warrior Jephthah is nameless.” (Texts of Terror, Kindle Locations 1331-1336).
Matt’s message on the unnamed woman from Judges 19 invited us to wonder how the story from Judges 19 might have been different had someone insisted on learning the name of the unnamed woman. What is the story of your name? Who named you? Why were you given this name? What has your relationship to your name been like? Take time to share your stories and to listen to the stories of a trusted friend.
Here is a prayer for your week.
ONE: Loving God, help us to remember that all people
are made in your image and are worthy of care, love and respect.
When we have ignored the needs of the most vulnerable people;
ALL: Forgive us.
ONE: When we have believed the powerful and disregarded the cries of the voiceless;
ALL: Forgive us.
ONE: We pray for each other, remembering: Those who find themselves in despair today;
ALL: God of grace: Hear our prayer.
ONE: Help us to transform our church into a place of safety, where we can tell our stories; where we can choose to show the scars of wounded bodies, hearts and minds; where there is the possibility of healing and a willingness to stand as pain bearers for one another.
ALL: God who bears all things, help us.
Amen.