Jephthahs Daughter
If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
— Deuteronomy 23:21-23
Are our vows sacred? Are we hasty with our lips? One should not be caught up in a snare…do we dare trust our tongue to promises? Is the fruit of our womb deemed precious such that we ponder our words so we do not bruise the fruit?
— the poet
Jephthah’s Daughter
Leave me alone so that I may weep with my friends.
For two months I will proclaim, “I will never marry.”
My father in victory leads. God avenged his enemies.
But Jephthah made a vow, that after a victorious return
whatever comes out of the door of his house will burn
as an offering to the Lord. Oaths made were kept.
So I will not quarrel with him or say, “How could you?”
I came out to meet him, dancing and with tambourines.
He tarried not in telling me of his misery and vow.
This unmarried virgin merely asked for time to grieve,
for God of all gave the Ammonites into my father’s hands.
Each year the daughters of Israel commemorate
the virgin who was left alone to weep with her friends.
11/20/2021
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