No time for Jephthah

 "I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets" (Heb 11:32b) 

Well I'm not surprised the author to Hebrews didn't have time to tell about Samson, and - most especially - Jephthah. What on earth were they thinking about even to list them, let alone tell about them?

The author has just mentioned Rahab. Awkward character, what with her technically being a traitor to her own people. Or maybe not so much. Rahab is presumably living on the fringes of her society. Maybe she's seen a way out of her exploitation. She goes on to be the many-greats-grandmother of David. And David and Samuel and Gideon - you could say they show mixed results, because we are all fallible people. But they often did their best. Barak's an interesting choice - a good bloke, but aware of his own limitations. So he let Deborah (whose name never suited her) do the fighting for him, and Jael strike a blow for women's liberation.

But Jephthah? Who would include him in a list of heroes of the faith?

Jephthah, you may remember, was elected to be the wartime judge of Israel. Up to then he had been a vagabond gang-leader. And though he received the Spirit of God, which was the qualification for being a good judge, nevertheless he bargained with God - tried to be an equal - offered to sacrifice the first thing he met when he came home if God gave him the victory. And all the sheep and chickens wisely hid under a hedge when he came back, I presume. So he first met his daughter. And his vow was invalid, and he had a way out of it in the Law. But he sacrificed his daughter anyway. Having first blamed her for the problem. Because his word was his bond. And because he was an idiot.

And yet there he is alongside David and Gideon. An exemplar of faith.

I could conclude that I've misread Judges completely, and killing his daughter as a result of an illegal vow was in fact proof that Jepthah was a selfless and pious man of strong character. In the modern MAGA world, maybe that's arguable. And indeed - some have argued it. Even on a children's Bible website. 

The Daughter of Jephthah - Alexandre Cabanel

Maybe I'm just too post-modern? But I could conclude something else.

I have to conclude that this isn't about Jephthah's rather wild, badly-conceived faith. And it's actually about God's faithfulness. The reason that Hebrews contains a rather mixed bag of heroes of the faith is because being on the list doesn't depend on them. It depends on God. And it was God who was faithful in raising up Rahab to be the ancestor of Jesus. It was God who was faithful in saving his people through the useless Jephthah and the unreliable and not remotely religious Samson. It was God who was faithful in making Jesus the son of David, that adulterer and effectively murderer. It was God who acted through history in preserving his people Israel. And God who is faithful to us.

Which is good news. If God's faithfulness can get even Jephthah into a hall of fame of the faithful, then Jesus's love can do the same for us. God's faithfulness is the light that reflects in our own faith - however dim. And God's faithfulness is true and firm and eternal. Even for Samson. Even for David. Even for us.