Writing Controversy
My latest work, Valor, is based in part
on the much-debated, controversial text from Judges 11:30-40,
concerning Jephthah and his courageous daughter. Their story stirred
my imagination from the first time I read it as an eight-year-old. I
remember staring at the page in my Children’s Bible, greatly
distressed and seriously resenting that particular story’s ending.
Why had that girl’s father made such a rotten vow? Why had she
agreed to fulfill her father’s vow—couldn’t she have run away?
(No, I was never tempted to run away from home when I was a child,
just sayin’.) But I wished I could change the ending for her.
Fast-forward decades later.
Last year, while I was writing Queen
(inspired by Esther and other scriptures set in a fantasy realm) it
occurred to me that the Agocii lands were an almost ideal place to
present the story of Jephthah and his daughter. Much as Israel during
the time of Judges—when there was no king, but each person did what
was right in his own eyes, when pagan beliefs and customs surrounded
those who followed the Lord, and when wars and conflicts presented
themselves at every turn—the Agocii reflected spiritual and social
turmoil similar to Israel’s during the time Judges. It seemed a
perfect place to present Jephthah’s story.
I chose the warrior Vsevold from Queen
as my fantasy-realm Jephthah, and with Aniya’s name chosen for his
daughter by a friend, I turned my attention to researching the verses
which had distressed me when I was a child. Almost immediately, I
found numerous web sites citing the debate over Jephthah’s story.
The original Hebrew of the text is a marvelous multilayered and
versatile language, which often conveys multiple meanings. In
Jephthah’s case, this meant that his story, and mine, had two
potential and equally defensible possible endings. First, as the most
basic and straightforward translations suggest, Jephthah could have
actually sacrificed his daughter as he vowed. Or, according to the
nuances of some of the Hebrew words in those verses, Jephthah might
have dedicated her to the Lord—to serve the Lord’s House, some of
the debaters insisted, to live the remainder of her life unmarried
and a virgin. The dedication theory also sets aside any quandaries
concerning Jephthah’s hero-status mentioned in Hebrews 11, placing
Jephthah in the company of Gideon, Barak and Samson.
Could Jephthah’s daughter have
survived the threat of sacrifice? I certainly hoped so. Whatever
happened, I knew above all that the Lord abhorred human sacrifice,
and this must play out strongly in Valor. I dug through the debates
and accompanying commentaries, and found several mentions from
different sources that the “dedication” theory had first been
presented in the early middle ages when it was common for women to
become nuns, never marrying in order to serve the Lord. While that
gave me pause during research, I still found merit in both sides of
the debate.
After reading all the debates, looking
up the Hebrew root words, and studying the circumstances surrounding
the book of Judges, I had to make a decision. My main hesitations
were:
1. Deuteronomy
23:3. (An illegitimate man many not enter the assembly of the Lord,
nor many his descendants down to the tenth generation.) Jephthah and
his daughter were considered ceremonially unclean due to the
unfortunate circumstances surrounding his birth, therefore she
couldn’t have served in the Lord’s House as some Dedicated
theorists argued. (Though she could have been isolated for the
remainder of her life, unwed and a virgin.)
2. The apparently late emergence of the
dedication theory.
3. Numbers 30:2. (If a man makes a vow
to the Lord or takes an oath and obligates himself by his own word,
he must not break his word. He must do everything he said.)
Even if that vow displeased the Lord?
This made me hesitate.
Certainly the Lord would never approve
of human sacrifice. Therefore … and yet ….
Being fallible as so many other leaders
from the Scriptures, such as David, Samson, and Abraham, could
Jephthah (within the chaotic framework of his times) have fallen prey
to a rash and desperate vow in an attempt to bargain with the Lord,
when faith in the Lord’s provision for victory would have been
enough?
Could Jephthah have committed a
terrible sin, yet still be regarded as righteous based solely on the
fact that he believed in and followed the Lord?
No matter which way the book might end,
it would not be happy.
After weighing both sides of the
controversy, I wrote Valor, praying through each chapter. Was it
easy? No. Yet I hope you’ll enjoy the story and love the characters
as I do.
Blessings,
R. J.
Giveaway:
Larson is giving away an ebook copy Valor. This giveaway is open internationally.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Main Giveaway: Choice of book is either
Emissary by John Locke, or
To Win Her Heart by Rebecca DeMarino.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
