Daughter

I was going to start out by saying that doing a study of the word "daughter" in the Bible is really interesting, but then I realized that I'm in no position to talk, because have I really looked up all 327 times in the Bible where it uses the word daughter? Uh, no. A lot of the mentions are really generic ones "who was the daughter of some guy out of Bethel, etc." but there are many cool times where it references daughter. A lot of times the daughter in question was an actual biological daughter (Jephthah, for instance, cried about his daughter), but often it's almost like a term of endearment.

Like all those cool verses in Zechariah (and other places in the Bible, I just happen to fancy the ones from Zechariah) about the Daughter of Zion. Maybe it's just because of that song Todd Agnew did based off those verses (it used to give me shivers, no joke), but I love the imagery. "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem." Good stuff.

But I got on this little tangent because I was thinking of those times in Ruth when Naomi called Ruth her daughter. I know, I know, she pretty much was, that whole in-law thing, but when you read the book of Ruth, the term "daughter" comes off as a caress. A small word that shows how much love and care Naomi had for Ruth. "Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall."

Maybe it's because it's one of those stories we romanticize, so maybe there's nothing cool about Naomi called Ruth her daughter, but it has always charmed me. Of course, Boaz called Ruth daughter, too. That's a whole different ball of wax.

Well. This was random.

Judging errors

OK, who among us understands the story of Jephthah? And I’m not talking about the vow situation and the thing with his daughter, but I’m talking about how he got to where he did. Namely, a judge.

So his brothers hated him because his mom was a disreputable woman. That’s fairly understandable, if you want my personal opinion. So Jephthah, after being thrust out from the familial roof, runs away, gets to be buddy buddy with some vain guys, and that’s all we hear for a while. We have no idea if he had been married before his brothers kicked him out, or maybe after, we have no idea.

What we do know, is that once Ammon starts attacking the brothers back home, all of a sudden they’re like, “Oh hey, remember that clever Jephthah fellow? Let’s invite him back to fight for us!”

How did they know that he was the right one to pick? I mean, they’d most likely ousted him years and years prior to the Ammon debacle, and he was the best they could come up with? Even if he’d been a great sling-shotter back in the day, or maybe he could use his spear like none else, how did they know that he’d still keep those skills? And how could they know that he wouldn’t backstab them in payment of those good old days when they’d ill-treated him? I just don’t understand how they thought it was a smart thing to do, calling Jephthah to help them.

No wonder things were so crazy in Israel in those days. I mean, that is just not a smart thing to do. If this is what’s classified as “right in their own eyes” then I seriously question the judgment of any of those fellows.

No wonder they thought they needed a king!