An observation while reading, of all things, Judges 11 on my little girl’s birthday. This passage most definitely was not intentionally chosen as reading for such an occassion. It just happened to be where I am in reading through the OT.

In his grief, Jephthah says, “I have opened my mouth to Yahweh and I can’t take it back” (וְאָנֹכִי פָּצִיתִי־פִי אֶל־יְהוָה וְלֹא אוּכַל לָשׁוּב).

Reading this, I was struck by the word used for open (פצה). It isn’t the normal word for open. It occurs before this in Genesis 4 when the ground opens its mouth wide to take in the blood of Abel, in Numbers 16:30 when the ground opens its mouth to swallow up Korah, and in Deuteronomy 11:6 when the ground swallows part of Israel’s camp for disobedience.

Even the wording, then, of Jephthah’s vow is associated with judgment, violence, and corruption as a response to sin. Jephthah’s mouth is the ground that opens wide and swallows up the corrupt. It’s quite an illustration of how sin affects the broader world, not just the individual. Good things get consumed in the overflow of consequences that come from hearts and minds and mouths gone astray.