Mourning with the daughters of Israel

“So there arose an Israelite custom that for four days every year the daughters of Israel would go out to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.” Judges 11:39b-40

In the Bible in the book of Judges there is a story of a man named Jephthah, who in his rashness makes a vow to God, a vow that God never asked him to make, which results in the death of his daughter.

We do not know his daughter’s name. According to the Judges 11 and midrash, she was a wise woman. She was a good woman who’s life ended because a person in power made promises without considering how it would affect her and other people in power did nothing to stop him. Her father, who was supposed to care for a protect her, was so deeply caught up in his life and power that he made a decision that ended her life.

And the men around him who could have stood up for her did nothing.

As I read this story, I can’t help but think of the twenty-one people murdered and more injured in Uvalde, Texas five days ago. Nineteen of those murdered were children. Sweet, precious babes with their whole lives ahead of them were murdered when over 300 rounds were fired by an eighteen year old with an assault rifle.

These children had no say in the fight against common sense gun regulation laws that Texas leaders fight. They had no say in the multiple police officers on sight who did not move to save their lives.

Like Jephthah’s daughter they were casualties of those in power who did not protect them but instead actively made decisions that led to the end of their lives.

ss shooters being safely arrested and brown ones being shot. I will not be silent about the racist systems and ideologies that continue to perpetuate viloence.

“So there arose an Israelite custom that for four days every year the daughters of Israel would go out to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.” Judges 11:39b-40

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Even in the men in power did nothing, the women of Israel knew that happened to the unnamed daughter of Jephthah was not OK. They knew it was not in line with the heart of God. Even though they did not have the power to change the systems in which they lived, they would use their voices to make sure that she was never forgotten. They would use their voices to echo the lament of the heart of God when those most vulnerable are not protected by those in power.

Today I join my voices with the daughters of Israel and mourn the senseless murder of the daughter of Jepthah. I mourn the senseless and preventable murder that look place five days ago.

Makenna Lee Elrod, 10

Layla Salar, 11

Maranda Mathis, 11

Nevaeh Bravo, 10

Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10

Xavier Lopez, 10

Tess Marie Mata, 10

Rojelio Torres, 10

Eliahna “Ellie” Amyah Garcia, 9

Eliahna A. Torres, 10

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10

Jackie Cazare, 9

Uziyah, Garcia

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10

Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10

Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10

Irma Garcia, 48

Eva Mireles, 44

Amerie Jo Garza, 10

Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, 10

Alithia Ramirez, 10

In the future I will use my voice to fight for all the children in this country because as of today 24 children have been murdered as a result of school shootings this year alone. I will use my voice to ensure that what happened at a grocery story in Buffalo and at a Taiwanese church in California does not happen again. I will not be silent about the needless murders of so many in my country at the hands of automated rifles and mass shooters. I will not be silent at the disparity between white mass shooters being safely arrested and brown ones being shot. I will not be silent about the racist systems and ideologies that continue to perpetuate violence.

But today, I use my voice to lament because the world is missing nineteen children that should be here because people in power charged to protect them did not.