I was wondering recently, if there is any connection between the stories of Jephthah and Jairus. Jephthah from the time of the Judges, a time of harshness, depravity , and brutality. And Jairus from the synoptic gospels of the New Testament, in the post-exilic era, in Roman occupied Judea, a prominent man, the ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter, his only daughter, falls ill and dies.
As I meditate on these stories, I sense a similar heart cry between Jephthah and Jairus. I wondered if there was a connection?
Turns out there is a subtle theological connection between the two: Jesus was in Gilead at the time, at the same place this had taken place almost a thousand years earlier.
He had just healed the Gerasenes demoniac, casting the Legion of demons out of the man, and sent him back to his own community. On his way to meet Jairus he encounters the woman with the issue of blood, who reaches out to touch the Hem of his garments that she may be healed. Then Jesus goes to the house of Jairus who's only daughter has died
Jesus says, "she is not dead but only sleeping. Talitha cum, little girl I say to you arise." In a way the story of Jairus's daughter serves as a tikkun, a fixing, a rectification, a Divine reversal of an Old Testament story gone terribly wrong.
It makes me think that there is hope for these disenfranchised daughters, women who suffer at the hands of irresponsible men.
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