Here at the outset of Lent, we continue with the story of the daughter of Jephthah. If you are joining us for the first time, welcome; you can find the beginning of the thread at A Season of Spiraling.
Thursday
I immediately started sputtering plans for flight, for escape, but Miriam quickly silenced me and told me that she had asked Jephthah to let her have two months in the mountains with her friends to “bewail her virginity.” I almost laughed in spite of my horror. I had never heard Miriam bewail much of anything, much less her virginity. Oh, she was admired by many young men in the town, and many mothers and fathers longed to have the daughter of the great Jephthah in their family, but she had laughed at the thought of submitting her independence to the control of another. And she was all too aware of the dangers of childbirth. She had no desire to tempt the same demons that had attended her mother’s birthing of her. But two months in the mountains . . . it was a brilliant idea. I figured she had something planned, and this would buy us some time.
We parted company quickly—she going to visit some of our companions, and I to tell the others of what had happened. It was a blur. I didn’t sleep that night, and just before dawn I slipped out of the house to meet the others. We gathered quietly, each carrying a pack with supplies for the two-month journey. Miriam’s house was quiet. A few servants peeked out, but Jephthah was nowhere to be seen.
So we left, Miriam and her closest companions. Thirteen women who had known one another since childhood, who had shared our daily lives with one another in the town of Mizpah. We left, not quite knowing what had happened or what to expect in the days to come.
Questions for reflection
If you were taking a final journey with your closest friends, where would you go? Who or what would you take with you?
From Sacred Journeys © Jan Richardson
