Mountain/ When My Father Came Back

When my father came back from the war
I knew he would want to see me first
So I ran out to greet him
But he fell to his knees in the dirt

He told me daughter
I have promised God to offer
the first creature that I saw

Father the vow you have made
is one you cannot escape
but first let me go with my sisters
down to the shores of the lake

I lived two months with them
my sisters in the forest
and then I returned back home

The night he took me to the mountain
neither of us spoke
We reached the peak together
just as sunrise broke

I could have run from him
I almost thought he wished it
but I could not run from God

It was the last day of my life
the sun had never shone so bright
My father held the knife
I kept my eyes open wide

Then angels came to me
with faces of my sisters
and they filled my eyes with tears

The heartbreaking story of Bat Yiftach, Jephthah’s daughter, from the book of Judges, chapter 11. Bat Yiftach is a parallel story to the Akeidah, the sacrifice of Isaac. Except in this case the father goes through with the act. Scholars debate whether it was a literal sacrifice or an offering-up of his daughter as a nun. The tears in her eyes are taken from a midrash about Isaac. I figured she could use some too.