# VII: Jephthah explained — The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane

> Chapter companion for The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane by Mark Rutherford.

## What happens

The Reverend Thomas Bradshaw delivers a powerful sermon on the story of Jephthah's daughter, emphasizing God's election to suffering and sacrifice. After the service, Major Maitland is deeply moved, while Zachariah Coleman wishes the sermon had focused more on the New Testament gospel. Mrs. Coleman (Jane) briefly interacts with a friend about a tea-meeting, and the Major declines an invitation to stay, preferring to walk home alone.

## Themes in this chapter

### Religion and Hypocrisy

Bradshaw's sermon challenges comfortable religiosity, insisting that true election leads to suffering and sacrifice, not ease.

### Suffering and Resilience

The sermon centers on Jephthah's agony and the necessity of personal sacrifice, resonating with the Major's hidden pain.

### The Futility of Idealism

Zachariah's desire for a simpler gospel message is overshadowed by Bradshaw's harsh, demanding theology, and the Major's emotional response suggests idealism's limits.

## Character check-ins

### Reverend Thomas Bradshaw

Preaches a dramatic sermon on Jephthah, emphasizing election to suffering and sacrifice; a commanding figure with a republican bent.

### Major Maitland

Deeply moved by Bradshaw's sermon, admits it touched a tender place he thought healed; declines to stay for supper.

### Zachariah Coleman

Wishes the sermon had been based on the New Testament; feels unsupported by his wife in his efforts to guide friends to truth.

### Mrs. Coleman

Stays behind to speak about a Sunday-school tea-meeting; walks home between the Major and Zachariah, asking the Major how he enjoyed the service.

## Key lines

> He elected him to that tremendous oath and that tremendous penalty. He elected him to the agony he endured while she was away upon the hills! That is God’s election; an election to the cross and to the cry, ‘Eli, Eli, lama Sabachthani.’

Bradshaw argues that God's choice of Jephthah was not for a comfortable life but for the pain of his vow and the loss of his daughter, mirroring Christ's crucifixion.

_Bradshaw's central thesis: divine election is a call to suffering, not ease._

> I could have wished, as you are not often in chapel, that his sermon had been founded on some passage in the New Testament which would have given him the opportunity of more simply expounding the gospel of Christ.

Zachariah wishes the sermon had used a New Testament text to present the gospel more plainly, especially for the Major's benefit.

_Zachariah's discomfort with Bradshaw's Old Testament focus and his desire for a clearer gospel message._

> He touched me, Coleman, he did. I thought, between you and me, I had not now got such a tender place; I thought it was all healed over long ago.

The Major admits the sermon stirred an old emotional wound he believed had healed.

_The Major's vulnerability and the sermon's personal impact on him._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_revolution_in_tanner_s_lane_se/chapters/vii-jephthah
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_revolution_in_tanner_s_lane_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_revolution_in_tanner_s_lane_se/chapters