Judges 11:32-40

Jephthah Victory Judges 11:32-40

32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon,
37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

15.

Where is Minnith? Judges 11:33

After Jephthah had beaten the Ammonites he chased them from Aroer a spot east of the Dead Sea all the way to this point which was east of the Jordan River. Mention is made in ancient writings of Mannith which was located as being situated four miles from Heshbon on the road to Philadelphia, which is the modern Amman. The spot identified as the plain of the vineyards has also on occasion been transliterated under the name Abel-chermain. This spot is mentioned as being seven miles from modern Amman, and generally thought of as being in the same direction. Minnith is mentioned in Ezekiel 27:17 as one of the places which traded in the wheat market of Judah with Tyre. The implication of the mentioning of these spots is that Jephthah drove the Ammonites out of all the land across the Jordan.

16.

Why did Jephthah say his daughter had brought him very low? Judges 11:35

Jephthah had vowed to give the Lord the first object belonging to him as soon as he got back to his home. If he did sacrifice his daughter, the fact that he performed such a dastardly deed is reason enough for his saying that he had been brought very low. On the other hand, if he simply dedicated her to perpetual service around the Tabernacle, she would leave him without heirs. She would live a life of perpetual celibacy; and Jephthah, himself, would have no namesake since she was his only child. In any event, he was brought very low.

17.

Why did Jephthah's daughter want to be alone for two months? Judges 11:37

If the daughter had devoted herself to death, it is next to incredible that she should have asked to spend the last two months of life granted to her, not with her brokenhearted father, but in the mountains with her companions. She bewails not her maiden age but her maidenhood. She does not bewail that she dies so young, but that she is to live unmarried. It is also impossible to understand why continued repetition should be made of the fact that she knew no man if she were sacrificed. If she continued to live a life of perpetual celibacy such as the women who served around the Tabernacle in the days of Eli (1 Samuel 2:22, cf. Exodus 38:8), it would be pertinent to mention that she knew no man.

18.

Why did the daughters of Israel assemble yearly in honor of Jephthah's daughter? Judges 11:40

The King James Version gives a translation which indicates that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah four days each year. The American Standard Version says they went to celebrate. Brown, Driver, and Briggs in the Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament define the original word as coming from tanah, which means to recount or rehearse as is indicated in Judges 5:11, where the word also appears, In Young's Analytical Concordance the word is found with the meaning of praise, It is not at all necessary to picture the women of Israel lamenting a person who was offered as a burnt offering. They may as well have gone up to praise her or to meet in celebration of her unselfish yielding to her father's vow.