_A.M. 2843. B.C. 1161._ The birth of Jephthah, rejected by his brethren, Judges 11:1. The Gileadites choose him for their general, Judges 11:4. His treating with the king of Ammon, Judges 11:12. His war with, and victory over the Ammonites, Judges 11:29. His vow, and the performance of it, Judges 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jephthah the Gileadite_ So called, either from his father Gilead, or from the mountain, or city of Gilead, the place of his birth. _Son of a harlot_ That is, a bastard. And though such were not ordinarily _to enter into the congregation of the Lord, Deuteronomy 23:2_; yet God can dispense with his... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of Tob_ The name either of the land, or of the man who was the owner or ruler of it. This place was in or near Gilead, as appears by the speedy intercourse which there was between Jephthah and the Israelites. _Vain men_ Idle persons, who desired rather to get their living by spoil and rapine, than... [ Continue Reading ]
_The children of Ammon made war against Israel_ The Ammonites had oppressed them eighteen years, and now, when the Israelites begin to make opposition, they commence a war against them. _The elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah_ By direction from God, who both qualified him for, and called him to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Did ye not hate me, and expel me_ And deprive me of all share in my father's goods, which, though a bastard, was due to me? This expulsion of him was the act of his brethren; but he here ascribes it to the elders of Gilead; either because some of his brethren were among these elders, as is very pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore we turn again to thee_ Being sensible we have done thee an injury, we come now to make thee full reparation. _That thou mayest go with us_ They acknowledge that they need his assistance and are humble enough to request it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_If ye bring me home_ If ye recall me from this place where I am now settled to the place whence I was expelled. _Shall I be your head?_ Will you really make good this promise? Jephthah was so solicitous in this case, either from his zeal for the public good, which required that he should be so; or... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord be witness The Lord be a hearer;_ so the Hebrew word is. Whatever we speak, it concerns us to remember that God is a hearer! _The people made him head_, &c. They confirmed in full assembly, by unanimous consent, what the elders, who had been sent to him, had promised. _Jephthah uttered all... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jephthah sent messengers_ That is, ambassadors, to prevent bloodshed, that so the Israelites might be acquitted before God and men from all the sad consequences of the war; and herein he showed great prudence, and no less piety. _What hast thou to do with me_, &c. What reasonable cause hast thou fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because Israel took away my land_ The land was not theirs when the Israelites conquered it, but the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites. For as to the country of the Ammonites, God expressly charged the children of Israel not to meddle with it, Deuteronomy 2:19. It is true, this land, which they no... [ Continue Reading ]
_Unto the Red sea_ Unto which they came three times; once, Exodus 13:18; again, a little after their passage over it; and a third time, long after, when they came to Ezion-geber, which was upon the shore of the Red sea, from whence they went to Kadesh; of this time he speaks here. _In the like manne... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let us pass through thy land unto my place_ That is, unto the land of Canaan, which the Lord hath given me. _But Sihon fought against Israel_ He not only refused, after the example of his neighbours, to grant the Israelites a passage through his country, which they could not insist upon as their ab... [ Continue Reading ]
_So now the Lord_, &c. God, the sovereign Lord of all lands, hath given us this land; this he adds, as a further and convincing reason; because otherwise it might have been alleged against the former argument, that they could gain no more right to that land from Sihon, than Sihon himself had. _And s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wilt not thou possess_, &c. He does not call Chemosh a god; but only argues from the opinion that they had of him, which was such as all nations entertained of their gods, namely, that they owed their conquests to them: to whom, therefore, they gave thanks for all their victories. The Ammonites and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Art thou any thing better than Balak?_ Art thou wiser than he? Or hast thou more right than he had? This is a third argument, that though Balak plotted against Israel, in defence of his own land, which he feared they would invade and conquer, yet he never contended with them about the restitution o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Three hundred years_ Not precisely, but about that time, either from their coming out of Egypt, or from their first conquest of those lands. Here he pleads prescription, which by all men is reckoned a just title, and it is fit it should be so, for the good of the world; because otherwise a door wou... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore I have not sinned_ I have done thee no wrong. _The Lord, the Judge, be judge_ Let him determine this controversy by the success of this day and war. The meaning is, that if they were not moved by these reasons, but the controversy must be decided by arms, he committed his cause to God, th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah_ The people had chosen him for their leader, and promised to continue him their chief governor, as they had already made him; and now God publicly declares his approbation of their choice; and appoints him their judge, as he had others before, (Judges 3:10,)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt- offering_ Dr. Waterland translates it, _shall be consecrated to the Lord_, or, _I will offer it_, &c. “It is very evident,” says Dr. Dodd, “that this translation of Dr. Waterland must be right, because it was impossible that Jephthah s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Till thou come to Minnith_ A place not far from Rabbah, the chief city of the Ammonites. _The children of Ammon were subdued before Israel_ It does not appear that Jephthah offered to take possession of their country. Though the attempt of others to wrong us will justify us in the defence of our ow... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold his daughter came out to meet him_ In concert with other virgins, as the manner was. _Alas, my daughter! thou art one of them that trouble me_ Before this I was troubled by my brethren, and since by the Ammonites, and now most of all, though but occasionally, by thee. _I have opened my mouth... [ Continue Reading ]
_Do to me according_, &c. Do not for my sake make thyself a transgressor; I freely give my consent to thy vow. _Forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance_, &c. What a generous, noble, and pious answer is this of this virgin! It expresses such a noble love for her country, such true piety and filial... [ Continue Reading ]
_That I may go up and down upon the mountains_ Which she chose as a solitary place, and therefore fittest for lamentation. _Bewail_ That I shall die childless, which was esteemed both a curse and a disgrace for the Israelites, because such were excluded from that great privilege of increasing the ho... [ Continue Reading ]
_Did with her_ That Jephthah's daughter was not sacrificed, but only devoted to perpetual virginity, appears, 1st, From Judges 11:37, where we read that she bewailed, not her death, which had been the chief cause of lamentation, if that had been vowed, but _her virginity;_ 2d, From this verse, where... [ Continue Reading ]
_The daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah_ The Hebrew word לתנות, _lethannoth_, here rendered, _to lament_, occurs nowhere else in Scripture, but Judges 5:11, where it is rendered _rehearse_, or _celebrate_, namely, _There shall they rehearse_, says Deborah, _the righte... [ Continue Reading ]