XI. 1-3. Expulsion of Jephthah from his home. Judges 11:4. The Gileadites offer him the headship of their tribe if he will lead them in war. Judges 11:12. His embassy to the Ammonites. 13. Their untenable claims refuted. Judges 11:14, by Jephthah on historical and legal grounds. Judges 11:28. Their... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SON OF AN HARLOT. — The words are so rendered in all the versions, and can hardly have any other meaning. If an inferior wife had been meant, the word used would not have been _zonah,_ but _pilgesh,_ as in Judges 8:31. The word may, however, be used in the harsh sense of the brethren of Jephthah... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THRUST OUT JEPHTHAH. — This was in perfect accordance with the law (Deuteronomy 23:2), and with family rules and traditions. Abraham had sent the son of Hagar and the sons of Keturah to found other settlements (Genesis 21:10; Genesis 25:6).... [ Continue Reading ]
DWELT IN THE LAND OF TOB. — A Syrian district on the north-east of Peræa (2 Samuel 10:6). It is referred to in 1Ma. 5:13; 2Ma. 12:17. The name means “good,” but lends no sanction to the idle allegories which have been based upon it. VAIN MEN. — Judges 9:4. WENT OUT WITH HIM. — Jephthah simply beca... [ Continue Reading ]
IN PROCESS OF TIME. — Marg., _after days,_ implying the time between Jephthah’s expulsion in early youth and his mature manhood. THE CHILDREN OF AMMON MADE WAR. — The fact that this is introduced as a new circumstance, though it has been fully related in Judges 10:8; Judges 10:17, probably arises f... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE CHILDREN OF AMMON MADE WAR. — The allusion is to some special threat of invasion (_acriter instantibus,_ Vulg.) at the close of the eighteen years of oppression (Judges 10:9). TO FETCH JEPHTHAH. — Because by this time he had made himself a great name as a brave and successful chieftain of... [ Continue Reading ]
OUR CAPTAIN. — The word used is _katzin_ (Joshua 10:24; Isaiah 1:10; Isaiah 22:3), which is specially a leader in time of war; but Jephthah demands something more — namely, to be their “head” (_rosh_) in time of peace also.... [ Continue Reading ]
DID NOT YE HATE ME? — The elders of Gilead must at least have permitted his expulsion by his brethren. THEREFORE. — i.e., with the express desire to repair the old wrong.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL I BE YOUR HEAD? — We must not be surprised if Jephthah does not display a disinterested patriotism. He was only half an Israelite; he had been wronged by his father’s kin; he had spent long years of his manhood among heathens and outlaws, who gained their livelihood by brigandage or mercenary... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD BE WITNESS. — Rather, _be hearing_ (_Dominus, qui haec audit ipse Mediator ac testis sit,_ Vulg.).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE MADE HIM HEAD AND CAPTAIN. — The people ratified the promise of the elders, and solemnly inaugurated him as both the civil and military leader of the Trans-jordanic tribes. UTTERED ALL HIS WORDS. — It probably means that he took some oath as to the condition of his government. BEFORE THE... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT HAST THOU TO DO WITH ME? — Literally, _What to me and to thee?_ (Joshua 22:24; 2 Samuel 16:10, &c.). Jephthah speaks in the name of Israel, as an acknowledged prince. His message resembles the preliminary negotiations of the Roman generals when they sent the Fetiales to proclaim the justice of... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE ISRAEL TOOK AWAY MY LAND. — This was a very plausible plea, but was not in accordance with facts. The Israelites had been distinctly forbidden to war against the Moabites and Ammonites (Deuteronomy 2:9; Deuteronomy 2:19); but when Sibon, king of the Amorites, had refused them permission to p... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JEPHTHAH SENT MESSENGERS AGAIN. — Jephthah disputes the king of Amnion’s facts, and supports his denial of them by an historic retrospect (Judges 11:16).... [ Continue Reading ]
TOOK NOT AWAY THE LAND OF MOAB... — What they took was the territory of Sihon, which they had never been forbidden to take, and had indeed been forced to take by Sihon’s attack on them. It was not likely that they could enter into discussion as ‘to the _previous_ owners of the land.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN ISRAEL CAME UP FROM EGYPT. — Compare with this narrative Numbers 20:21. WALKED THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. — In the second year of the wanderings (Deuteronomy 1:19). UNTO THE RED SEA. — Numbers 14:25. The name for this sea in the Old Testament is _Yam sooph, “_the sea of weeds.” They reached Kade... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE KING OF EDOM. — As narrated in Numbers 20:14, _seq._ Even if Jephthah had no written documents before him to which he could refer, the events which he recounts were not so distant as to have been forgotten. UNTO THE KING OF MOAB. — This is not recorded in the Pentateuch, but the Israelites... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO SIHON. — Numbers 21:21; Deuteronomy 2:26 (where see the Commentary). THE KING OF HESHBON. — He was king of the Aniorites by birth, but king of Heshbon only by conquest. The town was assigned to Reuben (Numbers 32:37). INTO MY PLACE. — The conquest of the territories of Reuben, Gad, and half-M... [ Continue Reading ]
TRUSTED NOT ISRAEL. — Sihon did not believe their promise to pass peacefully through his land. PITCHED IN JAHAZ. — Numbers 21:33; Isaiah 15:4; Jeremiah 48:3. The site of the battle has not been ascertained.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL. — This is evidently a cardinal point in the mind of Jephthah. The God of Israel has decided against the gods of Ammon. ALL THE LAND OF THE AMORITES. — All the land, therefore, which they took from the Amorites was theirs by. the immemorial law of nations, irrespective of any... [ Continue Reading ]
SHOULDEST THOU POSSESS IT? — Is it likely that Israel would fight battles solely to benefit Ammon and Moab?... [ Continue Reading ]
CHEMOSH THY GOD. — The expression shows the close connection between Ammon and Moab. Chemosh was distinctively the god of Moab, and Moloch of Ammon; but the two nations were of kindred blood and allied institutions (Judges 3:12). The name Chemosh means “subduer,” and there is here, perhaps, a tacit... [ Continue Reading ]
ART THOU ANYTHING BETTER THAN BALAK? — Literally, _Are you the good, good in comparison with?_ It is one of the Hebrew ways of expressing the superlative. Jephthah here argues from prescriptive right, which even the contemporary king Balak had not ventured to challenge, showing, therefore, that he a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILE ISRAEL DWELT IN HESHBON. — See Numbers 21:25. This is an argument from undisputed possession. IN AROER AND HER TOWNS. — These had been assigned to the tribe of Gad (Numbers 32:34). IN ALL THE CITIES THAT BE ALONG BY THE COAST OF ARNON. — The LXX. read Jordan. THREE HUNDRED YEARS. — There is... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD THE JUDGE BE JUDGE THIS DAY. — An appeal to the arbitrament of Jehovah to decide on the justice of an appeal to arms. (Comp. Genesis 16:5; Genesis 31:53; Genesis 18:25; 1 Samuel 24:15.) These verses contain a deeply interesting specimen of what may be called ancient diplomacy, and very powe... [ Continue Reading ]
HEARKENED NOT. — We are not told of any counter-arguments. Probably the king of Ammon cared only for the argument of the sword — “The good old rule Contented him, the simple plan That they should get who have the power, And they should keep who can.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME UPON JEPHTHAH. — A weaker expression is used than that which is applied to Gideon in Judges 6:34. It implies, as R. Tanchum rightly says, that he was endowed with the courage and wisdom without which success would have been impossible. The phrase no more involves a comple... [ Continue Reading ]
JEPHTHAH VOWED A VOW. — This was a practice among all ancient nations, but specially among the Jews (Genesis 28:20; 1 Samuel 1:11; 2 Samuel 15:8; Psalms 66:13).... [ Continue Reading ]
WHATSOEVER COMETH FORTH. — The true rendering undoubtedly is, _Whosoever cometh forth_ (LXX., ὁ ἐκπορευόμενος; Vulg., _quicunque_). Nothing can be clearer than that the view held of this passage, from early Jewish days down to the Middle Ages, and still held by nearly all unbiased commentators, is t... [ Continue Reading ]
SO. — Rather, _And._ The clause does not refer in any way to Jephthah’s vow, but merely resumes the narrative.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO MINNITH. — According to Eusebius and Jerome, this is Maanith, four miles from Heshbon (Ezekiel 27:17). UNTO THE PLAIN OF THE VINEYARDS. — Rather, _unto Abel-ceramim._ The place is either Abela, a few miles beyond Maanith, or another Abela, twelve miles from Gadara (Euseb., Jer.). WERE SUBDUED B... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, HIS DAUGHTER CAME OUT TO MEET HIM WITH TIMBRELS AND WITH DANCES. — As Miriam went to meet Moses (Exodus 15:20), and the women to meet Saul and David (1 Samuel 18:6). HIS ONLY CHILD. — This is added because the narrator feels the full pathos of the story. (Comp. Genesis 22:2; Jeremiah 6:26; L... [ Continue Reading ]
HE RENT HIS CLOTHES. — Comp. Joshua 7:6. By one of the curious survivals which preserve customs for centuries after the meaning is gone out of them, every Jew on approaching to Jerusalem for the first time has to submit to the _krie_ — _i.e.,_ to a cut made in his sleeve, as a sort of symbol of rend... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHE SAID UNTO HIM. — To explain this the LXX. add the words, “I have opened my mouth to the Lord _against_ or _concerning_ thee.” There is, however, no need for the addition. His words would fatally explain themselves, even if he added nothing more. IF THOU HAST OPENED THY MOUTH UNTO THE LORD.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET ME ALONE TWO MONTHS. — There was nothing which forbade this postponement for a definite purpose and period of the fulfilment of the vow. For the phrase “let me alone,” see Deuteronomy 9:14; 1 Samuel 11:3. AND BEWAIL MY VIRGINITY. — The thought which was so grievous to the Hebrew maiden was not... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO DID WITH HER ACCORDING TO HIS VOW. — In this significant euphemism the narrator drops the veil — as though with a shudder — over the terrible sacrifice. Of course, “did with her according to his vow” can only mean _“_offered her up for a burnt offering” (Judges 11:31). “Some,” says Luther, “affi... [ Continue Reading ]
TO LAMENT. — Rabbi Tanchum makes it mean “to praise,” or “celebrate.” The feelings of the Israelites towards Jephthah’s daughter would be much the same as that of the Romans towards Claelia, and of other nations towards heroines whose self-sacrifice has helped them to victory.... [ Continue Reading ]