Judges 11:35

_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._ I have opened my mouth, х_ PAATSIYTIY_ (H6475)] - the verb used for the utterance of rash, hasty, and foolish words (cf. Job 35:16; Psalms 66:13); and it is perfectly evident that the daughter had no knowledge of what her father had bound himself by solemn obligation to do, until he informed her; and when, on the startling information being communicated, that her own fate was involved in his vow, does it seem wonderful that, under the mental agitation the intelligence must have produced, she requested that the performa

29-40 Several important lessons are to be learned from Jephthah's vow. 1. There may be remainders of distrust and doubting, even in the hearts of true and great believers. 2. Our vows to God should not be as a purchase of the favour we desire, but to express gratitude to him. 3. We need to be very well-advised in making vows, lest we entangle ourselves. 4. What we have solemnly vowed to God, we must perform, if it be possible and lawful, though it be difficult and grievous to us. 5. It well becomes children, obediently and cheerfully to submit to their parents in the Lord. It is hard to say what Jephthah did in performance of his vow; but it is thought that he did not offer his daughter as a burnt-offering. Such a sacrifice would have been an abomination to the Lord; it is supposed she was obliged to remain unmarried, and apart from her family. Concerning this and some other such passag...

Verse Judges 11:35. _THOU HAST BROUGHT ME VERY LOW_] He was greatly distressed to think that his daughter, who was his only child, should be, in consequence of his vow, prevented from continuing his family in Israel; for it is evident that he had not any other child, for _besides her_, says the text, _he had neither son nor_ _daughter_, Judges 11:34. He might, therefore, well be grieved that thus his family was to become extinct in Israel....

Jephthah was right in not being deterred from keeping his vow by the loss and sorrow to himself (compare the marginal references), just as Abraham was right in not withholding his son, his only son, from God, when commanded to offer him up as a burnt-offering. But Jephthah was wholly wrong in that conception of the character of God which led to his making the rash vow. And he would have done right not to slay his child, though the guilt of making and of breaking such a vow would have remained. Josephus well characterizes the sacrifice as “neither sanctioned by the Mosaic law, nor acceptable to God.”...

EXPOSITION JUDGES 11:29 THEN THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME UPON JEPHTHAH, as upon Othniel, upon Gideon, and upon Samson (Judges 3:16; Judges 6:34; Judges 13:25; Judges 14:19; Judges 15:14). HE PASSED OVER, _i.e._ he went all through, GILEAD, AND MANASSEH,—for the purpose, no doubt, of collecting forces,—AND PASSED OVER MIZPEH. It should be to _Mizpeh. _Mizpeh was t

AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN HE SAW HER,.... She being the first person that presented to his view, as she was at the head of the virgins with their timbrels and dances: THAT HE RENT HIS CLOTHES; as was the usual manner, when anything calamitous and distressing happened; see Genesis 37:34 AND SAID, ALAS, MY DAUGHTER, THOU HAST BROUGHT ME VERY LOW; damped his spirits, sunk him very low, so that he was ready to drop into the earth, as we say; he that was now returning in triumph, amidst the acclamations of the people, in the height of his glory, and extolled to the skies, and perhaps elated in his own mind; on a sudden, at the sight of his daughter, was so depressed in his spirits, that he could not bear up; but was ready to sink and die away, all his honour being as it were laid in the dust, and nothing to him: and thou art one of them tha

CHAPTER 11 JEPHTHAH AND THE AMMONITES _ 1. Jephthah's covenant (Judges 11:1)_ 2. The messages to Ammon (Judges 11:12) 3. Jephthah's vow and victory (Judges 11:29) 4. Jephthah keeps his vow (Judges 11:34) Jephthah the judge who delivered Israel from the servitude of Ammon was the offspring of an unholy union “the son of an harlot.” Then he became an outcast and had to flee from his brethren. He dwelt in the land of Tob (goodness) and vain, or worthless, men gathered unto him. Yet he was a mighty man of valor. He was therefore an humble instrument, despised and rejected by his own. But finally thos

OPENED MY MOUTH. Hebraism for making. formal, prepared, and solemn statement....

_thou hast brought me very low_ THOU HAST STRUCK ME DOWN UTTERLY: the same verb as in Judges 5:27 (_he bowed_). _thou art one of them that trouble me_ The first pron. is emphatic; -thou, my beloved, dost appear in the character of my worst enemy." For the Hebr. idiom (_beth essentiae_) see Psalms 54:4 [Hebrews 6], Psalms 118:7. _Trouble_is a feeble equivalent for the strong word in the original, which occurs only under circumstances which arouse unusual passion; see Genesis 34:30;...

_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