Judges 11:39

_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,_ She returned unto her father who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed But how or SHE RETURNED UNTO HER FATHER, WHO DID WITH HER ACCORDING TO HIS VOW WHICH HE HAD VOWED. But how or what did he do with her? Certainly he did not offer her in sacrifice. The immolation of a human victim had never been made by any Israelite who was a worshipper of the true God; and supposing the case of Jephthah was an exception, the offering of his daughter must either have been made at Shiloh, where the tabernacle, the only appointed place of sacrifice, was established, or at some place east of Jordan. But the sacrifice could not have been offered at Shiloh, not only because Jephthah was not likely to...

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 11:39. _AND SHE KNEW NO MAN_] She continued a _virgin_ all the days of her life....

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 AT THE END OF TWO MONTHS SHE RETURNED TO HER FATHER,.... For the request she made was not a pretence to make her escape out of his hands; but having done what she proposed to do, and the time fixed for it being come, she returned to her father's house, and delivered herself to him: WHO DID WITH HER ACCORDING TO HIS VOW WHICH HE HAD VOWED: but what he did is a question, and which is not easily resolved; some think he really sacrificed her, through a mistaken sense of Leviticus 27:29 and which his action are accounted for through his living a military life, and in a distant part of the country, and at a time when idolatry had greatly prevailed in Israel, and to such a degree as it had not before, and no doubt that branch of it, sacrificing children to Molech; and Jephthah might think that though that was sinful, yet such a sacrifice might be accepta

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

DID WITH HER ACCORDING TO HIS VOW WHICH HE HAD VOWED. He did not offer her as. burnt offering; for Jehovah could not accept _th_. _t_. Therefore Jephthah must have _dedicated_ her to the LORD by. perpetual virginity. Such. vow was provided for in Leviticus 27. See note on Judges 11:31. AND SHE KNEW NO MAN. This is conclusive. It has nothing to do with. sacrificial death, but it has to do with. dedicated life to Jehovah. Thus was Jephthah's vow fulfilled. AND IT WAS. and it became....

_who did with her according to his vow_ The language is marked by a fine reserve, but the plain sense of it is that Jephthah offered the tragic sacrifice. Early Jewish interpretation took it to mean this; Talm. _Ta-anith_4 a (where the sacrifice is compared with that of Isaac and of Mesha's son); Midrash _Bereshith Rab._§ 60; Jos., _Ant._Judges 11:7; Judges 11:10. The same view was adopted by the Christian Fathers and Church writers (e.g. St Augustine, _Opera_, t. iii. 812 -procul dubio nihil aliud quam hominem cogitabit"; St Ambrose, _Op._t. ii. 177, 178 and 281, 282; St Chrysostom, _Op._t. ii. 147). In the Middle Ages, however, the natural meaning of the words was explained away, first by the Jewish commentators (e.g. by Ḳimḥi _in loc_. -he made a house for her and brought her

IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END OF TWO MONTHS— When Jephthah returned victorious, he was met by his daughter, who accordingly became the object of his vow, and therefore, as we understand it, being in every respect improper for a burnt-offering, she was to be devoted to a single state in the service of the Lord: the greater calamity to Jephthah, as she was his only child, Judges 11:34.; a circumstance which the sacred historian dwells upon, _besides her he had neither son nor daughter._ Immediately upon her father's signifying his vow to her she seems to have understood him, and, with pious alacrity, submits to the decree; though celibacy, and the want of offspring, were esteemed by the women of Israel as one of the severest punishments, Judges 11:36. She requests to be allowed two months _to bewail_ thi

_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