Judges 11:40

_THAT THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL WENT YEARLY TO LAMENT THE DAUGHTER OF JEPHTHAH THE GILEADITE FOUR DAYS IN A YEAR._ That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament ... х_ LªTANOWT_ (H8567)] - to rehearse (Judges 11:11) her doings; i:e., to praise her for the religions life she led. It might be that this anniversary was observed only during the lifetime of Jephthah's daughter, and chiefly by the women of the Gileadite district who were acquainted with her, or cognizant of the circumstances connected with her pious self-sacrifice. This view of Jephthah's vow, which has occasioned perplexity in every subsequent age of the Church, seems in perfect accordance with Scripture, and possesses the merit of rescuing from the reproach of a dark and malignant superstition the character of a judge in Israel, whom the Spirit of God has enro

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 11:40. _TO LAMENT THE DAUGHTER OF JEPHTHAH_] I am satisfied that this is not a correct translation of the original לתנות לבת יפתח _lethannoth lebath yiphtach_. Houbigant translates the whole verse thus: _Sed iste mos apud Israel invaluit, ut virgines_ _Israel, temporibus diversis, irent ad filiam Jepthe-ut eam_ _quotannis dies quatuor consolarentur_; "But this custom prevailed in Israel that the virgins of Israel went at different times, four days in the year, to the daughter of Jephthah, that they might comfort her." This verse also gives evidence that the daughter of Jephthah was not sacrificed: nor does it appear that the custom or statute referred to here lasted after the death of Jephthah's daughter. THE following is Dr. _Hales'_ exposition of Jephthah's vow: - "When _Jephthah_ went forth to battle against

There is no allusion extant elsewhere to this annual lamentation of the untimely fate of Jephthah’s daughter. But the poetical turn of the narrative suggests that it may be taken from some ancient song (compare the marginal note 4)....

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

THAT THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL WENT YEARLY TO LAMENT THE DAUGHTER OF JEPHTHAH THE GILEADITE,.... Either the death of her, as some, or her virginity, as others; though the word p used may signify to talk and discourse with her, to hold a confabulation with her, and comfort her, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; to bring her some news, and tell her some diverting stories, to cheer and refresh her in her solitude. De Dieu observes, that the word signifies in the Arabic language to "praise", or speak in commendation of a person or thing; and indeed in this sense it seems to be used in this book, Judges 5:11, "they shall rehearse", that is, with praise and thanksgiving, "the righteous acts of the Lord"; and so the daughters of Israel went every year to the place where the daughter of Jephthah was, to speak in the praise of her, of her heroism, in so cheerfully submitting to her father's vo...

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

TO LAMENT. to rehearse with, as in Judges 5:11. to celebrate [her dedication] in praises. FOUR DAYS IN. YEAR. Thus annually her friends "went", evidently to Jephthah's daughter, to rehearse with her this great event of her life: not of her death....

_And it was And it_ BECAME, altering the verb from fern, to masc. The verse is wrongly divided. For _went_render USED TO GO (frequentative). _to celebrate_ So translated to agree with Judges 5:11 (_rehearse_), the only other place where the word occurs: the Versions give _to lament_. In both places the rendering is merely inferred from the context. There is no sufficient reason to doubt that Jephthah's sacrifice was an actual incident in history; but the yearly festival which commemorated his daughter's fate may have had a remoter origin. It is not unlikely that the incident was associated in the course of time with a primitive myth; for there are traces elsewhere of human sacrifices being connected with an annual mourning for the death of a god. In the parallel story of Iphigenia the heroine is really a form of an early goddess identified with Artemis. The

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