Judges 11

NOW Jephthah the Gileadite So called, either from his Father Gilead, Ios. 17. 1, 2. or from the Mountain, or City of Gilead, the place of his birth or abode. was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot i. e. A Bastard; for though such were not ordinarily to enter into the Congregation of the Lord, Deut. 23. 2. Yet God can dispence with his own Laws, and has sometimes done honour to base-born persons, so far, that some of them were admitted to be the Progenitors of the Lord Jesus Christ.: and Gilead One of the Children of that Ancienter Gilead, Numb. 32. 1. Iosh. 17. 1. begat Jephthah.

And Gileads wife bare him sons, and his wives sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our fathers house, for thou art the son of a strange woman.

Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob The name either of the Land or Territory, 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 here was between Iephthah and the Israelites.: and there were gathered vain men Idle persons, who desire to get their living rather by Spoil and Rapine, than by honest and diligent Labour. These evil minded persons Iephthah managed well, employing them against the Enemies of God, and of Israel, that bordered upon them; and particularly, upon Parties of the Ammonites, which made the Israelites more forward to choose him for their Chieftain in this War. to Jephthah, and went out with him When he made excursions and attempts upon his and their Enemies..

¶ And it came to pass in process of time Heb. after some days: or, after a year, days being oft put for a year, as has been showed; after that year mentioned Iudg. 10. 8. The Ammonites had vexed and oppressed them Eighteen Years, and now that the Israelites begin to make Opposition, they commence a War against them. Or, some time after Iephthah had been banish'd, and after he had taken up Arms, and given them some disturbance. Or, after the Israelites assembled together, as is said, Iudg. 10. 18., that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.

And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah By direction or instinct from God, who both qualified him for, and called him to the office of a Judge. See Iudg. 12. 7. Heb. 11. 32. Otherwise they might not have chosen a Bastard, Deut. 32. 2. Unless we will say, that there being no other person among them fit for, and willing to this Work, necessity dispensed with this Law, as it did with other positive Laws, as those of the Sabbath and Sacrifices. out of the land of Tob.

And they said unto Jephthah, Come and be our Captain They say not, our King; for the experience of Abimelech's kingship had cooled their Appetite in that particular; but our Captain., that we may fight with the children of Ammon.

And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my fathers house And deprive me of all share in my Fathers 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 them were among these Elders, as is very probable from the dignity of this Family; or because this act, though desired and promoted by his Brethren, was executed by the decree of the Elders, to whom the determination of all controversies about Inheritances belonged; and therefore it was their fault that they did not Protect him from the Injuries of his Brethren, as their duty was.? and why are ye come unto me now, when ye are in distress?

And the Elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now Being sensible that we have done thee Injury, we come now to make thee full Reparations., that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

¶ And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again If you recall me from this place where I am now setled, to the place whence I was Expelled. to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head Will you really make good this Promise? Iephthah was so sollicitous in this case, either from his Zeal for the publick Good, which required that he should be so; or from the Law of Self-Preservation, that he might secure himself from his Brethren; whose ill-will he had experienced, and whose iniuries he could not prevent, if, after he had served their ends, he had been reduced to his private capacity; or, there might be some Tincture of Ambition in him; for which God therefore severely, though paternally, chastiseth him, as we see afterwards.?

¶ And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us They confirm their Promise by a Solemn and Sacred Oath., if we do not so according to thy words.

Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words Objectively so called, i. e. All that was spoken, not only by him, but also by the Elders of Gilead, concerning him, and concerning this whole Transaction, and the conditions of it; or, all his matters, the whole business. before the LORD i. e. Before the Publick Congregation, wherewith God was usually, and then especially present; see Exod. 20. 24. Deut. 6. 25. Mat. 18. 10. Or, before the Altar, which possibly they did erect upon this special occasion, by Gods Permission: Or, in Gods Presence, calling him to be present, as a Witness and Judge between them. in Mizpeh.

¶ And Jephthah sent messengers i. e. Ambassadors, to prevent Blood-shed, and make Peace; as far as in him lay; that so the Israelites might be acquitted before God and men from all the sad consequences of this War; Herein he showed great Prudence, and no less Piety. unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me What pretence, or reasonable cause hast thou for this Invasion?, that thou art come against me, to fight in my land He speaks this in the Name of all the People, whose the Land was.?

And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land i. e. This Land of Gilead, which was mine, but unjustly taken from me, by Sihon and Og, the Kings of the Amorites; and the injury perpetuated by Israel's detaining it from me. This Land, before the Conquests of Sihon and Og, belonged partly to the Ammonites, as is affirmed, Ios. 13. 25. and partly, and principally, to the Moabites, as appears from Numb. 21. 24, 26. Deut. 3. 11. And indeed, Moab and Ammon did for the most part join their Interests and their Forces, as appears from Scripture-Story; and as Balak the King of the Moabites acted for the Ammonites, so now the King of Ammon seems to act for the Moabites, either as being now his Subjects; or, as his Confederates; whence it comes to pass that Moab and Ammon are here promiscuously mentioned, as v. 15, 17, 18, 25. and Chemosh the known god of the Moabites, Numb. 21. 29. 1 King. 11. 33. 2 King. 23. 13. Ier. 48. 13, 46. is here called the god of the Ammonites, v. 24. though to speak strictly, Moloch or Milchom was their god, 1 King. 11. 5, 7, 33. and 2 King. 23. 13., when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.

And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon.

And said unto him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon.

But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the red-sea Unto which they came three times; once, Exod. 13. 18. again, a little after their passage over it, Exod. 15. 22. and a third time, long after, when they came to Ezion-Gaber, Numb. 33. 35. Deut. 2. 8. which was upon the Shoar of the Red-Sea, 1 King. 9. 26. 2 Chron. 8. 17. from whence they went to Kadesh, Numb. 20. of this time he speaks here., and came to Kadesh:

Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto: and in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh Peaceably, and did not revenge their unkindness and inhumanity, as they could have done..

Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east-side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.

And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land unto my place i. e. Unto the Land of Canaan, which God has given to me..

But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought with Ifrael So Sihon was the aggressor or beginner of the War; and the Israelites were forced to it for their own Defence..

And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon, and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that countrey.

And they possessed all the coasts Or Borders; together with all the Land included within those Borders; for so that word is oft used, as Exod. 8. 2. Psal. 147. 14. Ier. 15. 13. and 17. 3. of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness To wit, the Desert of Arabia. even unto Jordan.

So now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites God, the Soveraign Lord of all Lands, has given us this Land; This he adds, as a further and a convincing reason; because otherwise it might have been alledged against the former Argument, that they could gain no more Right to that Land from Sihon, than Sihon himself had; and he had but an unjust Claim to it. from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?

Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess He speaks according to their fond and absurd Opinion: The Ammonites and Moabites got their Land by right of War, and Conquest of the old Inhabitants, whom they cast out; and this Success, though given them by the true God, for Lot's sake, Deut. 2. 9, 19. they impiously and ridiculously ascribe to their god Chemosh, whose Gift they owned to be a firm and sufficient Title.? so whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.

And now art thou any thing better than Balak Art thou wiser than he? or hast thou more right than he had? Balak though he Plotted against Israel, in defence of his own Land, which he feared they would Invade and Conquer, Numb. 22. 4. yet he never contended with them about the restitution of those Lands which Sihon took from him or his Predecessors, after the Israelites had Conquered them., the son of Zippor king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them?

While Israel dwelt in Heshbon, and her towns, and in Aroer, and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years Not precisely, but about that time, either from their coming out of Egypt; or, from their first Conquest of those Lands; and thus numbers are oft expressed, see Numb. 1 46. and 2. 32. and 11. 21. Iudg. 20. 46. He urgeth Prescription which is by all men reckoned a just Title, and it is fit it should be so for the good of the World, because otherwise the Door would be opened both to Kings, and to private Persons, for infinite Contentions and Confusions.? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?

Wherefore I have not sinned against thee I have done thee no wrong., but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the judg, be judg this day Let him determine this Controversy by the success of this day and War. between the children of Israel, and the children of Ammon.

Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

¶ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah Indued with a more than ordinary Courage and Resolution., and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh i. e. Bashan, which the half Tribe of Manasseh, beyond Iordan, inhabited, Ios. 20. 8. and 21. 6., and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead So called, to distinguish from other Cities of that name: Having gathered what Forces he suddenly could, he came hither to the borders of the Ammonites., and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.

And Jephthah vowed a vow Of this and the following Verse, see the Notes on ver. 39. unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hand:

Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house, to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORDS, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering.

¶ So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon, to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand.

And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith A place not far from Rabbah, the chief City of the Ammonites., 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.

¶ And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and behold his daughter came out to meet him, with timbrels and with dances In Confort with other Virgins, as the manner was, See Exod. 15. 20. 1 Sam. 18. 6., and she was his only child: beside her Heb. of himself, i. e. Proceeding from his own body; which may imply, that he had other Children, either by Adoption, or in right of his Wife, who had them by a former Husband. he had neither son nor daughter.

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 Before this, I was troubled by my Brethren; and since, by the Ammonites; and now most of all, though but occasionally, by thee.: for I have opened my mouth i. e. I have Vowed, which was done by Words, Numb. 30. 2, 6. unto the LORD, and I cannot go back i. e. Not retract my Vow; I am indispensably obliged to perform it..

And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which has proceeded out of thy mouth Do not for my sake make thy self a Transgressor; I freely give my consent to thy Vow; wherewith, and with the Success of his Arms he had now acquainted her, though it be not here expressed.: forasmuch as the LORD has taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies I am willing to bear my Burthen; being abundantly satisfied with the great Deliverance which God has given to his People by thy hands., even of the children of Ammon.

And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains Which she chose as a solitary place, and therefore fittest both for Lamentations, and for her Preparation for her approaching Calamity., and bewail my virginity That I shall Die Childless, which was esteemed both a Curse and a Disgrace for the Israelites, Gen. 30. 23. 1 Sam. 1. 6, 7. Isa. 4. 1. Because such were excluded from that great Priviledg of increasing the Holy Seed, and contributing to the Birth of the Messiah, who was to be Born of an Israelitish Woman., I, and my fellows.

And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months, and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

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 Qu. What was it which Iepthah Vowed and Performed concerning his Daughter? Ans. Many, especially of Modern Writers, conceive, that Iephtha's Daughter was not Sacrificed, but only Devoted to perpetual Virginity; which then was esteemed a great Curse and Reproach: This they gather, 1. From v. 37, 38. 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 2. From this, v. 39. where, after he had said, that he... id with her according to his Vow; he adds, by way of declaration of the matter of that Vow, and she knew no Man. But for the first, there may be a fair reason given, That she could not with Honour bewail her Death, which she had so generously and chearfully accepted of because it was attended with, and occasioned by the Publick Good, and her Fathers Honour and Happiness, v. 36. and was a kind of Martyrdom; and moreover, an act of Religion, the payment of a Vow, which ought to be done chearfully; but only bewailed the circumstance of her Death, that it was in some sort accursed and opprobrious; she having had no Husband to take away her reproach, as they speak, Isa. 4. 1. and leaving no Posterity to her Fathers Comfort, and the Increase of Gods People: And for the second, that Clause, and she knew no man, is plainly distinguished from the Execution of his Vow, which is here mentioned before; and this is added, not as an Explication of the Vow, but as an aggravating Circumstance, that this was executed when she had not yet known any man. Besides, this Opinion seems liable to weighty Objections; 1. There is no Example in all the Scripture, of any Woman that was obliged to perpetual Virginity by any Vow of her own, much less by the Vow of her Parents; nor have Parents any such Power over their Children, either by the Law of Nature, or by the Holy Scripture. 2. The express words of the Vow, v 31. mention nothing of her Virginity, but only, that she should surely be the Lords; i. e. Devoted to the Service of the Lord, which might be without any obligation to perpetual Virginity; for, even Samuel, who was as fully devoted to the Lord by his Parents, as she could be, 1 Sam. 1. 11. and Sampson, who was Devoted not only by his Parents, but by God himself, and that in the highest degree, even to be a perpetual Nazarite, Iudg. 13. 5, 7. yet were not prohibited Marriage; nor were any of the most Sacred Persons, Levites, or Priests, or High Priests, though they were the Lords in a singular manner, obliged to perpetual Virginity; and therefore if she was not Offered up for a Burnt-Offering, as the Authors of this Opinion say, but only was Consecrated to God, there was no occasion to bewail her Virginity, which, for any thing that appears, she was not tied to. 3. If this were all, here was no sufficient cause, why so wise and valiant a man as Iepthah should so bitterly and passionately lament over himself or his Daughter. And therefore it may seem most probable, that Iepthah did indeed Sacrifice his Daughter, as he had Vowed to do; which was the Opinion of Iosephus the Jew, and of the Chaldee Paraphrast, and of divers of the Iewish Doctors, and almost all the Ancient Fathers, and many eminent Writers; and this best agrees with the words of the Vow, delivered v. 31. Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me—shall surely be the Lords, and I will offer it for a Burnt-Offering. Nor is there one word in all the following Verses, which denies that she was thus offered; only the execution of the Vow is delivered in more ambiguous and general terms, v. 39. which in all reason, and by the Laws of good Interpretation, ought to be limited and explained by the more plain and particular description of it: It is true, these words may seem capable of another interpretation; the conjunctive Particle, and, may be here par for the disjunctive, or, as it often is, as Exod. 21. 16, 17. Levit. 6. 3, 5. 2 Sam. 2. 19, &.... and so the meaning is, that what I first meet shall sure... be the Lords, or, I will offer it up for a Burnt-Offering; to wit, if it be a Creature... it to be so offered; Otherwise,... y they, if a Dog or an Ass should have met him first, he should have been obliged to offer them, which was against the Law: But it is sufficiently evident, that he speaks of Humane person, from the very Phrase of coming forth to meet him at his return; which plainly argues a design to meet him, purposely to Congratulate his Return; this phrase of going to meet a person coming, being very oft used in Scripture, and constantly of one person meeting another, as Gen. 14. 17. and 18. 2. and 24. 17, &c. and never of any bruit Creature: And although and is sometimes put for or, yet it is not to be so used without necessity, which seems not to be in this place; nor is it very proper to distinguish two Sentences in this manner, where the one is more general, and the other being more special, is comprehended within it, which is the case here; for it shall surely be the Lords, is the general; and its being offered up for a burntoffering, is the particular way or manner how it was to be the Lords; as it were very improper to say, This is either a man, or it is my servant Iohn; because the latter branch is contained in the former: and therefore in all the alledged instances where and is put for or, they are two distinct persons or things, and not one comprehended within another, as Exod. 21. 17. Father or Mother, 2 Sam. 2. 19. right hand or left. But the great objection against this Opinion is this, That it seems a most horrid Act, directly contrary to the Law of Nature, and to plain Scripture, thus to Sacrifice his own Daughter; and that it seems altogether incredible, either that such a man as Iepthah, so eminent for Piety, and Wisdom, and Zeal, and Faith, should either make so Barbarous a Vow, or pursue it for above two Months space; and that none of the Priests of that time should inform him of the unlawfulness of executing so Wicked a Vow, and of the liberty he had to redeem such a Vow, by virtue of Levit. 27. 2, 3. &c. or that Iepthah would not willingly receive information, especially where it was so agreeable to his own interest and natural affection; or, that the Priests and People would suffer him to execute his own Daughter, and not rather hinder him by force, as they afterwards did Saul, when he had sworn the Death of Ionathan. These and other such difficulties I confess there are in the case; but something may be truly and fairly said to allay the seeming Monstrousness of this fact. 1. These were times of great and general ignorance and corruption of Religion, wherein the Israelites had Apostatized from God, and learnt and followed the practises and worships of the Heathen Nations, Iudg. 10. 6. whereof this was one, to offer up Humane Sacrifices to Moloch; and although they seem now to have repented and forsaken their Idols, Iudg. 10. 16. yet they seem still to have retained part of the old Leaven, and this among the rest, That they might offer Humane Sacrifices, not to Moloch, as they had done, but unto the Lord. And whereas some of the Iewish Writers pretend that Phinehas was alive at this time; and tell a fine Story concerning him and Iepthah, That both stood upon their Terms, and neither would go to the other to advise about the matter; yet it is more than probable that Phinehas was dead long before this time; and whosoever was the High-Priest then, he seems to be guilty either of gross ignorance or negligence; so that a late Learned Writer concieves, that this was the reason why the Priesthood was taken from him, and from that line, and translated to the line of Ithamar, which was done in the time of the Judges, as may be gathered from 1 Sam. 2. 35, 36. Moreover, Iepthah, though now a good man, may seem to have had but a rude and barbarous Education; having been banished from his Fathers House, and forced to wander and dispose himself in the utmost Borders of the Land of Gilead, beyond Iordan, at a great distance from the place of Worship and Instruction; Nor is it strange, That the Priests and People did not resist Iepthah in this Enterprise; partly, because many of them might lye under the same ignorance and mistake that Iepthah did; and partly, because they knew Iephtha to be a stout, and resolute, and boisterous man, and were afraid to oppose him in a matter wherein he seemed to be so peremptory, and their Persons and Families were not much concerned. 2. This mistake of Iepthah's, and of the rest of that Age, was not without some plausible appearance of Warrant from the Holy Text, even from Levit. 27. 28, 29. wherein it is expresly provided, That no Devoted thing, whether Man or Beast, should be redeemed, but should surely be put to Death; a place, which it is not strange that a Soldier in so ignorant an Age should mistake, seeing even some Learned Divines, in this knowing Age, and Capellus amongst the rest, have fallen into the same error, and justified Iepthah's action from that place; and though I doubt not they run into the other extreme, as men commonly do, those words being to be otherwise understood than they take them; of which see my Notes on that place; yet it must be granted that place gave Iepthah a very colourable pretext for the Action; and being pushed on by Zeal for God, and the Conscience of his Vow, he might easily be induced to it; and though this was a Sin in him, yet it was but a Sin of Ignorance; which therefore was overlooked by a gracious God, and not reproved by any Holy men of God. It is probably conceived, that the Greeks, who used to steal Sacred Histories, and turn them into Fables, had from this History their relation of Iphigenia (which may be put for Iephtigenia) Sacrificed by her Father Agamemnon, which is described by many of the same circumstances wherewith this is accompanied.: and she knew no man To wit, carnally, she died a Virgin.: and it was a castom in Israel.

That the daughters of Israel went yearly To a place appointed for their meeting to this end, possibly to the place where she was Sacrificed. to lament the daughter of Jephthah To express their Sorrow for her loss, according to the manner. Or, to Discourse of (so the Hebrew Lamed is sometimes used) the Daughter of Jepthah, to celebrate her Praises, who had so willingly yielded up her self for a Sacrifice. the Gileadite four days in a year.