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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1708)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J U D G E S</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XI.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
This chapter gives as the history of Jephthah, another of Israel's
judges, and numbered among the worthies of the Old Testament, that by
faith did great things
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:32">Heb. xi. 32</A>),
though he had not such an extraordinary call as the rest there
mentioned had. Here we have,
I. The disadvantages of his origin,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
II. The Gileadites' choice of him to be commander-in-chief against the
Ammonites, and the terms he made with them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:4-11">ver. 4-11</A>.
III. His treaty with the king of Ammon about the rights of the two
nations, that the matter might be determined, if possible, without
bloodshed,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:12-28">ver. 12-28</A>.
IV. His war with the Ammonites, which he enters upon with a solemn vow
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:29-31">ver. 29-31</A>),
prosecutes with bravery
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:32">ver. 32</A>),
and ends with a glorious victory,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:33">ver. 33</A>.
V. The straits he was brought into at his return to his own house by
the vow he had made,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:34-40">ver. 34-40</A>.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Jud11_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jephthah's Promotion.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1143.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he
<I>was</I> the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
&nbsp; 2 And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up,
and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not
inherit in our father's house; for thou <I>art</I> the son of a
strange woman.
&nbsp; 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land
of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went
out with him.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The princes and people of Gilead we left, in the close of the foregoing
chapter, consulting about the choice of a general, having come to this
resolve, that whoever would undertake to lead their forces against the
children of Ammon should by common consent be head over all the
inhabitants of Gilead. The enterprise was difficult, and it was fit
that so great an encouragement as this should be proposed to him that
would undertake it. Now all agreed that Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a
mighty man of valour, and very fit for that purpose, none so fit as he,
but he lay under three disadvantages:--
1. He was <I>the son of a harlot</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
of <I>a strange woman</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
one that was neither a wife nor a concubine; some think his mother was
a Gentile; so Josephus, who calls him <I>a stranger by the mother's
side.</I> An Ishmaelite, say the Jews. If his mother was a harlot, that
was not his fault, however it was his disgrace. Men ought not to be
reproached with any of the infelicities of their parentage or
extraction, so long as they are endeavouring by their personal merits
to roll away the reproach. The son of a harlot, if born again, born
from above, shall be accepted of God, and be as welcome as any other to
the glorious liberties of his children. Jephthah could not read in the
law the brand there put on the Ammonites, the enemies he was to grapple
with, that they should <I>not enter into the congregation of the
Lord,</I> but in the same paragraph he met with that which looked black
upon himself, that a bastard should be in like manner excluded,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+23:2,3">Deut. xxiii. 2, 3</A>.
But if that law means, as most probably it does, only those that are
born of incest, not of fornication, he was not within the reach of it.
2. He had been driven from his country by his brethren. His father's
legitimate children, insisting upon the rigour of the law, thrust him
out from having any inheritance with them, without any consideration of
his extraordinary qualifications, which merited a dispensation, and
would have made him a mighty strength and ornament of their family, if
they had overlooked his being illegitimate and admitted him to a
child's part,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
One would not have thought this abandoned youth was intended to be
Israel's deliverer and judge, but God often humbles those whom he
designs to exalt, and makes that <I>stone the head of the corner which
the builders refused;</I> so Joseph, Moses, and David, the three most
eminent of the shepherds of Israel, were all thrust out by men, before
they were called of God to their great offices.
3. He had, in his exile, headed a rabble,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
Being driven out by his brethren, his great soul would not suffer him
either to dig or beg, but by his sword he must live; and, being soon
noted for his bravery, those that were reduced to such straits, and
animated by such a spirit, enlisted themselves under him. <I>Vain
men</I> they are here called, that is, men that had run through their
estates and had to seek for a livelihood. These went out with him, not
to rob or plunder, but to hunt wild beasts, and perhaps to make
incursions upon those countries which Israel was entitled to, but had
not as yet come to the possession of, or were some way or other injured
by. This is the man that must save Israel. That people had by their
idolatry made themselves children of whoredoms, and aliens from God and
his covenant, and therefore, though God upon their repentance will
deliver them, yet, to mortify them and remind them of their sin, he
chooses to do it by a bastard and an exile.</P>
<A NAME="Jud11_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_11"> </A>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>4 And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of
Ammon made war against Israel.
&nbsp; 5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war
against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out
of the land of Tob:
&nbsp; 6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that
we may fight with the children of Ammon.
&nbsp; 7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate
me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come
unto me now when ye are in distress?
&nbsp; 8 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we
turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight
against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the
inhabitants of Gilead.
&nbsp; 9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me
home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
&nbsp; 10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> be
witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
&nbsp; 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people
made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his
words before the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> in Mizpeh.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Here is,
I. The distress which the children of Israel were in upon the
Ammonites' invasion of their country,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
Probably this was the same invasion with that mentioned,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:17"><I>ch.</I> x. 17</A>,
when <I>the children of Ammon</I> were <I>gathered together and
encamped in or against Gilead.</I> And those words, <I>in process of
time,</I> refer to what goes immediately before of the expulsion of
Jephthah; many days after he had been thus thrust out in disgrace was
he fetched back again with honour.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The court which the elders made to Jephthah hereupon to come and
help them. They did not write or send a messenger to him, but went
themselves to fetch him, resolving to have no denial, and the exigence
of the case was such as would admit no delay. Their errand to him was,
<I>Come, and be our captain,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
They knew none among themselves that was able to undertake that great
trust, but in effect confessed themselves unfit for it; they know him
to be a bold man, and inured to the sword, and therefore he must be the
man. See how God prepared men for the service he designs them for, and
makes their troubles work for their advancement. If Jephthah had not
been put to his shifts by his brethren's unkindness, he would not have
had such occasion as this gave him to exercise and improve his martial
genius, and so to signalize himself and become famous. <I>Out of the
eater comes forth meat.</I> The children of Israel were assembled and
encamped,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:17"><I>ch.</I> x. 17</A>.
But an army without a general is like a body without a head; therefore
<I>Come,</I> say they, <I>and be our captain, that we may fight.</I>
See the necessity of government; though they were hearty enough in the
cause, yet they owned they could not fight without a captain to command
them. So necessary is it to all societies that there be a <I>pars
imperans</I> and a <I>pars subdita, some to rule</I> and <I>others to
obey,</I> that any community would humbly beg the favour of being
commanded rather than that every man should be his own master. Blessed
be God for government, for a good government.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. The objections Jephthah makes against accepting their offer:
<I>Did you not hate me, and expel me?</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
It should seem that his brethren were some of these elders, or these
elders by suffering his brethren to abuse him, and not righting him as
they ought to have done (for their business is to <I>defend the poor
and fatherless,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+83:3,4">Ps. lxxxii. 3, 4</A>),
had made themselves guilty of his expulsion, and he might justly charge
them with it. Magistrates, that have power to protect those that are
injured, if they neglect to redress their grievances are really guilty
of inflicting them. "You hated me and expelled me, and therefore how
can I believe that you are sincere in this proposal, and how can you
expect that I should do you any service?" Not but that Jephthah was
very willing to serve his country, but he thought fit to give them a
hint of their former unkindness to him, that they might repent of their
sin in using him so ill, and might for the future be the more sensible
of their obligations. Thus Joseph humbled his brethren before he made
himself known to them. The particular case between the Gileadites and
Jephthah was a resemblance of the general state of the case between
Israel and God at this time. They had thrust God out by their
idolatries, yet in their distress begged his help; he told them how
justly he might have rejected them, and yet graciously delivered them.
So did Jephthah. Many slight God and good men till they come to be in
distress, and then they are desirous of God's mercy and good men's
prayers.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. Their urgency with him to accept the government they offer him,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
"Therefore because we formerly did thee that wrong, and to show thee
that we repent of it and would gladly atone for it, we <I>turn again to
thee now,</I> to put such an honour upon thee as shall balance that
indignity." Let this instance be,
1. A caution to us not to despise or trample upon any because they are
mean, nor to be injurious to any that we have advantage against,
because, whatever we think of them now, the time may come when we may
have need of them, and may be glad to be beholden to them. It is our
wisdom to make no man our enemy, because we know not how soon our
distresses may be such as that we may be highly concerned to make him
our friend.
2. An encouragement to men of worth that are slighted or ill-treated.
Let them bear it with meekness and cheerfulness, and leave it to God to
make their light shine out of obscurity. Fuller's remark on this story,
in his "Pisgah Sight," is this: "Virtue once in an age will work her
own advancement, and, when such as hate it chance to need it, they will
be forced to prefer it," and then the honour will appear the
brighter.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
V. The bargain he makes with them. He had mentioned the injuries they
had formerly done him, but, perceiving their repentance, his spirit was
too great and generous to mention them any more. God had forgiven
Israel the affronts they had put upon him
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:16"><I>ch.</I> x. 16</A>),
and therefore Jephthah will forgive. Only he thinks it prudent to make
his bargain wisely for the future, since he deals with men that he had
reason to distrust.
1. He puts to them a fair question,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
He speaks not with too much confidence of his success, knowing how
justly God might suffer the Ammonites to prevail for the further
punishment of Israel; but puts an <I>if</I> upon it. Nor does he speak
with any confidence at all in himself; if he do succeed, it is <I>the
Lord that delivers them into his hand,</I> intending hereby to remind
his countrymen to look up to God, as arbitrator of the controversy and
the giver of victory, for so <I>he</I> did. "Now if, by the blessing of
God, I come home a conqueror, tell me plainly <I>shall I be your
head?</I> If I deliver you, under God, shall I, under him, reform you?"
The same question is put to those who desire salvation by Christ. "If
he save you, will you be willing that he shall rule you? for on no
other terms will he save you. If he make you happy, shall he make you
holy? If he be your helper, shall he be your head?"
2. They immediately give him a positive answer
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
"We will <I>do according to thy words;</I> command us in war, and thou
shalt command us in peace." They do not take time to consider of it.
The case was too plain to need a debate, and the necessity too pressing
to admit a delay. They knew they had power to conclude a treaty for
those whom they represented, and therefore bound it with an oath,
<I>The Lord be witness between us.</I> They appeal to God's omniscience
as the judge of their present sincerity, and to his justice as an
avenger if afterwards they should prove false. <I>The Lord be a
hearer,</I> so the word is. Whatever we speak, it concerns us to
remember that God is a hearer, and to speak accordingly. Thus was the
original contract ratified between Jephthah and the Gileadites, which
all Israel, it should seem, agreed to afterwards, for it is said
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+12:7"><I>ch.</I> xii. 7</A>),
<I>he judged Israel.</I> He hereupon went with them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>)
to the place where they were all assembled
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:17"><I>ch.</I> x. 17</A>),
and there by common consent they <I>made him head and captain,</I> and
so ratified the bargain their representatives had made with him, that
he should be not only captain now, but head for life. Jephthah, to
obtain this little honour, was willing to expose his life for them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+12:3"><I>ch.</I> xii. 3</A>),
and shall we be discouraged in our Christian warfare by any of the
difficulties we may meet with in it, when Christ himself has promised
<I>a crown of life to him that overcometh?</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VI. Jephthah's pious acknowledgment of God in this great affair
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
<I>He uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh,</I> that is,
upon his elevation, he immediately retired to his devotions, and in
prayer spread the whole matter before God, both his choice to the
office and his execution of the office, as one that had his eye ever
towards the Lord, and would do nothing without him, that leaned not to
his own understanding or courage, but depended on God and his favour.
He utters before God all his thoughts and cares in this matter; for God
gives us leave to be free with him.
1. "Lord, the people have made me their head; wilt thou confirm the
choice, and own me as thy people's head under thee and for thee?" God
justly complains of Israel
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+8:4">Hos. viii. 4</A>),
<I>they have set up kings, but not by me.</I> "Lord," said Jephthah, "I
will be no head of their making without thee. I will not accept the
government unless thou give me leave." Had Abimelech done this, he
might have prospered.
2. "Lord, they have made me their captain, to go before them in this
war with the Ammonites; shall I have thy presence? Wilt thou go before
me? If not, carry me not up hence. Lord, satisfy me in the justice of
the cause. Assure me of success in the enterprise." This is a rare
example, to be imitated by all, particularly by great ones; in all our
ways let us acknowledge God, seek his favour, ask counsel at his mouth,
and take him along with us; so shall we make our way prosperous. Thus
Jephthah opened the campaign with prayer. That was likely to end
gloriously which began thus piously.</P>
<A NAME="Jud11_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_15"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_16"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_17"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_18"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_19"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_20"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_21"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_22"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_23"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_24"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_25"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_26"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_27"> </A>
<A NAME="Jud11_28"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The War with the Ammonites.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1143.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children
of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art
come against me to fight in my land?
&nbsp; 13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the
messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when
they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto
Jordan: now therefore restore those <I>lands</I> again peaceably.
&nbsp; 14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the
children of Ammon:
&nbsp; 15 And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away
the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
&nbsp; 16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the
wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
&nbsp; 17 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 <I>thereto.</I> And in like manner they sent unto
the king of Moab: but he would not <I>consent:</I> and Israel abode in
Kadesh.
&nbsp; 18 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 <I>was</I> the border of
Moab.
&nbsp; 19 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 into my place.
&nbsp; 20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but
Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and
fought against Israel.
&nbsp; 21 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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
country.
&nbsp; 22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from
Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
&nbsp; 23 So now the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites
from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
&nbsp; 24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee
to possess? So whomsoever the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God shall drive out from
before us, them will we possess.
&nbsp; 25 And now <I>art</I> thou any thing better than Balak the son of
Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did
he ever fight against them,
&nbsp; 26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer
and her towns, and in all the cities that <I>be</I> along by the
coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not
recover <I>them</I> within that time?
&nbsp; 27 Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me
wrong to war against me: the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> the Judge be judge this day
between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
&nbsp; 28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto
the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We have here the treaty between Jephthah, now judge of Israel, and the
king of the Ammonites (who is not named), that the controversy between
the two nations might, if possible, be accommodated without the
effusion of blood.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. Jephthah, as one having authority, sent to the king of Ammon, who in
this war was the aggressor, to demand his reasons for invading the land
of Israel: "<I>Why hast thou come to fight against me in my land?</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
Had I come first into thy land to disturb thee in thy possession, this
would have been reason enough for fighting against me, for how must
force be repelled but by force? but what hast thou to do to come thus
in a hostile manner into <I>my land?</I>" so he calls it, in the name
both of God and Israel. Now this fair demand shows,
1. That Jephthah did not delight in war, though he was a mighty man of
valour, but was willing to prevent it by a peaceable accommodation. If
he could by reason persuade the invaders to retire, he would not compel
them to do it by the sword. War should be the last remedy, not to be
used till all other methods of ending matters in variance have been
tried in vain, <I>ratio ultima regum--the last resource of kings.</I>
This rule should be observed in going to law. The sword of justice, as
well as the sword of war, must not be appealed to till the contending
parties have first endeavoured by gentler means to understand one
another, and to accommodate matters in variance,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+6:1">1 Cor. vi. 1</A>.
2. That Jephthah did delight inequity, and designed no other than to do
justice. If the children of Ammon could convince him that Israel had
done them wrong, he was ready to restore the rights of the Ammonites.
If not, it was plain by their invasion that they did Israel wrong, and
he was ready to maintain the rights of the Israelites. A sense of
justice should guide and govern us in all our undertakings.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The king of the Ammonites now gives in his demand, which he should
have published before he had invaded Israel,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
His pretence is, "Israel took away my lands long since; now therefore
restore those lands." We have reason to think the Ammonites, when they
made this descent upon Israel, meant no other than to spoil and plunder
the country, and enrich themselves with the prey, as they had done
formerly under Eglon
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:13"><I>ch.</I> iii. 13</A>)
when no such demand as this was made, though the matter was then fresh;
but when Jephthah demanded the cause of their quarrel, and they could
not for shame own what was their true intent and meaning, some old
musty records were searched, or some ancient traditions enquired into,
and from them this reason was drawn to serve the present turn, for a
colourable pretence of equity in the invasion. Even those that do the
greatest wrong yet have such a conviction in their consciences of
justice that they would seem to do right. <I>Restore those lands.</I>
See upon what uncertain terms we hold our worldly possessions; what we
think we have the surest hold of may be challenged from us, and wrested
out of our hands. Those that have got to the heavenly Canaan need not
fear having their titles questioned.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. Jephthah gives in a very full and satisfactory answer to this
demand, showing it to be altogether unjust and unreasonable, and that
the Ammonites had no title to this country that lay between the rivers
Arnon and Jabbok, now in the possession of the tribes of Reuben and
Gad. As one very well versed in the history of his country, he
shows,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. That Israel never took any land away either from the Moabites or
Ammonites. He puts them together because they were brethren, the
children of Lot, near neighbours, and of united interests, having the
same god, Chemosh, and perhaps sometimes the same king. The lands in
question Israel took away, not from the Moabites or Ammonites (they had
particular orders from God not to meddle with them nor any thing they
had,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+2:9,19">Deut. ii. 9, 19</A>,
and religiously observed their orders), but they found them in the
possession of Sihon king of the Amorites, and out of his hand they took
them justly and honourably, as he will show afterwards. If the
Amorites, before Israel came into that country, had taken these lands
from the Moabites or Ammonites, as it should seem they had
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+21:26,Jos+13:25">Num. xxi. 26; Josh. xiii. 25</A>),
Israel was not concerned to enquire into that or answer for it. If the
Ammonites had lost these lands and their title to them, the children of
Israel were under no obligation to recover the possession for them.
Their business was to conquer for themselves, not for other people.
This is his first plea, "Not guilty of the trespass."</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. That they were so far from invading the property of any other
nations than the devoted posterity of cursed Canaan (one of the
branches of which the Amorites were,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+10:16">Gen. x. 16</A>)
that they would not so much as force a passage through the country
either of the Edomites, the seed of Esau, or of the Moabites, the seed
of Lot; but even after a very tedious march through the wilderness,
with which they were sadly tired
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>),
when the king of Edom first, and afterwards the king of Moab, denied
them the courtesy of a way through their country
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
rather than give them any offence or annoyance, weary as they were,
they put themselves to the further fatigue of compassing both the land
of Edom and that of Moab, and came not within the border of either,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
Note, Those that behave themselves inoffensively may take the comfort
of it, and plead it against those that charge them with injustice and
wrong doing. Our <I>righteousness will answer for us in time to
come</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+30:33">Gen. xxx. 33</A>)
and will <I>put to silence the ignorance of foolish men,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+2:15">1 Pet. ii. 15</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. That in that war in which they took this land out of the hands of
Sihon king of the Amorites he was the aggressor, and not they,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>.
They sent a humble petition to him for leave to go through his land,
willing to give him any security for their good behaviour in their
march. "<I>Let us pass</I> (say they) <I>unto our place,</I> that is,
to the land of Canaan, which is the only place we call ours, and to
which we are pressing forward, not designing a settlement here." But
Sihon not only denied them this courtesy, as Edom and Moab had done
(had he only done so, who knows but Israel might have gone about some
other way?) but he mustered all his forces, and fought against Israel
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
not only shut them out of his own land, but would have cut them off
from the face of the earth
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+21:23,24">Num. xxi. 23, 24</A>),
aimed at nothing less than their ruin,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
Israel therefore, in their war with him, stood in their own just and
necessary defence, and therefore, having routed his army, might justly,
in further revenge of the injury, seize his country as forfeited. Thus
Israel came to the possession of this country, and doubted not to make
good their title to it; and it is very unreasonable for the Ammonites
to question their title, for the Amorites were the inhabitants of that
country, and it was purely their land and their coasts that the
Israelites then made themselves masters of,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
4. He pleads a grant from the crown, and claims under that,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:23,24"><I>v.</I> 23, 24</A>.
It was not Israel (they were fatigued with their long march, and were
not fit for action so soon), but it was the Lord God of Israel, who is
King of nations, whose the earth is and the fulness thereof, he it was
that dispossessed the Amorites and planted Israel in their room. God
gave them the land by an express and particular conveyance, such as
vested the title in them, which they might make good against all the
world.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+2:24">Deut. ii. 24</A>,
<I>I have given into thy hand Sihon and his land;</I> he gave it to
them, by giving them a complete victory over the present occupants,
notwithstanding the great disadvantages they were under. "Can you think
that God gave it to us in such an extraordinary manner with design that
we should return it to the Moabites or Ammonites again? No, we put a
higher value upon God's favours than to part with them so easily." To
corroborate this plea, he urges an argument <I>ad
hominem</I>--<I>directed to the man: Wilt not thou possess that which
Chemosh thy god giveth thee?</I> He not only appeals to the common
resolutions of men to hold their own against all the world, but to the
common religion of the nations, which, they thought, obliged them to
make much of that which their gods gave them. Not that Jephthah
thought Chemosh a god, only he is <I>thy god,</I> and the worshippers
even of those dunghill deities that could do neither good nor evil yet
thought themselves beholden to them for all they had
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:12">Hos. ii. 12</A>,
<I>These are my rewards which my lovers have given me;</I> and see
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+16:24">Judg. xvi. 24</A>)
and made this a reason why they would hold it fast, that their gods
gave it to them. "This thou thinkest a good title, and shall not we?"
The Ammonites had dispossessed those that dwelt in their land before
them; they thought they did it by the help of Chemosh their god, but
really it was Jehovah the God of Israel that did it for them, as is
expressly said,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+2:19,20">Deut. ii. 19, 21</A>.
"Now," says Jephthah, "we have as good a title to our country as you
have to yours." Note, One instance of the honour and respect we owe to
God, as our God, is rightly to possess that which he gives us to
possess, receive it from him, use it for him, keep it for his sake, and
part with it when he calls for it. He has given it to us to possess,
not to enjoy. He himself only must be enjoyed.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
5. He pleads prescription.
(1.) Their title had not been disputed when they first entered upon
it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
"Balak who was then king of Moab, from whom the greatest part of these
lands had been taken by the Amorites, and who was most concerned and
best able to oppose us, if he had had any thing to object against our
settlement there, yet sat still, and never offered to strive against
Israel." He knew that for his own part he had fairly lost it to the
Amorites and was not able to recover it, and could not but acknowledge
that Israel had fairly won it of the Amorites, and therefore all his
care was to secure what was left: he never pretended a title to what
was lost. See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+22:2,3">Num. xxii. 2, 3</A>.
"He then acquiesced in God's way of disposing of kingdoms, and wilt not
thou now?"
(2.) Their possession had never yet been disturbed,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
He pleads that they had kept this country as their own now about 300
years, and the Ammonites in all that time had never attempted to take
it from them, no, not when they had it in their power to oppress them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:13,14"><I>ch.</I> iii. 13, 14</A>.
So that, supposing their title had not been clear at the first (which
yet he had proved it was), yet, no claim having been made for so many
generations, the entry of the children of Ammon, without doubt, was
barred for ever. A title so long unquestioned shall be presumed
unquestionable.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
6. By these arguments Jephthah justifies himself and his own cause ("I
have not sinned against thee in taking or keeping what I have no right
to; if I had, I would instantly make restitution" ), and condemns the
Ammonites: "<I>Thou doest me wrong to war against me,</I> and must
expect to speed accordingly,"
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
It seems to me an evidence that the children of Israel, in the days of
their prosperity and power (for some such days they had in the times of
the judges) had conducted themselves very inoffensively to all their
neighbours and had not been vexatious or oppressing to them (either by
way of reprisal or under colour of propagating their religion), that
the king of the Ammonites, when he would seek an occasion of
quarrelling with them, was forced to look 300 years back for a
pretence. It becomes the people of God thus to be blameless and
harmless, and without rebuke.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
7. For the deciding of the controversy, he puts himself upon God and
his sword, and the king of Ammon joins issue with him
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:27,28"><I>v.</I> 27, 28</A>):
<I>The Lord the Judge be judge this day.</I> With this solemn reference
of the matter to the Judge of heaven and earth he designs either to
deter the Ammonites from proceeding and oblige them to retire, when
they saw the right of the cause was against them, or to justify himself
in subduing them if they should go on. Note, War is an appeal to
heaven, to God the Judge of all, to whom the issues of it belong. If
doubtful rights be disputed, he is hereby requested to determine them.
If manifest rights be invaded or denied, he is hereby applied to for
the vindicating of what is just and the punishing of wrong. As the
sword of justice was made for lawless and disobedient persons
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+1:9">1 Tim. i. 9</A>),
so was the sword of war made for lawless and disobedient princes and
nations. In war therefore the eye must be ever up to God, and it must
always be thought a dangerous thing to desire or expect that God should
patronise unrighteousness.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Neither Jephthah's apology, nor his appeal, wrought upon the king of
the children of Ammon; they had found the sweets of the spoil of
Israel, in the eighteen years wherein they had oppressed them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:8"><I>ch.</I> x. 8</A>),
and hoped now to make themselves masters of the tree with the fruit of
which they had so often enriched themselves. He hearkened not to the
words of Jephthah, his heart being hardened to his destruction.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jephthah's Vow.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1143.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>29 Then the Spirit of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came upon Jephthah, and he
passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of
Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over <I>unto</I> the
children of Ammon.
&nbsp; 30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and said, If thou
shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
&nbsp; 31 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s, and I will offer it up for
a burnt offering.
&nbsp; 32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight
against them; and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> delivered them into his hands.
&nbsp; 33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to
Minneth, <I>even</I> 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.
&nbsp; 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 <I>was his</I> only child; beside her he had neither son nor
daughter.
&nbsp; 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and I cannot go back.
&nbsp; 36 And she said unto him, My father, <I>if</I> thou hast opened thy
mouth unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, do to me according to that which hath
proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath taken
vengeance for thee of thine enemies, <I>even</I> of the children of
Ammon.
&nbsp; 37 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, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
&nbsp; 38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away <I>for</I> two months: and
she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the
mountains.
&nbsp; 39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she
returned unto her father, who did with her <I>according</I> to his vow
which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in
Israel,
&nbsp; 40 <I>That</I> the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the
daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We have here Jephthah triumphing in a glorious victory, but, as an
alloy to his joy, troubled and distressed by an unadvised vow.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. Jephthah's victory was clear, and shines very brightly, both to his
honour and to the honour of God, his in pleading and God's in owning a
righteous cause.
1. God gave him an excellent spirit, and he improved it bravely,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>.
When it appeared by the people's unanimous choice of him for their
leader that he had so clear a call to engage, and by the obstinate
deafness of the king of Ammon to the proposals of accommodation that he
had so just a cause to engage in, then the Spirit of the Lord came upon
him, and very much advanced his natural faculties, enduing him with
power from on high, and making him more bold and more wise than ever he
had been, and more fired with a holy zeal against the enemies of his
people. Hereby God confirmed him in his office, and assured him of
success in his undertaking. Thus animated, he loses no time, but with
an undaunted resolution takes the field. Particular notice is taken of
the way by which he advanced towards the enemy's camp, probably because
the choice of it was an instance of that extraordinary discretion with
which the Spirit of the Lord had furnished him; for those who sincerely
walk after the Spirit shall be led forth the right way.
2. God gave him eminent success, and he bravely improved that too
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>):
<I>The Lord delivered the Ammonites into his hand,</I> and so gave
judgment upon the appeal in favour of the righteous cause, and made
those feel the force of war that would not yield to the force of
reason; for he <I>sits in the throne, judging right.</I> Jephthah lost
not the advantages given him, but pursued and completed his victory.
Having routed their forces in the field, he pursued them to their
cities, where he put to the sword all he found in arms, so as utterly
to disable them from giving Israel any molestation,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>.
But it does not appear that he utterly destroyed the people, as Joshua
had destroyed the devoted nations, nor that he offered to make himself
master of the country, though their pretensions to the land of Israel
might have given him colour to do so: only he took care that they
should be effectually subdued. Though others' attempting wrong to us
will justify us in the defence of our own right, yet it will not
authorize us to do them wrong.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. Jephthah's vow is dark, and much in the clouds. When he was going
out from his own house upon this hazardous undertaking, in prayer to
God for his presence with him he makes a secret but solemn vow or
religious promise to God, that, if God would graciously bring him back
a conqueror, whosoever or whatsoever should first come out of his house
to meet him it should be devoted to God, and offered up for a
burnt-offering. At his return, tidings of his victory coming home
before him, his own and only daughter meets him with the seasonable
expressions of joy. This puts him into a great confusion; but there was
no remedy: after she had taken some time to lament her own infelicity,
she cheerfully submitted to the performance of his vow. Now,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. There are several good lessons to be learnt out of this story.
(1.) That there may be remainders of distrust and doubting even in the
hearts of true and great believers. Jephthah had reason enough to be
confident of success, especially when he found <I>the Spirit of the
Lord come upon him,</I> and yet, now that it comes to the settling, he
seems to hesitate
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>):
<I>If thou wilt without fail deliver them into my hand,</I> then I will
do so and so. And perhaps the snare into which his vow brought him was
designed to correct the weakness of his faith, and a fond conceit he
had that he could not promise himself a victory unless he proffered
something considerable to be given to God in lieu of it.
(2.) That yet it is very good, when we are in the pursuit or
expectation of any mercy, to make vows to God of some instance of
acceptable service to him, not as a purchase of the favour we desire,
but as an expression of our gratitude to him and the deep sense we have
of our obligations to render according to the benefit done to us. The
matter of such a singular vow
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+27:2">Lev. xxvii. 2</A>)
must be something that has a plain and direct tendency either to the
advancement of God's glory, and the interests of his kingdom among men,
or to the furtherance of ourselves in his service, and in that which is
antecedently our duty.
(3.) That we have great need to be very cautious and well advised in
the making of such vows, lest, by indulging a present emotion even of
pious zeal, we entangle our own consciences, involve ourselves in
perplexities, and are forced at last to <I>say before the angel that it
was an error,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+5:2-6">Eccl. v. 2-6</A>.
<I>It is a snare to a man</I> hastily to <I>devour that which is
holy,</I> without due consideration <I>quid valeant humeri, quid ferre
recusent--what we are able or unable to effect,</I> and without
inserting the needful provisos and limitations which might prevent the
entanglement, and then after vows to make the enquiry which should have
been made before,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+20:25">Prov. xx. 25</A>.
Let Jephthah's harm be our warning in this matter. See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+23:22">Deut. xxiii. 22</A>.
(4.) That what we have solemnly vowed to God we must conscientiously
perform, if it be possible and lawful, though it be ever so difficult
and grievous to us. Jephthah's sense of the powerful obligation of his
vow must always be ours
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>):
"<I>I have opened my mouth unto the Lord</I> in a solemn vow, <I>and I
cannot go back,</I>" that is, "I cannot recall the vow myself, it is
too late, nor can any power on earth dispense with it, or give me up my
bond." The thing was my own, and <I>in my own power</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+5:4">Acts v. 4</A>),
but now it is not. <I>Vow and pay,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+76:11">Ps. lxxvi. 11</A>.
We deceive ourselves if we think to mock God. If we apply this to the
consent we have solemnly given, in our sacramental vows, to the
covenant of grace made with poor sinners in Christ, what a powerful
argument will it be against the sins we have by those vows bound
ourselves out from, what a strong inducement to the duties we have
hereby bound ourselves up to, and what a ready answer to every
temptation! "<I>I have opened my mouth to the Lord,</I> and <I>I
cannot go back;</I> I must therefore go forward. I have sworn, and I
must, I will, perform it. Let me not dare to play fast and loose with
God."
(5.) That it well becomes children obediently and cheerfully to submit
to their parents in the Lord, and particularly to comply with their
pious resolutions for the honour of God and the keeping up of religion
in their families, though they be harsh and severe, as the Rechabites,
who for many generations religiously observed the commands of Jonadab
their father in forbearing wine, and Jephthah's daughter here, who, for
the satisfying of her father's conscience, and for the honour of God
and her country, yielded herself as one devoted
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:36"><I>v.</I> 36</A>):
"<I>Do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy
mouth;</I> I know I am dear to thee, but am well content that God
should be dearer." The father might disallow any vow made by the
daughter
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+30:5">Num. xxx. 5</A>),
but the daughter could not disallow or disannul, no, not such a vow as
this, made by the father. This magnifies the law of the fifth
commandment.
(6.) That our friends' grievances should be our griefs. Where she went
to bewail her hard fate the virgins, her companions, joined with her in
her lamentations,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:38"><I>v.</I> 38</A>.
With those of her own sex and age she used to associate, who no doubt,
now that her father had on a sudden grown so great, expected, shortly
after his return, to dance at her wedding, but were heavily
disappointed when they were called to retire to the mountains with her
and share in her griefs. Those are unworthy the name of friends that
will only rejoice with us, and not weep with us.
(7.) That heroic zeal for the honour of God and Israel, though alloyed
with infirmity and indiscretion, is worthy to be had in perpetual
remembrance. It well became the daughters of Israel by an annual
solemnity to preserve the honourable memory of Jephthah's daughter, who
made light even of her own life like a noble heroine, when God had
taken vengeance on Israel's enemies,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:36"><I>v.</I> 36</A>.
Such a rare instance of one that preferred the public interest before
life itself was never to be forgotten. Her sex forbade her to follow to
the war, and so to expose her life in battle, in lieu of which she
hazards it much more (and perhaps apprehended that she did so, having
some intimation of his vow, and did it designedly; for he tells her,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>,
<I>Thou hast brought me very low</I>) to grace his triumphs. So
transported was she with the victory as a common benefit that she was
willing to be herself offered up as a thank-offering for it, and would
think her life well bestowed when laid down on so great an occasion.
She thinks it an honour to die, not as a sacrifice of atonement for the
people's sins (that honour was reserved for Christ only), but as a
sacrifice of acknowledgment for the people's mercies.
(8.) From Jephthah's concern on this occasion, we must learn not to
think it strange if the day of our triumphs in this world prove upon
some account or other the day of our griefs, and therefore must always
rejoice with trembling; we hope for a day of triumph hereafter which
will have no alloy.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. Yet there are some difficult questions that do arise upon this story
which have very much employed the pens of learned men. I will say but
little respecting them, because Mr. Poole has discussed them very fully
in his English annotations.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(1.) It is hard to say what Jephthah did to his daughter in performance
of his vow.
[1.] Some think he only shut her up for a nun, and that it being
unlawful, according to one part of his vow (for they make it
disjunctive), to offer her up for a burnt-offering, he thus, according
to the other part, engaged her to <I>be the Lord's,</I> that is,
totally to sequester herself from all the affairs of this life, and
consequently from marriage, and to employ herself wholly in the acts of
devotion all her days. That which countenances this opinion is that she
is <I>said to bewail her virginity</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:37,38"><I>v.</I> 37, 38</A>)
and that <I>she knew no man,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:39"><I>v.</I> 39</A>.
But, if he sacrificed her, it was proper enough for her to bewail, not
her death, because that was intended to be for the honour of God, and
she would undergo it cheerfully, but that unhappy circumstance of it
which made it more grievous to her than any other, because she was her
father's only child, in whom he hoped his name and family would be
built up, that she was unmarried, and so left no issue to inherit her
father's honour and estate; therefore it is particularly taken notice
of
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>)
that besides her he had neither son nor daughter. But that which makes
me think Jephthah did not go about thus to satisfy his vow, or evade it
rather, is that we do not find any law, usage, or custom, in all the
Old Testament, which does in the least intimate that a single life was
any branch or article of religion, or that any person, man or woman,
was looked upon as the more holy, more the Lord's, or devoted to him,
for living unmarried: it was no part of the law either of the priests
or of the Nazarites. Deborah and Huldah, both prophetesses, are both of
them particularly recorded to have been married women. Besides, had she
only been confined to a single life, she needed not to have desired
these two months to bewail it in: she had her whole life before her to
do that, if she saw cause. Nor needed she to take such a sad leave of
her companions; for those that are of that opinion understand what is
said in
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:40"><I>v.</I> 40</A>
of their coming to <I>talk with her,</I> as our margin reads it, four
days in a year. Therefore,
[2.] It seems more probable that he offered her up for a sacrifice,
according to the letter of his vow, misunderstanding that law which
spoke of persons devoted by the curse of God as if it were to be
applied to such as were devoted by men's vows
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+27:29">Lev. xxvii. 29</A>,
<I>None devoted shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to
death</I>), and wanting to be better informed of the power the law gave
him in this case to redeem her. Abraham's attempt to offer up Isaac
perhaps encouraged him, and made him think, if God would not accept
this sacrifice which he had vowed, he would send an angel to stay his
hand, as he did Abraham's. If she came out designedly to be made a
sacrifice, as who knows but she might? perhaps he thought that would
make the case the plainer. <I>Volenti non sit injuria--No injury is
done to a person by that to which he himself consents.</I> He imagined,
it may be, that where there was neither anger nor malice there was no
murder, and that his good intention would sanctify this bad action;
and, since he had made such a vow, he thought better to kill his
daughter than break his vow, and let Providence bear the blame, that
brought her forth to meet him.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(2.) But, supposing that Jephthah did sacrifice his daughter, the
question is whether he did well.
[1.] Some justify him in it, and think he did well, and as became one
that preferred the honour of God before that which was dearest to him
in this world. He is mentioned among the eminent believers who by faith
did great things,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:32">Heb. xi. 32</A>.
And this was one of the great things he did. It was done deliberately,
and upon two months' consideration and consultation. He is never blamed
for it by any inspired writer. Though it highly exalts the paternal
authority, yet it cannot justify any in doing the like. He was an
extraordinary person. <I>The Spirit of the Lord came upon him.</I> Many
circumstances, now unknown to us, might make this altogether
extraordinary, and justify it, yet not so as that it might justify the
like. Some learned men have made this sacrifice a figure of Christ the
great sacrifice: he was of unspotted purity and innocency, as she a
chaste virgin; he was devoted to death by his Father, and so made a
curse, or an anathema, for us; he submitted himself, as she did, to his
Father's will: <I>Not as I will, but as thou wilt.</I> But,
[2.] Most condemn Jephthah; he did ill to make so rash a vow, and worse
to perform it. He could not be bound by his vow to that which God had
forbidden by the letter of the sixth commandment: <I>Thou shalt not
kill.</I> God had forbidden human sacrifices, so that it was (says Dr.
Lightfoot) in effect a sacrifice to Moloch. And, probably, the reason
why it is left dubious by the inspired penman whether he sacrificed her
or no was that those who did afterwards offer their children might not
take any encouragement from this instance. Concerning this and some
other such passages in the sacred story, which learned men are in the
dark, divided, and in doubt about, we need not much perplex ourselves;
what is necessary to our salvation, thanks be to God, is plain
enough.</P>
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