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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1708)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J U D G E S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This chapter gives as the history of Jephthah, another of Israel's
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judges, and numbered among the worthies of the Old Testament, that by
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faith did great things
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:32">Heb. xi. 32</A>),
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though he had not such an extraordinary call as the rest there
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mentioned had. Here we have,
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I. The disadvantages of his origin,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
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II. The Gileadites' choice of him to be commander-in-chief against the
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Ammonites, and the terms he made with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:4-11">ver. 4-11</A>.
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III. His treaty with the king of Ammon about the rights of the two
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nations, that the matter might be determined, if possible, without
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bloodshed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:12-28">ver. 12-28</A>.
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IV. His war with the Ammonites, which he enters upon with a solemn vow
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:29-31">ver. 29-31</A>),
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prosecutes with bravery
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:32">ver. 32</A>),
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and ends with a glorious victory,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:33">ver. 33</A>.
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V. The straits he was brought into at his return to his own house by
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the vow he had made,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:34-40">ver. 34-40</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jud11_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jephthah's Promotion.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1143.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>
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1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he
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<I>was</I> the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
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2 And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up,
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and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not
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inherit in our father's house; for thou <I>art</I> the son of a
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strange woman.
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3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land
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of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went
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out with him.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The princes and people of Gilead we left, in the close of the foregoing
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chapter, consulting about the choice of a general, having come to this
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resolve, that whoever would undertake to lead their forces against the
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children of Ammon should by common consent be head over all the
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inhabitants of Gilead. The enterprise was difficult, and it was fit
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that so great an encouragement as this should be proposed to him that
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would undertake it. Now all agreed that Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a
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mighty man of valour, and very fit for that purpose, none so fit as he,
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but he lay under three disadvantages:--
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1. He was <I>the son of a harlot</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
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of <I>a strange woman</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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one that was neither a wife nor a concubine; some think his mother was
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a Gentile; so Josephus, who calls him <I>a stranger by the mother's
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side.</I> An Ishmaelite, say the Jews. If his mother was a harlot, that
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was not his fault, however it was his disgrace. Men ought not to be
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reproached with any of the infelicities of their parentage or
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extraction, so long as they are endeavouring by their personal merits
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to roll away the reproach. The son of a harlot, if born again, born
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from above, shall be accepted of God, and be as welcome as any other to
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the glorious liberties of his children. Jephthah could not read in the
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law the brand there put on the Ammonites, the enemies he was to grapple
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with, that they should <I>not enter into the congregation of the
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Lord,</I> but in the same paragraph he met with that which looked black
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upon himself, that a bastard should be in like manner excluded,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+23:2,3">Deut. xxiii. 2, 3</A>.
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But if that law means, as most probably it does, only those that are
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born of incest, not of fornication, he was not within the reach of it.
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2. He had been driven from his country by his brethren. His father's
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legitimate children, insisting upon the rigour of the law, thrust him
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out from having any inheritance with them, without any consideration of
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his extraordinary qualifications, which merited a dispensation, and
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would have made him a mighty strength and ornament of their family, if
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they had overlooked his being illegitimate and admitted him to a
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child's part,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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One would not have thought this abandoned youth was intended to be
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Israel's deliverer and judge, but God often humbles those whom he
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designs to exalt, and makes that <I>stone the head of the corner which
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the builders refused;</I> so Joseph, Moses, and David, the three most
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eminent of the shepherds of Israel, were all thrust out by men, before
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they were called of God to their great offices.
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3. He had, in his exile, headed a rabble,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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Being driven out by his brethren, his great soul would not suffer him
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either to dig or beg, but by his sword he must live; and, being soon
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noted for his bravery, those that were reduced to such straits, and
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animated by such a spirit, enlisted themselves under him. <I>Vain
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men</I> they are here called, that is, men that had run through their
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estates and had to seek for a livelihood. These went out with him, not
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to rob or plunder, but to hunt wild beasts, and perhaps to make
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incursions upon those countries which Israel was entitled to, but had
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not as yet come to the possession of, or were some way or other injured
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by. This is the man that must save Israel. That people had by their
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idolatry made themselves children of whoredoms, and aliens from God and
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his covenant, and therefore, though God upon their repentance will
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deliver them, yet, to mortify them and remind them of their sin, he
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chooses to do it by a bastard and an exile.</P>
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<A NAME="Jud11_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_11"> </A>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>4 And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of
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Ammon made war against Israel.
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5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war
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against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out
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of the land of Tob:
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6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that
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we may fight with the children of Ammon.
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7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate
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me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come
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unto me now when ye are in distress?
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8 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we
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turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight
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against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the
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inhabitants of Gilead.
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9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me
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home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
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deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
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10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> be
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witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
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11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people
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made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his
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words before the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> in Mizpeh.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here is,
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I. The distress which the children of Israel were in upon the
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Ammonites' invasion of their country,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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Probably this was the same invasion with that mentioned,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:17"><I>ch.</I> x. 17</A>,
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when <I>the children of Ammon</I> were <I>gathered together and
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encamped in or against Gilead.</I> And those words, <I>in process of
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time,</I> refer to what goes immediately before of the expulsion of
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Jephthah; many days after he had been thus thrust out in disgrace was
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he fetched back again with honour.</P>
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<P>
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II. The court which the elders made to Jephthah hereupon to come and
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help them. They did not write or send a messenger to him, but went
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themselves to fetch him, resolving to have no denial, and the exigence
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of the case was such as would admit no delay. Their errand to him was,
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<I>Come, and be our captain,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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They knew none among themselves that was able to undertake that great
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trust, but in effect confessed themselves unfit for it; they know him
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to be a bold man, and inured to the sword, and therefore he must be the
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man. See how God prepared men for the service he designs them for, and
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makes their troubles work for their advancement. If Jephthah had not
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been put to his shifts by his brethren's unkindness, he would not have
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had such occasion as this gave him to exercise and improve his martial
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genius, and so to signalize himself and become famous. <I>Out of the
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eater comes forth meat.</I> The children of Israel were assembled and
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encamped,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:17"><I>ch.</I> x. 17</A>.
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But an army without a general is like a body without a head; therefore
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<I>Come,</I> say they, <I>and be our captain, that we may fight.</I>
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See the necessity of government; though they were hearty enough in the
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cause, yet they owned they could not fight without a captain to command
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them. So necessary is it to all societies that there be a <I>pars
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imperans</I> and a <I>pars subdita, some to rule</I> and <I>others to
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obey,</I> that any community would humbly beg the favour of being
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commanded rather than that every man should be his own master. Blessed
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be God for government, for a good government.</P>
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<P>
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III. The objections Jephthah makes against accepting their offer:
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<I>Did you not hate me, and expel me?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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It should seem that his brethren were some of these elders, or these
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elders by suffering his brethren to abuse him, and not righting him as
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they ought to have done (for their business is to <I>defend the poor
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and fatherless,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+83:3,4">Ps. lxxxii. 3, 4</A>),
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had made themselves guilty of his expulsion, and he might justly charge
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them with it. Magistrates, that have power to protect those that are
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injured, if they neglect to redress their grievances are really guilty
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of inflicting them. "You hated me and expelled me, and therefore how
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can I believe that you are sincere in this proposal, and how can you
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expect that I should do you any service?" Not but that Jephthah was
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very willing to serve his country, but he thought fit to give them a
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hint of their former unkindness to him, that they might repent of their
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sin in using him so ill, and might for the future be the more sensible
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of their obligations. Thus Joseph humbled his brethren before he made
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himself known to them. The particular case between the Gileadites and
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Jephthah was a resemblance of the general state of the case between
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Israel and God at this time. They had thrust God out by their
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idolatries, yet in their distress begged his help; he told them how
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justly he might have rejected them, and yet graciously delivered them.
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So did Jephthah. Many slight God and good men till they come to be in
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distress, and then they are desirous of God's mercy and good men's
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prayers.</P>
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<P>
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IV. Their urgency with him to accept the government they offer him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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"Therefore because we formerly did thee that wrong, and to show thee
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that we repent of it and would gladly atone for it, we <I>turn again to
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thee now,</I> to put such an honour upon thee as shall balance that
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indignity." Let this instance be,
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1. A caution to us not to despise or trample upon any because they are
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mean, nor to be injurious to any that we have advantage against,
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because, whatever we think of them now, the time may come when we may
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have need of them, and may be glad to be beholden to them. It is our
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wisdom to make no man our enemy, because we know not how soon our
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distresses may be such as that we may be highly concerned to make him
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our friend.
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2. An encouragement to men of worth that are slighted or ill-treated.
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Let them bear it with meekness and cheerfulness, and leave it to God to
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make their light shine out of obscurity. Fuller's remark on this story,
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in his "Pisgah Sight," is this: "Virtue once in an age will work her
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own advancement, and, when such as hate it chance to need it, they will
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be forced to prefer it," and then the honour will appear the
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brighter.</P>
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<P>
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V. The bargain he makes with them. He had mentioned the injuries they
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had formerly done him, but, perceiving their repentance, his spirit was
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too great and generous to mention them any more. God had forgiven
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Israel the affronts they had put upon him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:16"><I>ch.</I> x. 16</A>),
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and therefore Jephthah will forgive. Only he thinks it prudent to make
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his bargain wisely for the future, since he deals with men that he had
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reason to distrust.
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1. He puts to them a fair question,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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He speaks not with too much confidence of his success, knowing how
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justly God might suffer the Ammonites to prevail for the further
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punishment of Israel; but puts an <I>if</I> upon it. Nor does he speak
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with any confidence at all in himself; if he do succeed, it is <I>the
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Lord that delivers them into his hand,</I> intending hereby to remind
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his countrymen to look up to God, as arbitrator of the controversy and
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the giver of victory, for so <I>he</I> did. "Now if, by the blessing of
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God, I come home a conqueror, tell me plainly <I>shall I be your
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head?</I> If I deliver you, under God, shall I, under him, reform you?"
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The same question is put to those who desire salvation by Christ. "If
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he save you, will you be willing that he shall rule you? for on no
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other terms will he save you. If he make you happy, shall he make you
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holy? If he be your helper, shall he be your head?"
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2. They immediately give him a positive answer
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
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"We will <I>do according to thy words;</I> command us in war, and thou
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shalt command us in peace." They do not take time to consider of it.
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The case was too plain to need a debate, and the necessity too pressing
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to admit a delay. They knew they had power to conclude a treaty for
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those whom they represented, and therefore bound it with an oath,
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<I>The Lord be witness between us.</I> They appeal to God's omniscience
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as the judge of their present sincerity, and to his justice as an
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avenger if afterwards they should prove false. <I>The Lord be a
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hearer,</I> so the word is. Whatever we speak, it concerns us to
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remember that God is a hearer, and to speak accordingly. Thus was the
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original contract ratified between Jephthah and the Gileadites, which
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all Israel, it should seem, agreed to afterwards, for it is said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+12:7"><I>ch.</I> xii. 7</A>),
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<I>he judged Israel.</I> He hereupon went with them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>)
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to the place where they were all assembled
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:17"><I>ch.</I> x. 17</A>),
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and there by common consent they <I>made him head and captain,</I> and
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so ratified the bargain their representatives had made with him, that
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he should be not only captain now, but head for life. Jephthah, to
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obtain this little honour, was willing to expose his life for them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+12:3"><I>ch.</I> xii. 3</A>),
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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>
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<P>
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VI. Jephthah's pious acknowledgment of God in this great affair
|
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(<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.
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|
|
|
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>
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<A NAME="Jud11_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_20"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_21"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_22"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_23"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_24"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_25"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_26"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_27"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud11_28"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The War with the Ammonites.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1143.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>12 And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children
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|
of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art
|
|
come against me to fight in my land?
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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.
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|
14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the
|
|
children of Ammon:
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|
15 And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away
|
|
the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
|
|
16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the
|
|
wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from
|
|
Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
|
|
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?
|
|
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.
|
|
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,
|
|
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?
|
|
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.
|
|
28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto
|
|
the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_31"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_32"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_33"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_34"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_35"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_36"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_37"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_38"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_39"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jud11_40"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<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>
|
|
<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.
|
|
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,
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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,
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(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,
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was looked upon as the more holy, more the Lord's, or devoted to him,
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for living unmarried: it was no part of the law either of the priests
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or of the Nazarites. Deborah and Huldah, both prophetesses, are both of
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them particularly recorded to have been married women. Besides, had she
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only been confined to a single life, she needed not to have desired
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these two months to bewail it in: she had her whole life before her to
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do that, if she saw cause. Nor needed she to take such a sad leave of
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her companions; for those that are of that opinion understand what is
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said in
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:40"><I>v.</I> 40</A>
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of their coming to <I>talk with her,</I> as our margin reads it, four
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days in a year. Therefore,
|
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[2.] It seems more probable that he offered her up for a sacrifice,
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|
according to the letter of his vow, misunderstanding that law which
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|
spoke of persons devoted by the curse of God as if it were to be
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applied to such as were devoted by men's vows
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+27:29">Lev. xxvii. 29</A>,
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<I>None devoted shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to
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|
death</I>), and wanting to be better informed of the power the law gave
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|
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
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|
hand, as he did Abraham's. If she came out designedly to be made a
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|
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;
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|
and, since he had made such a vow, he thought better to kill his
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|
daughter than break his vow, and let Providence bear the blame, that
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|
brought her forth to meet him.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) But, supposing that Jephthah did sacrifice his daughter, the
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|
question is whether he did well.
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[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,
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:32">Heb. xi. 32</A>.
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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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