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not Israel to pass through his coast; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel; and the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon, and all his people, into the hand of Israel, and they smote them; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok; and from the wilderness even unto Jordan. So now the God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it? Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess. And now, art thou any thing better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, while Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? Why, therefore, did ye not recover them within that time? Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against

me. The Lord, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon." From this sensible and just remonstrance of Jephthah, it appears, that he possessed an accurate knowledge of the past history of the Israelites. The narrative of events which he gives, agrees exactly with the history contained in the books of Moses. There is here also an important note of the period of time which had elapsed since the children of Israel arrived at Jordan, on their march from Egypt. Perhaps, however, a round number is used by Jephthah, as coming near to the time; for precision as to the exact number of years was not essential to his argument. He mentions three hundred years, as the period during which the children of Israel had had possession of the country now in dispute. This period would be of great importance in fixing the chronology of the Bible, if we could depend upon it as being entirely exact, for it is extremely difficult to ascertain the time which had elapsed from the length of the government of the successive judges, since there might have been intervals when no judge exercised authority over the people; and we do not know exactly how long it was from the entering Canaan to the commencement of the authority of the first judge, after the death of Joshua.

SECTION XXIV.

JEPHTHAH's vow-HIS DAUGHTER COMES OUT TO MEET HER FATHER-HIS DISTRESS -HER PIETY AND SUBMISSION-AN INQUIRY WHETHER JEPHTHAH ACTUALLY PUT HIS DAUGHTER TO DEATH-LAMENTATION FOR HER BY THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL.

NEGOTIATION having proved ineffectual to bring the Ammonites to reasonable terms, Jephthah prepared for war. "Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and he passed over unto the children of Ammon. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, 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 Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering." In the marginal reading, we have or instead of and, in this last sentence; and this, many learned commentators consider the true interpretation; for although the Hebrew particle is used for and, in a vast majority of instances, yet there are many cases in which it must be rendered or, to make a sense consistent with the context. And in this passage there exist strong reasons for such an interpretation. Jephthah seems to have been a man of sense, and to have had a regard for justice and right. He was, moreover, according to the testimony of Paul, a man distinguished for his faith, as his name is inserted in the catalogue of eminent believers, which this apostle has given us in the eleventh chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews: and in this very passage, he is represented as acting under the impulse of the Holy Spirit. Now it is not reasonable to suppose that such a man would make a vow to offer as a burntoffering a human being, much less his own daughter, if one of these should first come out of the house to meet him? Or, suppose a dog, or a swine, to have been the animal to meet him, would he, as an Israelite, have dared to offer such a sacrifice on the altar of God? Or would the high-priest have permitted such a profanation. The vow to offer as a burnt-offering a human being, or an unclean animal, would have been an impious vow, which God never could have accepted and answered: but the vow of Jephthah was effectual. He obtained of the Lord the very favour which he petitioned for in making this From all these considerations, I am disposed to favour the marginal reading, and this opinion is confirmed by the manner in which the execution of the vow is related; of which an account will immediately be given. The sense of the vow, then, according to this explanation, is, that if he should be successful in overcoming Ammon, Jephthah promises, that what

Vow.

ever person or animal should come out of his house to meet him, should be devoted unto God; or if an animal suitable for sacrifice, should be offered up as a burnt-offering. "So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he smote them from Aroer even until thou came to Minnith, twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

"And Jephthah came to Mizpeh to his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child. Beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me; for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee on thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity: I and my fellows. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. And it came to pass, at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to the vow which he had vowed and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in a year."

The lamentation made in this case by Jephthah, was not greater than was natural, upon the supposition that his daughter was to spend her life in celibacy, in some retired place: for this cut off all hope of offspring, the desire of which is instinctive, and among the Israelites was peculiarly strong; so that to be without any one to be their heir and successor, was deemed in that nation a grievous curse. But if Jephthah had now felt himself bound by his vow to offer up his daughter as a burnt-offering, his signs of sorrow would have been much more violent. We may well suppose that he would, instead of being contented with a single pathetic lamentation, have rent his clothes, and laid himself down upon the ground, covered with sackcloth and ashes, for at least seven days. It is also reasonable to conjecture, that his eyes would now have been opened to perceive the rashness and impiety of such a vow; and that he would now deeply lament his sin in

making it. And if the army of Israel interposed by force to prevent king Saul from putting Jonathan to death, when he had brought himself under the obligation of a vow to that effect, we may well suppose that Jephthah would not have been permitted to sacrifice his only child, if he had felt himself bound to perform the act. The truth, however, is, that all such vows, as being contrary to the law of God, cannot create a moral obligation; for then man, by his own wicked act, might nullify the law of God.

Again, the way in which Jephthah's daughter received the information of her father's vow, shows that it could not be that she understood that she was to be offered up as a burntoffering. Certainly, the offering of human victims, except to Moloch, was a thing unknown in Israel; and the idea of being thus sacrificed, must, at the first hearing of the intention, have been shocking and overwhelming to the feelings of a young female; and however ardent her filial piety, she could not so calmly and cheerfully have requested her father to fulfil his Vow; especially, her piety if at all enlightened, would have revolted against being made a sacrifice in direct violation of the law of God. The request to spend two months with her companions, "to lament her virginity," seems to prove that the Vow of Jephthah related not to the death of his daughter, but to a life of celibacy in some recluse place. That there did exist some custom of this kind in Israel, is probable, from many sources of evidence. The same conclusion is deducible from the statement, that she never had intercourse with any man; which on any other supposition would be a strange and irrelevant remark.

The record, "that Jephthah did with her according to his vow" is scarcely reconcilable with the idea that he killed his child. The sacred historian would have entered more into the circumstances of an action so extraordinary, as we find done in the case of Abraham, when commanded to offer up Isaac for a burnt-offering. And we might have expected some remark to justify or condemn the act, lest it should be inferred from the bare mention of the fact, that such vows, and such actions in fulfilment of them, were lawful to other persons.

The last sentence in the history of this transaction is difficult of interpretation. "That it became a custom for the daughters of İsrael to lament the daughter of Jepthah the Gileadite, four days in the year." This does, indeed, as here translated, seem to indicate that she had been sacrificed, at least, was dead. But this version is not literally exact, and was evidently made to suit the hypothesis which we reject. The literal translation here is, as in many other places, set down in the margin: "The daughters of Israel went yearly to talk with the daughter

of Jephthah, four days in the year." Now, while this is utterly repugnant to the common interpretation, it not only accords with that which we defend, but furnishes a convincing evidence of its truth. For if the daughters of Israel could talk with her, she certainly was still in the land of the living. And if she was shut up in some recluse place, this visit would be a very natural and proper thing. thing. One other remark on this passage is, that we never find that it was a custom in Israel to have an anniversary mourning for the dead.

From all these considerations, the opinion that Jephthah did not offer up his daughter as a burnt-offering, seems to be highly probable, if not absolutely certain.

SECTION XXV.

INGRATITUDE OF THE PEOPLE TOWARDS JEPHTHAH-HIS VINDICATION OF HIMSELF AND BRETHREN-THE MEN OF EPHRAIM SMITTEN AT THE FORDS OF JORDANDETECTED BY THEIR PRONUNCIATION OF A WORD JEPHTHAH DIES, AFTER A GOVERNMENT OF ONLY SIX YEARS.

INGRATITUDE to benefactors and deliverers, and discontent with the most favourable circumstances, are the characteristics of the multitude in every country. The men of Ephraim were not satisfied to enjoy the fruits of Jephthah's great victory. When the country of Gilead, the possession of the Reubenites, was subdued and oppressed by the Ammonites, earnest application had been made to the tribes on the west of Jordan, to aid in expelling these oppressors; but they, being themselves in no immediate danger, neglected to send any assistance to their suffering brethren, on the other side of the river. But now, when a great victory had been obtained by the courage and generalship of Jephthah, the Ephraimites made it the ground of a fierce accusation against him, that they had not been invited to take part in the war. "Wherefore," said they, "passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? We will burn thy house upon thee with fire. And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand; wherefore, then, are ye come up unto me, this day, to fight against me?" But these unreasonable men would not be satisfied with any explanation. Jephthah was under the necessity of contending with them in battle, or of giving himself and his property into their hands. To threats, the men of Ephraim also added bitter reproaches, saying, "Ye Gileadites

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