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Bible Commentary
Judges

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Judges 11

Jdg 11:1

Jephthah's theme: "Your brothers who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said, 'Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy!' Yet they will be put to shame" (Isa 66:5). See Jdg 11:7...

JEPHTHAH: "He will open".

GILEAD: That is, the prince of Gilead.

Jdg 11:2

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET ANY INHERITANCE: "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac" (Gen 21:10). "But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east" (Gen 25:6).

Jdg 11:3

TOB: A land north of Gilead, east of Jordan. "Tob" means "good" -- probably an ironic name for the "badlands" north of Gilead (2Sa 10:6, mg), a land of barren basalt.

ADVENTURERS: KJV has "vain"; lit "empty" = destitute, not necessarily wicked.

Jdg 11:9

Jephthah is speaking as God in Jdg 10: 'If I deliver you from the nations (Jdg 10:11), will you then serve Me (God) or the gods of the nations (Jdg 10:6)?'

Jdg 11:13

THEY TOOK AWAY MY LAND: Ct Deu 2:19. What Israel took was part of Moab and Ammon which had already been seized by Sihon the Amorite (Num 21:26; Jos 13:25).

Jdg 11:15

MOAB: Note the emphasis on Moab in vv 15,17,18, because he was the brother of Ammon: Gen 19:36-38. At the time spoken of, Ammon was out of the picture.

Jdg 11:22

THE DESERT: Hinting that Ammon could have as much of the wilderness from Rabbath-Ammon and eastward as it liked.

Jdg 11:24

CHEMOSH: But Molech, or Milcom, was the god of the Amorites. This was a diplomatic insult: 'This land belongs to Chemosh of the Moabites even more than to your god.' See detail of historical territorial claims: Num 21:26; Deu 2:19; 3:11; Jos 13:25. Or, alternatively, had Ammon taken over Molech?

Jdg 11:25

Deu 23:3,4 implies that Ammon shared with Moab in the hiring of Balaam.

Jdg 11:26

THREE HUNDRED YEARS: The exact sum of all the periods mentioned in the Judges up to this point. And Jephthah knew these facts!

Jdg 11:29

THE SPIRIT CAME UPON JEPHTHAH: Thus confirming v 11; cp Acts 6:3,6.

Jdg 11:30

Vv 30-40: Human sacrifice was forbidden (Deu 12:30,31; Psa 106:37,38; Isa 66:3; Jer 32:35; Lev 20:2-5: see Xd Ans 124). See Lesson, Jephthah's vow (HAW).

VOW: This vow, "nadar", might be redeemed (Lev 27:2,8). Not sw as "cherem" (Lev 27:29), which could not be redeemed.

Jdg 11:31

WHATEVER: Or poss "whoever", as applied esp to women who customarily come out to meet victorious warriors (see Jdg 11:34n).

WILL BE THE LORD'S: The firstborn were also the Lord's, but it was commanded that they be redeemed: Exo 13:2,13; Num 18:15,16. An alternative reading of Jephthah's vow is on these lines: "Whatsoever cometh forth... to meet me... shall surely be the Lord's, or I will offer it up for a burnt-offering." The Hebrew text could mean this (there are plenty of examples of 'and' and 'or' being interchangeable).

AND: Or "or" (AV mg): Cp Exo 21:17 / Mat 15:4.

BURNT OFFERING: In ct other sacrifices, wholly consumed; nothing returns to offerer. Specific rules of burnt offering (Lev 1:1-17; 7:8): male to be offered; skin to belong to priests; and blood sprinkled round altar. So, perhaps, Jephthah had in mind another offering altogether.

WILL BE THE LORD'S: The firstborn were also the LORD's, but it was commanded that they be redeemed: Exo 13:2,13; Num 18:15,16. An alternative reading of Jephthah's vow is on these lines: "Whatsoever cometh forth... to meet me... shall surely be the Lord's, or I will offer it up for a burnt-offering." The Hebrew text could mean this (there are plenty of examples of 'and' and 'or' being interchangeable). But, as indicated in the text, there are difficulties of interpretation in the way of this reading.

Jdg 11:34

Vv 34-40: See Article, Jephthah's daughter, fate of.

TAMBOURINES: Thus other women accompanied her, as did women with David (1Sa 18:6), and Miriam (Exo 15:20). Cp Psa 68:25.

Jdg 11:35

Jephthah was willing to offer, in complete devotion to God, ANY woman who first came out to greet him. But there were prob many maidservants, etc who might have come out first, rather than his only daughter.

Jdg 11:37

TO ROAM THE HILLS: Because (it has been suggested) her mourning could not be done in modesty at home or in the town.

Jdg 11:39

Other examples of tabernacle service by women: Exo 38:8; 1Sa 2:22; Lam 1:4; Psa 68:25; 1Ch 25:5,6; 15:20; 2Ch 36:17; Luk 2:37.

Jdg 11:40

FOUR DAYS: Either the four days from Day of Atonement to Feast of Tabernacles, or four separate days in the year at the main feasts of the Lord.

THE YOUNG WOMEN OF ISRAEL: Other women dedicated to permanent service in the precincts of the tabernacle. Suggested by: (a) The women who "assembled at the door of the tabernacle" (Exo 38:8; 1Sa 2:22) apparently had duties in connection with the service of the tabernacle; (b) Lam 1:4: "The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to her solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh: her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness." The reference is to the temple service in the time of Jeremiah; (c) Psa 68:25: "The singers (the sanctuary choir, see v 24) went before, the players on instruments (the sanctuary orchestra) followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels"; (d) Heman's fourteen sons and three daughters who were "all under the hand of their father for song in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, psalteries and harps" (1Ch 25:5,6); (e) 1Ch 15:20 and the title to Psa 46 mentions "Alamoth", in allusion to the maidens' choir associated with the sanctuary; (f) Other Scriptures indicating the same practice are Num 31:30; Ezra 2:65; Luke 2:37; and 2Sa 13:18.

COMMEMORATE: Heb word used only here and Jdg 5:11, where women of Israel commemorate righteous acts of God. Not the common word translated "weep" or "wept" in Jdg 11:37,38 -- which might have been used if grief were intended.

The word here translated "lament" (KJV) definitely does not mean "lament". Its only other OT occurrence excludes such a meaning: "There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord" (Jdg 5:11). The form of the Hebrew sentence suggests that these maidens came to "talk with" the daughter of Jephthah (as KJV mg). The same Heb root could mean (as in Hos 8:9,10) that they brought her gifts.
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