Note: the below is a chapter from the book
of E. W. Bullinger : Great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews
11, Kregel Publications, 1979, pp. 324-331.
This book as well as all other work of E. W. Bullinger is in the public domain
(i.e. free from copyright).
Jephthah is introduced to us under the same title as
Gideon, «a mighty man of valour» (Judges 11:1). Again, we have not to consider
his history as a man, but his faith, which was of God.
He was one who feared Jehovah. In his earliest words
he calls Jehovah to witness; and he afterwards went and “uttered all his words
before Jehovah, in Mizpeh” (v. 11)
His message to the king of Ammon (vv. 14-27) shows
that he was well versed in the history of His people, as recorded in “the book
of the Law”. He must have studied it closely and to some purpose ; for he not
only knew the historical events as facts, but he recognised them as being
ordered by Jehovah.
He traced all to Jehovah. It was He Who had “delivered
Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel” (v.21). It was Jehovah, God
of Israel, who had disposed the Amorites before His people (v.23). What
Jephthah and Israel would now posses was what God had given to them (v. 24).
And it was Jehovah, the Judge, Whom he called on to judge between Israel and
Ammon (v. 27).
Jephthah had heard the words of Jehovah as written
down in the Scriptures of truth; and he believed them.
This is exactly an instance of what the Apostle refers
to in Hebrews xi. He, too, knew the history which Jephthah believed, and the
faith which conquered through God. This it is that gives Jephthah his place in
this great “cloud of witnesses.”
When he had thus called on God to judge, we read:
“Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah,” and we again note the words
which this describe the action of the Holy Spirit in that dispensation (v.29).
In the power of that Holy spirit, Jephthah undertook
the war with Ammon, and Jehovah crowned his faith by delivering the Ammonites
into his hand (v.32).
This is the exceedingly simple account of Jephthah’s
overcoming faith; and there is little to be added to it. He had simply read
what Jehovah had done; and thus heard what He had said. He believed what he had
thus read and heard, and this is quite sufficient to cause him to be placed
among the “elders who received a good report” on account of their faith.
But in the case of Jephthah, as in no other, we feel
compelled to go out of our way to vindicate him from what we shall show to be
the unjust judgement of men.
His God-wrought faith must not be tarnished without
the sure and certain warrant of the word of God itself.
Like Moses, Jephthah “spake unadvisedly with his
lips,” but this does not touch his faith in what he had heard from God; his vow
was made according to his zeal, but not according to knowledge. That he would
sacrifice his daughter, and that God would not reprobate by one word of
disapproval a human sacrifice is a theory incredible. It is only a human
interpretation, on which Theologians have differed in all ages, and which has
been reached without a careful examination of the text.
It is important to remember that the ancient Jewish
Commentator Rabbi David Kimchi (1160-1232) renders the words of the vow (Judges
11:31) very differently from the A.V (editor’s note: A.V. = Authorised version,
KJV) and R.V. (editor’s note: R.V. = Revised version), and he tells us that his
father Rabbi Joseph Kimchi (died 1180) held the same view. Both father and son,
together with Rabi Levi ben Gerson (born 1288), all of them among the most
eminent of Hebrew grammarians and commentators, who ought to know better than
any Gentile commentator, gave their unqualified approval to the rendering of
the words of the vow which, instead of making it relate to one object,
translate and interpret it as consisting of two distinct parts.
This is done by observing the well known rule that the
connective particle ו (vau, our English v) is often used as a disjunctive, and means “or”, when there is a second
proposition. Indeed this rendering is suggested in the margin of the A.V.
The following passages may be consulted:
Genesis 41:44
“Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up
his hand OR foot in all the land of Egypt.”
Exodus 20:4
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, OR any likeness of any thing that is in
heaven above, OR that is in the earth beneath, OR that
is in the water under the earth”
Exodus 21:15
“He that smiteth his father, OR his mother, shall be surely put to
death.”
Exodus 21:17
“He that curseth his father, OR his mother, shall surely be put to
death.”
Exodus 21:18
“if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, OR with his fist, and he die not, but
keepeth his bed”
Numbers 16:14
“Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and
honey, OR given us inheritance of fields and
vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.”
Numbers 22:26
“And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was
no way to turn either to the right hand OR to the left.”
Deuteronomy 3:24
“what God is there in heaven OR in earth”.
2 Samuel 3:29
“Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house; and let there
not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, OR that is a leper, OR that leaneth on a staff, OR that falleth on the sword, OR that lacketh bread.”
1 Kings 18:10
“there is no nation OR kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent
to seek thee.”
1 Kings 18:27
“And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for
he is a god; either he is talking, OR he is pursuing, OR he is in a journey, or peradventure he
sleepeth, and must be awaked.”
With a negative, the rendering “NOR” is equally
correct and conclusive:
Exodus 20:17
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour's wife, NOR his manservant, NOR his maidservant, NORhis ox, NOR his ass, NOR any thing that is thy neighbour's.”
Deuteronomy 7:25
“The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire
the silver OR gold that is on them, NOR take it unto thee, lest thou be snared
therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.”
2 Samuel 1:21
“neither let there be rain, upon you, NOR fields of offerings”
Psalms 26:9
“Gather not my soul with sinners, NOR my life with bloody men:”
Proverbs 6:4
“Give not sleep to thine eyes, NOR slumber to thine eyelids.”
Proverbs 30:3
“I neither learned wisdom, NOR have the knowledge of the holy.”
We are now in a position to read and understand the
word of Jephthah’s vow, where we have the same word, or rather the letter which
represents it, in Hebrew.
“Jephthah vowed a vow (i.e., made a solemn vow) unto
Jehovah,” which he had a perfect right to do. Such a vow was provided for in
the Law which prescribed exactly what was to be done in such cases ; and even
when the vow affected a person (as it did here) that person could be redeemed
if it were so desired. See Lev. 27 where in verses 1-8 it affected “persons,”
and verses 9-13 it affects “beasts”; and verses 14-15 a house.
It thus seems clear that Jephthah’s vow consisted of
two parts; one alternative to the other. He would either dedicate it to Jehovah
(according to Lev. 27), or, if unsuitable for this, he would offer it as a
burnt offering.
It should be noted also that, when he said “whatsoever
cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me,” the word “whatsoever” is
Masculine. But the issuer from his house was Feminine, and therefore could not
come, properly, within the sphere of his vow certainly not according to the
literal meaning of his words.
In any case, it should have been unlawful, and repugnant
to Jehovah, to offer a human being to Him as a burnt-offering, for His
acceptance.
Such offerings were common to heathen nations at that
time, but it is noteworthy that Israel stands out among them with this great
peculiarity, that human sacrifices were unknown in Israel.
It is recorded that Jephthah “did with her according
to his vow which he had vowed, and she knew no man” (v. 39). What has this to
do with a burnt offering, one way or the other? But it has everything to do
with the former part of his vow, in dedicating her to Jehovah. This seems to be
conclusive. It has nothing to do with a sacrificial death, but it has to do
with a dedicated life. She was dedicated to a perpetual virginity.
To what else can the “custom of Israel” refer (v. 39,
40) when “the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of
Jephthah the Gileadite, four day in a year” (v.40).
The word rendered “lament” occurs only in one other
passage in the Hebrew Bible, and that happens to be in this very book. So that
we could not possibly have a surer guide to its meaning.
The passage is in Judges 5:11, “There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of Jehovah.” It
means to talk with others hence to rehearse together.
This being done annually, the friends of Jephthah’s
daughter went to rehears with her, this continued virginity of her life, and
not to mourn over the past fact of her death.
We may conclude from the whole tenor of scripture, as
well as from Psalms 106: 35-38, Isaiah 57:5 etc., that human sacrifices were
abomination in the sight of God; and we cannot imagine that God would accept,
or that Jephthah would offer, human blood.
To uphold this idea is a libel on Jehovah as well as
on Jephthah.
We can understand Voltaire and other infidels doing
this, though they reason in a circle, and depend on the two cases of Isaac and
Jephthah’s daughter (which we dispute) to support their contention. Their
object is clear. But what are we to say opf the “higher” critics, most of whose
conclusions are to be found in some shape or another, in the writings of French
and English Atheists and Deists of the last century? On the other hand, it is
worthy of note to remark how the enemy of God’s word has used even innocent
persons to perpetuate traditions which bring a slur on Jehovah’s works and
words.
Milton’s words combined with Haydn’s music (The
Oratorio of “The Creation”) have riveted the tradition on the minds of all that
God created “chaos,” whereas “all His works are perfect” in beauty and in
order.
Milton’s words, again, combined with Handel’s music
(the Oratorio of “Jephthah”) have perpetuated the tradition that an Israelite
father offered his daughter as a burnt-offering to Jehovah.
It is too much to hope that these words of ours can do
much to break the tether of tradition with regard to either of the above
important subjects.
There is Rutualism to contend with on one hand, but
there Ritualism on the other; and so deep are the
ruts, that only the strongest faith (like the strongest axles) can get out of
them with success.
We need something of Jephthah’s faith in the inspired
records of God’s Word and works. He believed what Jehovah had caused to be
written in “the book of the Law.” He had read and pondered over those records of
Jehovah’s words and works, or he could not have spoken so strongly and so truly
of what had been written for his learning.
May it be ours to have a like faith, so that when we
have to contend with those who oppose us, we may not depend on our own arguments
or our own wisdom, but quote God’s Word written, and use “the sword of the
Spirit” – the God-breathed words which are so profitable to equip the man of
God, and all who would speak for Him, when we meet with those who “resist the
truth.”
Jephthah had heard,
Jephthah had believed, and
Jephthah was one of that group of overcomers who
conquered through God
E.W. Bullinger