Judges 11:31-35

Judges 11:31

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 LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

 

Then Jephthah continues with the vow to the Lord.  Jephthah determined that if he was victorious over the Ammonites, then when he returned home, that whatever came out of the doors of his house shall be the Lord’s and he will offer it up a burnt offering.  The burnt offerings could be a sheep, ox, lamb, or ram which is what he thought would come out of the house to meet him.  The word “house” in this verse does not necessarily mean the place where only people live, even though that is the main understanding. It is also used as a word which describes a place where animals were kept.  Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.  (Psalm 104:17, KJV)  He was not counting on his daughter to run out of the main house to meet him but would have expected one of the sacrifice animals to have wandered out.

 

Judges 11:32

So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

 

Jephthah then engaged the children of Ammon as they chose to go the way of war but it did not go well for them since the Lord delivered them into the hands of Jephthah.  This meant that Ammon lost the battle and their effort to take the land was quashed.

 

Judges 11:33

And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even 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.

 

Then the battle against the Ammonites confessed.  He struck them from the city of Aroer to the place of Minnith which may have been a farm area famous for wheat about 4 miles (7 km) from Heshbon.  Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.  (Ezekiel 27:17, KJV)  It may have also been a village within the area of Heshbon.  There was a place of vineyards called Abel-Meholah which was about a distance of 7 miles (11 km) from Philadelphia which was about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Aroer.  The Ammonites were subdued to the point that they no longer posed a threat to Israel.

 

Judges 11:34

And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

 

Jephthah now returned home to Mizpeh which was somewhat near the town of Gilead.  The Lord had given him the victory over the Ammonites.  Apparently the word had come down that Jephthah was victorious over the Ammonites.  When his daughter heard him approaching, she came out and danced the dance of joy and victory. This was his only child as the Scriptures teach.

 

Judges 11:35

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 LORD, and I cannot go back.

 

Jephthah was so filled with anguish that when he saw his daughter emerge from the house, he was filled with so much remorse that he rent his clothes which was a sign of grief and contrition. He had prostrated himself in front of his daughter as a sign of his condition as he was feeling very low.  He had made a vow to the Lord concerning a burnt offering and believed he could not go back on that vow.  God was not one to accept any human sacrifice.  That was something the pagans did with their false gods like Milcom and Chemosh.  If Jephthah would have approached one of the priests, he could have gotten counsel on that vow and it would probably been negated since God does not require human sacrifice as the false religions did.

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