That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
The daughters of Israel went up year by year for four days to meet with Jephthah's living daughter to talk with her, comfort her, and honor her, not to mourn her death at a funeral. The word rendered lament means to praise, rehearse, or celebrate, with the marginal reading to talk with, so the yearly going was to celebrate and speak with her. She remained alive after her father's vow, devoted to the Lord in lifelong virginity and religious service, never to marry or know a man. As his only child and only hope for continuing his house, her perpetual virginity wiped out his family line in Israel, and the yearly observance honored her self-sacrifice in yielding all hope of descendants and comforted her secluded life. Her continuing virginity was counted a great misfortune and loss, especially the loss of becoming a mother in Israel and of hope that the promised Messiah might come through her line, and the account stands as a warning against rash and unlawful vows whose sin is in making them and not in breaking them.
Meaning of Annual Commemoration
The yearly custom was a four-day visit by the daughters of Israel to Jephthah's living daughter, to meet with her, talk with her, comfort her, and honor her, not a funeral mourning for her death. They came to speak with her and to remember her lifelong virginity, not to lament that she had been killed. The yearly going honored her sacrifice in yielding all hope of descendants and comforted her in it.
The Hebrew word rendered lament means to praise, rehearse, or celebrate, and the margin reads to talk with, so the yearly going was to celebrate her and to speak with her. She remained alive after her father's vow, devoted to the Lord in lifelong virginity and in religious duties and service, never to marry or to know a man. She was set apart for religious duties for the rest of her life in her unmarried state, including service at the tabernacle. Her continuing virginity was under a vow of perpetual virginity by which she was devoted to the Lord rather than sacrificed as a burnt offering.
As his only child and only hope for continuing his house, her perpetual virginity wiped out his family line in Israel. The yearly observance honored that self-sacrifice and showed sympathy for her secluded life and esteem for her filial obedience. Her lifelong virginity was regarded as a great misfortune and loss, especially the loss of the possibility of becoming a mother in Israel and of establishing a household. The yearly observance recalls her relinquishing her hope of becoming a mother in Israel.
Her continuing virginity cut off Jephthah's hope that the promised Messiah might come through his descendants and rank her among the mothers of Israel and progenitors of the Messiah. The yearly four-day coming was a visit to her in her seclusion to show sympathy for the destruction of that hope. The annual observance itself supports that she was not killed as a burnt offering, since a festival honoring a human sacrifice would conflict with the law that condemns such sacrifices and would not have been preserved in Scripture as a fitting institution. Human sacrifice is contrary to the law and in the highest degree offensive to God, redemption is provided for a vowed person while one devoted in this way is held to His service, the vow meant the object would be offered in whatever manner circumstances permitted, and he had time to reconsider and seek release from the vow.
Warnings and Wider Connections
The account to which the yearly four-day observance belongs stands as an example of a rash oath. It shows the folly of making rash vows or promises, like Herod's oath at his birthday feast that caused the beheading of John the Baptist. It is a sad account in which unforeseen circumstances turn a rash vow into a sorrowful event, and an innocent daughter suffers because of yielding to social fashion. The vow involved was unlawful and unrighteous, and men are under a prior obligation to God that forbids making unlawful vows or oaths, so no one is at liberty to perform an unlawful act merely because he has bound himself by vow or oath. The sin is in making the unlawful vow and not in breaking it, and even when men deem it their duty to fulfill an unrighteous vow, God accepts no action that comes into His presence charged with the murder of other duties.
Jephthah was alone when commissioned to deliver Israel. This being alone with God is prevailing secret prayer, fulfilling the promise that the Father who sees in secret rewards openly, drawing the one who wrestles in the closet nearest to God and bringing richest blessing from on high for himself and others. The devoting of his daughter as a sacrifice was borrowed by heathen writers and became the foundation for the monstrous, distorted story of Iphigenia being sacrificed by her father Agamemnon, showing how occurrences mentioned in the Old Testament were taken as the basis for distorted stories among the ancients.
The verse belongs to the story of Jephthah as one of the Gideons, Davids, Joshuas, Barzillais and mighty men of war whom God raised up from time to time to deliver Israel. He was a valiant fighter helped by God in the strength of Him who always helped His valiant people when they kept His statutes. For that reason God's people may look for strength to strike a staggering blow against treason, oppression and slavery that hinders God's message.
The daughters of Israel went up year by year for four days to meet with Jephthah's living daughter to talk with her, comfort her, and honor her, not to mourn her death at a funeral. The word rendered lament means to praise, rehearse, or celebrate, with the marginal reading to talk with, so the yearly going was to celebrate and speak with her. She remained alive after her father's vow, devoted to the Lord in lifelong virginity and religious service, never to marry or know a man. As his only child and only hope for continuing his house, her perpetual virginity wiped out his family line in Israel, and the yearly observance honored her self-sacrifice in yielding all hope of descendants and comforted her secluded life. Her continuing virginity was counted a great misfortune and loss, especially the loss of becoming a mother in Israel and of hope that the promised Messiah might come through her line, and the account stands as a warning against rash and unlawful vows whose sin is in making them and not in breaking them.
Meaning of Annual Commemoration
The yearly custom was a four-day visit by the daughters of Israel to Jephthah's living daughter, to meet with her, talk with her, comfort her, and honor her, not a funeral mourning for her death. They came to speak with her and to remember her lifelong virginity, not to lament that she had been killed. The yearly going honored her sacrifice in yielding all hope of descendants and comforted her in it.
The Hebrew word rendered lament means to praise, rehearse, or celebrate, and the margin reads to talk with, so the yearly going was to celebrate her and to speak with her. She remained alive after her father's vow, devoted to the Lord in lifelong virginity and in religious duties and service, never to marry or to know a man. She was set apart for religious duties for the rest of her life in her unmarried state, including service at the tabernacle. Her continuing virginity was under a vow of perpetual virginity by which she was devoted to the Lord rather than sacrificed as a burnt offering.
As his only child and only hope for continuing his house, her perpetual virginity wiped out his family line in Israel. The yearly observance honored that self-sacrifice and showed sympathy for her secluded life and esteem for her filial obedience. Her lifelong virginity was regarded as a great misfortune and loss, especially the loss of the possibility of becoming a mother in Israel and of establishing a household. The yearly observance recalls her relinquishing her hope of becoming a mother in Israel.
Her continuing virginity cut off Jephthah's hope that the promised Messiah might come through his descendants and rank her among the mothers of Israel and progenitors of the Messiah. The yearly four-day coming was a visit to her in her seclusion to show sympathy for the destruction of that hope. The annual observance itself supports that she was not killed as a burnt offering, since a festival honoring a human sacrifice would conflict with the law that condemns such sacrifices and would not have been preserved in Scripture as a fitting institution. Human sacrifice is contrary to the law and in the highest degree offensive to God, redemption is provided for a vowed person while one devoted in this way is held to His service, the vow meant the object would be offered in whatever manner circumstances permitted, and he had time to reconsider and seek release from the vow.
Warnings and Wider Connections
The account to which the yearly four-day observance belongs stands as an example of a rash oath. It shows the folly of making rash vows or promises, like Herod's oath at his birthday feast that caused the beheading of John the Baptist. It is a sad account in which unforeseen circumstances turn a rash vow into a sorrowful event, and an innocent daughter suffers because of yielding to social fashion. The vow involved was unlawful and unrighteous, and men are under a prior obligation to God that forbids making unlawful vows or oaths, so no one is at liberty to perform an unlawful act merely because he has bound himself by vow or oath. The sin is in making the unlawful vow and not in breaking it, and even when men deem it their duty to fulfill an unrighteous vow, God accepts no action that comes into His presence charged with the murder of other duties.
Jephthah was alone when commissioned to deliver Israel. This being alone with God is prevailing secret prayer, fulfilling the promise that the Father who sees in secret rewards openly, drawing the one who wrestles in the closet nearest to God and bringing richest blessing from on high for himself and others. The devoting of his daughter as a sacrifice was borrowed by heathen writers and became the foundation for the monstrous, distorted story of Iphigenia being sacrificed by her father Agamemnon, showing how occurrences mentioned in the Old Testament were taken as the basis for distorted stories among the ancients.
The verse belongs to the story of Jephthah as one of the Gideons, Davids, Joshuas, Barzillais and mighty men of war whom God raised up from time to time to deliver Israel. He was a valiant fighter helped by God in the strength of Him who always helped His valiant people when they kept His statutes. For that reason God's people may look for strength to strike a staggering blow against treason, oppression and slavery that hinders God's message.