Judges 11:38 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains.

NIV: You may go,' he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry.

NASB: Then he said, 'Go.' So he let her go for two months; and she left with her friends, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity.

CSB: "Go," he said. And he sent her away two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity as she wandered through the mountains.

NLT: You may go,' Jephthah said. And he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

Jephthah grants his daughter's request (Judges 11:37). He made an ill-advised promise to God (Judges 11:30–31), which wound up entangling his daughter (Judges 11:34–36). She takes two months to travel in the mountains with her friends and grieve that she will never marry and have children. For many women and girls during this era, that was the greatest loss of opportunity they could imagine. That this is the emphasis of her mourning may or may not imply that Jephthah does not intend to sacrifice her life, only to devote her to God in some form of service.

Scholars and commentators disagree about the implications presented here. Is this weeping over her lack of children, only? Or grieving for the end of her life? Either option has advocates, but it is not possible to say for certain.

Judges 11:29–40 begins with God's Spirit coming on Jephthah and empowering him to raise an army from Gilead and Manasseh. Before attacking the Ammonites, Jephthah makes a vow regarding victory in the war. When Israel wins the victory, Jephthah's vow surprisingly binds him to offer his daughter, his only child, as an offering to the Lord. She agrees that her father must follow through on this sacred promise, but she first spends two months grieving that she will not marry or have children. Jephthah fulfills his vow, though scholars have long debated how, exactly, he did so.

A man named Jephthah is driven away from his home in Gilead by jealous brothers. He settles in Tob, where he becomes warrior chief of a criminal band. Gilead's elders later recruit Jephthah to lead the fight against their Ammonite oppressors. After a failed negotiation attempt, Jephthah vows to make a burnt offering to the Lord of whatever comes to meet him if God gives him victory over the Ammonites. Israel thoroughly defeats Ammon, and Jephthah's daughter, his only child, greets him. Jephthah carries out his vow after his daughter grieves never marrying or having children.

Judges 11 answers the question raised at the end of the previous chapter: who could lead Gilead's fight against the Ammonites? The elders recruit Jephthah, a warrior driven away by his family in Gilead. Jephthah agrees to return and is appointed leader of Gilead. Jephthah raises an army and makes a foolish vow to the Lord in exchange for victory. Israel defeats Ammon, but Jephthah's vow costs him his only child, his daughter. His victory also creates civil strife in Israel, leading to a minor civil war.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).

Accessed 5/1/2024 8:25:10 PM