SEV Biblia, Chapter 11:39
Pasados los dos meses volvió a su padre, e hizo de ella conforme a su voto que había hecho. Y ella nunca conoció varón.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 39. And it came to pass at the end of two months she returned to her father , etc.] For the request she made was not a pretence to make her escape out of his hands; but having done what she proposed to do, and the time fixed for it being come, she returned to her father’s house, and delivered herself to him: who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed : but what he did is a question, and which is not easily resolved; some think he really sacrificed her, through a mistaken sense of ( Leviticus 27:29) and which his action are accounted for through his living a military life, and in a distant part of the country, and at a time when idolatry had greatly prevailed in Israel, and to such a degree as it had not before, and no doubt that branch of it, sacrificing children to Molech; and Jephthah might think that though that was sinful, yet such a sacrifice might be acceptable to the Lord; and especially since his vow, as he thought, bound him to it; and how far the instance of Abraham offering up his son Isaac might encourage him to it, cannot be said: of this mind were Josephus f242 , Jonathan Ben Uzziah the Targumist, and some other Jewish writers f243 ; and many of the ancient Christian fathers, and many modern authors of every name among Christians; and it has been thought that the story of Iphigenia, who Capellus thinks is the same with Jepthigenia, that is, the daughter of Jephthah, and was slain by her father Agamemnon, having several circumstances in it similar to this, is taken from hence: and there is much such a case as this related of Idomeneus, a king of the Cretians, who upon his return after the destruction of Troy, being in a tempest, vowed, should he be saved, that he would sacrifice the first he met with to the gods; and as it was his son he first met with, he sacrificed him; or, as others say, would have done it, but was prevented by the citizens, and who on this account drove him from his kingdom. But others are of opinion that what Jephthah did according to his vow was, that he shut up his daughter, and separated her from the company of men, and obliged her to live unmarried all her days, and therefore she is said to bewail her virginity. Kimchi and Ben Melech say, he built a house for her without the city, where she dwelt alone, and knew no man; and where her father supported her, and obliged her to live all her days; and Abarbinel thinks, that the Romanists from hence learnt to build their cloisters to put their nuns in; and so Ben Gersom interprets this vow of her being separated from men, and devoted to the service of God; and which is the sense of many Christian interpreters. Now though Jephthah had no such power over his daughter, as to oblige her to perpetual virginity, nor did his vow bind him to it; for persons devoted to the Lord were not obliged to abstain from marriage, nor have we any instances of a monastic life in those times, nor among the Jews at any time; yet as he did something not right, which he thought his vow obliged him to, one would be rather tempted to think, in charity to him, that of the two evils he did the least; for if she was put to death, it must be done either by the magistrates, or by the priests, or by Jephthah himself; neither of which is probable: and she knew no man ; never married, but lived and died a virgin: “and it was a custom in Israel”; the Targum adds, “that a man might not offer his son or his daughter for a burnt offering, as Jephthah the Gileadite did, and did not consult Phinehas the priest; for had he consulted Phinehas the priest, he would have redeemed her with a price;” so Jarchi, according to ( Leviticus 27:4) but each stood upon their honour, as the Jews say f246 ; Jephthah being a king would not go to Phinehas, and Phinehas being an high priest; and the son of an high priest, would not go to a plebeian; and so, between them both, the maiden was lost: but the custom refers to what follows.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 29-40 - Several important lessons are to be learned from Jephthah's vow. 1 There may be remainders of distrust and doubting, even in the hearts of true and great believers. 2. Our vows to God should not be as purchase of the favour we desire, but to express gratitude to him. 3 We need to be very well-advised in making vows, lest we entangl ourselves. 4. What we have solemnly vowed to God, we must perform, in it be possible and lawful, though it be difficult and grievous to us 5. It well becomes children, obediently and cheerfully to submit to their parents in the Lord. It is hard to say what Jephthah did in performance of his vow; but it is thought that he did not offer his daughter as a burnt-offering. Such a sacrifice would have been a abomination to the Lord; it is supposed she was obliged to remai unmarried, and apart from her family. Concerning this and some othe such passages in the sacred history, about which learned men ar divided and in doubt, we need not perplex ourselves; what is necessar to our salvation, thanks be to God, is plain enough. If the reade recollects the promise of Christ concerning the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and places himself under this heavenly Teacher, the Holy Ghos will guide to all truth in every passage, so far as it is needful to be understood __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ויהי 1961 מקץ 7093 שׁנים 8147 חדשׁים 2320 ותשׁב 7725 אל 413 אביה 1 ויעשׂ 6213 לה את 853 נדרו 5088 אשׁר 834 נדר 5087 והיא 1931 לא 3808 ידעה 3045 אישׁ 376 ותהי 1961 חק 2706 בישׂראל׃ 3478
