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Article JEPHTHAH'S VOW CONSIDERED. ← Page 5 of 5
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Jephthah's Vow Considered.
Before we submit the instances of devotement , we would call our readers' attention to the 18 th chap , of Numbers , v . xiv— " Every thing devoted ( DTl ) in Israel shall be thine . " This passage is contained in a series of directions to Aaron , the priest , which occupies the whole chapter . It must be observed that there is a great distinction between "None devoted of men" ( referring to aliens ) and " Every thing devoted in Israel , ( referring to the first class of devotements ) (? in ) . Jephthah ' s
daughter was certainly in , i . e . of Israel , and she became the priest ' s , for some sacred employment , probably in the same manner as the thirtytwo virgins already alluded to in the former paper . We would also observe that Matthew Henry , in his valuable commentary , supposes that Jephthah recollected the 29 th verse , and completely forgot the 28 th verse ; for he says— " It seems more probable that he offered his daughter for a sacrificeaccording to the letter of
up , his ypw , misunderstanding that law which spoke of persons devoted by the curse of God , as if it were to be allied to such as were devoted by man ' s vows ; and then he quotes the 29 th verse . The reasonableness of this assumption cannot easily be seen ; the two kinds of devotements are contained in two consecutive verses , and Jephthah ' s remembrance of the one and forgetfulness of the other , is in direct opposition to his
intimate knowledge of the Jewish History , so plainly demonstrated in his message to the Ammonites . The first instance of devotement to destruction is that of the Amalekites and Canaanites , who were devoted by God himself . 2 nd . In Mount Hor , where the Israelites were attacked by Arad , king of the southern Canaanites , who took some of them prisoners , they vowed a vow unto the Lord , that they would utterly destroy the Canaanites and their citiesif the Lord should deliver them into their hands ,, which vow
, Jehovah ratified , hence the place was called PTDin Hormah , because the vow was accompanied by Din ( cherem ) or devotement to destruction . Num . xxi , 1—3 . 3 rd . Saul sentenced Jonathan to die for the inadvertent breach of the oath he so hastily made , and a solemn instance of devotement was this , as we find by the terms of it— "God do so , and more also , for thou shalt surel y die , Jonathan . " The people , however , interposed and
rescued Jonathan for his public services , thus assuming the power of dispensing in their collective capacity with an unreasonable oath . This latter class , therefore , is utterly irrelative to Jephthah ' s vow , which did not regard a foreign enemy , or a domestic transgressor , devoted to destruction ; but , on the contrary , was a vow of thanksgiving , and therefore properly came under the former class . ( To be continued . )
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Jephthah's Vow Considered.
Before we submit the instances of devotement , we would call our readers' attention to the 18 th chap , of Numbers , v . xiv— " Every thing devoted ( DTl ) in Israel shall be thine . " This passage is contained in a series of directions to Aaron , the priest , which occupies the whole chapter . It must be observed that there is a great distinction between "None devoted of men" ( referring to aliens ) and " Every thing devoted in Israel , ( referring to the first class of devotements ) (? in ) . Jephthah ' s
daughter was certainly in , i . e . of Israel , and she became the priest ' s , for some sacred employment , probably in the same manner as the thirtytwo virgins already alluded to in the former paper . We would also observe that Matthew Henry , in his valuable commentary , supposes that Jephthah recollected the 29 th verse , and completely forgot the 28 th verse ; for he says— " It seems more probable that he offered his daughter for a sacrificeaccording to the letter of
up , his ypw , misunderstanding that law which spoke of persons devoted by the curse of God , as if it were to be allied to such as were devoted by man ' s vows ; and then he quotes the 29 th verse . The reasonableness of this assumption cannot easily be seen ; the two kinds of devotements are contained in two consecutive verses , and Jephthah ' s remembrance of the one and forgetfulness of the other , is in direct opposition to his
intimate knowledge of the Jewish History , so plainly demonstrated in his message to the Ammonites . The first instance of devotement to destruction is that of the Amalekites and Canaanites , who were devoted by God himself . 2 nd . In Mount Hor , where the Israelites were attacked by Arad , king of the southern Canaanites , who took some of them prisoners , they vowed a vow unto the Lord , that they would utterly destroy the Canaanites and their citiesif the Lord should deliver them into their hands ,, which vow
, Jehovah ratified , hence the place was called PTDin Hormah , because the vow was accompanied by Din ( cherem ) or devotement to destruction . Num . xxi , 1—3 . 3 rd . Saul sentenced Jonathan to die for the inadvertent breach of the oath he so hastily made , and a solemn instance of devotement was this , as we find by the terms of it— "God do so , and more also , for thou shalt surel y die , Jonathan . " The people , however , interposed and
rescued Jonathan for his public services , thus assuming the power of dispensing in their collective capacity with an unreasonable oath . This latter class , therefore , is utterly irrelative to Jephthah ' s vow , which did not regard a foreign enemy , or a domestic transgressor , devoted to destruction ; but , on the contrary , was a vow of thanksgiving , and therefore properly came under the former class . ( To be continued . )