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Article JEPHTHAH'S VOW CONSIDERED. ← Page 4 of 5 →
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Jephthah's Vow Considered.
thus depriving her of the privilege so desired by the daughters of Israel , of becoming a mother—and himself oi the opportunity of continuing bis own name among his people . These consequences of his vow wore sufficiently important to draw from Jephthah these expressions of regret , " 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 . " Had he contemplated the immolation of his
daughter , we presume he would have expressed himself far more significant of such an intention , the lofty tone of oriental expression required stronger language than Jephthah used ; contrast it with the mourning of David for Absalom , and that of Jacob for the loss of Josoph . If Jephthah had intended to immolate his daughter , she was as much dead to him as Absalom was to David , for we find , that whatever mi ght have been the nature of the vow , Jephthah " did with her according to his vow which he made . "
This part of the subject reminds us of an alleged reason in favour of the opinion that Jephthah did sacrifice his daughter , contained in Jenning ' s Jewish Antiquities ( Baynes' Edition , 1823 , page 41 ) . It is there stated , " that there is no rule nor precedent in scripture to justif y the practice of devoting persons to perpetual virginity ; but , on the contrary , this is spoken of as one of the anti-Christian corruptions of the " latter times , " " when men should depart from the faith , and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils" 1 Tim . iv . 1 . Nor was there
, any office belonging to the Temple service to be performed by women , except perhaps that some of the daughters of the Levites assisted b y their voices in the Temple choir , as some think is intimated in the 1 st Chron . xxv . 5 , 6 . " And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters . All these were under the hands of their father , for song in the house of the Lord , with cymbals , psalteries , and harps , for the service of the house of Godaccording to the king ' s order to Asaph
, , Jeduthun , and Heman . " However , Jephthah was not a Levite , and therefore his daughter could bear no part in that service , nor hath nunnery any countenance , either in the Jewish or Christian law , and to suppose therefore that Jephthah devoted his daughter to perpetual virginity , is to suppose him acting as contrary to the law of God , as if he had sacrificed her . " We cannot assent to the inference drawn from the assertion that there
was no rule nor precedent in Scripture to justify Jephthah ' s devotion of his daughter to perpetual virginity , nor do we assent to the assertion . We find in Num . xxxi . that the Israelites warred against the Midianites by the Divine command . In this war they slew all the males , took all the women of Midian captive , and their little ones , their cattle , their flocks , and their goods . These they brought unto Moses , and Eleazer the priest , and unto the congregation of Israel , in the plains of Moab .
Now Moses was wrath , and asked them , " Have ye saved all the women alive ? for , " said he , " these through the counsel of Balaam caused Israel to sin against the Lord . " He therefore commanded them to kill every male among the little ones , and every woman-child that had known man , but those women-children that had not known man , were to be kept alive for themselves . In the 25 th verse , the Lord commanded Moses to divide the prey , both of man and of beast , into two parts , one part for the army , and the other part for the non-combatants ; a tribute for the Lord was then to he levied on the portion appropriated to the army , one soul of five hundred , both of the persons and of the beeves ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Jephthah's Vow Considered.
thus depriving her of the privilege so desired by the daughters of Israel , of becoming a mother—and himself oi the opportunity of continuing bis own name among his people . These consequences of his vow wore sufficiently important to draw from Jephthah these expressions of regret , " 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 . " Had he contemplated the immolation of his
daughter , we presume he would have expressed himself far more significant of such an intention , the lofty tone of oriental expression required stronger language than Jephthah used ; contrast it with the mourning of David for Absalom , and that of Jacob for the loss of Josoph . If Jephthah had intended to immolate his daughter , she was as much dead to him as Absalom was to David , for we find , that whatever mi ght have been the nature of the vow , Jephthah " did with her according to his vow which he made . "
This part of the subject reminds us of an alleged reason in favour of the opinion that Jephthah did sacrifice his daughter , contained in Jenning ' s Jewish Antiquities ( Baynes' Edition , 1823 , page 41 ) . It is there stated , " that there is no rule nor precedent in scripture to justif y the practice of devoting persons to perpetual virginity ; but , on the contrary , this is spoken of as one of the anti-Christian corruptions of the " latter times , " " when men should depart from the faith , and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils" 1 Tim . iv . 1 . Nor was there
, any office belonging to the Temple service to be performed by women , except perhaps that some of the daughters of the Levites assisted b y their voices in the Temple choir , as some think is intimated in the 1 st Chron . xxv . 5 , 6 . " And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters . All these were under the hands of their father , for song in the house of the Lord , with cymbals , psalteries , and harps , for the service of the house of Godaccording to the king ' s order to Asaph
, , Jeduthun , and Heman . " However , Jephthah was not a Levite , and therefore his daughter could bear no part in that service , nor hath nunnery any countenance , either in the Jewish or Christian law , and to suppose therefore that Jephthah devoted his daughter to perpetual virginity , is to suppose him acting as contrary to the law of God , as if he had sacrificed her . " We cannot assent to the inference drawn from the assertion that there
was no rule nor precedent in Scripture to justify Jephthah ' s devotion of his daughter to perpetual virginity , nor do we assent to the assertion . We find in Num . xxxi . that the Israelites warred against the Midianites by the Divine command . In this war they slew all the males , took all the women of Midian captive , and their little ones , their cattle , their flocks , and their goods . These they brought unto Moses , and Eleazer the priest , and unto the congregation of Israel , in the plains of Moab .
Now Moses was wrath , and asked them , " Have ye saved all the women alive ? for , " said he , " these through the counsel of Balaam caused Israel to sin against the Lord . " He therefore commanded them to kill every male among the little ones , and every woman-child that had known man , but those women-children that had not known man , were to be kept alive for themselves . In the 25 th verse , the Lord commanded Moses to divide the prey , both of man and of beast , into two parts , one part for the army , and the other part for the non-combatants ; a tribute for the Lord was then to he levied on the portion appropriated to the army , one soul of five hundred , both of the persons and of the beeves ,