jephthah's vow.
Judg. xi. 80, 31. And Jephthah voioed a vow Ktito the Lord, and said, If thou shalt ivithout fail deliver the children of Ammon into miyie ha^ids, then it shall he, that whatsoever Cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely he the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a hurnt-offering.
VOWS were common under the Mosaic dispen- sation : they were even encouraged by God himself, in order that his people might have opportunities of manifesting the love that was in their hearts by offerings that were not enjoined, and services that were not commanded. In cases of difficulty, where it appeared of more than ordinary importance to secure the divine favour and protection, the patri- archs had resorted to vows, and bound themselves, in case he should vouchsafe to them the desired bless- ing, to render unto him according to the benefits he should confer upon them. Thus Jacob, when he had just left his father and family in order to seek in a foreign land a refuge from his brother's vengeance, vowed, that, if the Lord would be with him and restore him to his home in peace, he would take God entirely for his God, and devote to him a tenth of all that he should possess''. In the time of Moses, the whole people of Israel resorted to the same mea- sure, in order to obtain success against the Canaan- ites^. This, it must be confessed, has a legal appearance, and looks like offering to make a bar- gain with God : but vows may certainly be made in perfect consistency with the liberal spirit of the Gospel : for it is intimated, that under the Gospel, yea even in the millennial age, such a practice should
a Gen. xxviii. 20—22, ^ Numb. xxi. 2.