The Pulpit Commentary — Judges — Section 122

men, not only as a verbal communication, but as a law illustrated in life and conduot. These interests were the highest interests of the world, and Israel was custodian of them for all future ages. There is n humanitarianism that discounts truth and would reduce all duty to the nearer and more external utilities of life. The Bible whilst not ignorin~ the broth~r~ood of men (no book guards this so jealously), i~ careful to ground 1t upon a D1:,rne fatherhood, and to secure its true observance by enforcement of morality and ng-hteousness. Israel, too, was not at liberty to exercise forbearance. " The iniquity" of these nations "was full," They were guilty of unnameable crime.s, rejecters of Divine revelation, and cumberers of the 0crround yet to be occupied by God's gracious purposes. II. ALL TH~OUGH ~EHO\'AH WAS 1;ECOGNISED AS THE TRUE ARBITER. Nothing could be more 1mpressIVe than the attitude of Jephthah. He is anxious to obtain a just settlement without recourse to arms. He sets forth his statement of the case with the utmost courtesy, exactitude, and forbearance, Every opportunity is given for p~acef_ul unde~star.iding; but Am~1on turns a deaf ear. ~olemnly then, under the peculiar d1spensat10n m winch they hved, they put the question in the hand8 of God. Je~ovah is to wi~r.iess_between the disputants, and th~ war is no longer a confused stnfe,_ bu! a pumt1ve ~udgment. Israel, under such 01rcumstances, was not at liberty to :waive 1ts mor~l cla1f.lls, and to grant_ a_ truce ere the enemy ha~ yielded the point at issue. Israel 1s the mstrument of D1vme vengeance upon a Wlcked and obstinate nation. It is an anachronism of the gravest consequence to judge of the wars of the ancient world by the ameliorated conditions of modern life, Ill. THE LEADER OF ISRAEL RECEIVED HIS COMMISSION DIRECTLY FROM THE HANDS OF Goo. Nothing else can be meant by "then the Spirit of Jehovah came upon J ephthah." !Ji vine impulse, Divine wisdom, Divine obligation are all implied. It is no longer a war whose main issues and movements are subject to fallible human conditions ; it is really in God's hands. He bears the blame, so far as his commands are observed. If the mode of warfare, &c. appear inhuman, it will be because our minds fail to grasp the tremendous importance of that righteousness of which they were the slow precursors and rude witnesses. IV. THE WAR IS CARRIED ON IN THE SPIRIT OF SELF-SACRIFICE AND IMPLICIT DEVOTION. The vow of Jephthah shows this. He anticipates his return in victory, and the people's enthusiastic welcome to him as their deliverer. Like Gideon, he will not accept this; it is Jehovah's alone. To Jehovah, therefore, he vows of his own "whatsoever cometh forth (out) of the doors of.my house to meet me." No grati- fication of self, therefore, could be the motive of such a campaign. If, on the other hand, there is not that repugnance to bloodshed displayed by Jephtrah that might be looked for in a Christian leader, we must remember that the religious nature developed slowly in human history, and God chose his instruments noi because they were perfect, but, such as they were, to bring on higher possibilities and a. better time.-M. Vers. 30, 31, 34-40.-Jephtha~•s vow. . What it _involved h_as been ~mch di~puted. But the wording of the vov.: cei:tarnly admits of an mterpre!o.tlon consistent with.the highest humanity. The ob1ect 1s expressed neutrally, as bemg more C'omprehens1ve; but there is a distinction introduced into the consequent member of the sentence which shows that regard is had to a. dual possibility, viz., of the object being either persona.I or otherwise. If the former, he or sl1e was_ to be "Jeho_vah's," an expression unnecessary if it was to be made a burnt offermg, and which could only mean "dedicated to perpetual virginity or p_riesthoo~." If the latter, he would "offer it for a burnt offering." It bears out this that his daughter asks for two months "to bewail her virginity." The inference is im~erative. It was not death, but perpetual virginity to which she was devoted. In this vow we observe- I. Tail SPIRIT OF CONSECRATION IT EVINCED. Its meaning was evident, Jehovah was the true Judge and Deliverer of Israel. His, therefore, should be the glory when Israel returned in victory. There was to be no diverting of honour from him to Jephthah. A sacrifice, therefore, s~ould be made b?fore a.II men to acknowle1ge tliis. But as Jephthah is t?~ pe~son most _m danger of beu~g tempted to ~orget G~d s cl~1m, be himself gives ant1c1pat1vely of his own, and of hie own, especially, winch might t'll, XI, 29-40.] THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 129