Judges 11:39

Overview - Judges 11
The covenant between Jephthah and the Gileadites, that he should be their head.
12 The treaty of peace between him and the Ammonites is in vain.
29 Jephthah's vow.
32 His conquest of the Ammonites.
34 He performs his vow on his daughter.
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Judges 11:39  (King James Version)
And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
 


did with
That Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter, but consecrated her to the service of God in the tabernacle, in a state of celibacy, will we imagine be evident from the following consideration:--1. Human sacrifices were ever an abomination to Jehovah, of which Jephthah could not be ignorant; and consequently he would neither have made such a vow, nor carried it into execution
2. We are expressly told (ver. 29) that Jephthah was under the influence of the Spirit of
God, which would effectually prevent him from embruing his hands in the blood of his own child 3. He had it in his power to redeem his daughter, ( Leviticus 27:4 ;)and surely his only child must have been of more value than thirty shekles
4. Besides, who was to perform the horrid rite? Not Jephthah himself, who was no priest, and in whom it would have been most unnatural and inhuman; and the priests would certainly have dissuaded him from it
5. The sacred historian informs us, that she bewailed her virginity, that she knew no man, and that the Israelitish women went yearly to comfort or lament with her.
31 ; Leviticus 27:28 Leviticus 27:29 ; Deuteronomy 12:31 ; Isaiah 66:3

to his vow
1 Samuel 1:11 1 Samuel 1:22 1 Samuel 1:24 1 Samuel 1:28 ; 2:18

custom
or, ordinance.