Judges 11:38

38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months, and she went with her companions and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

Judges 11:38 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 11:38

And he said, go
He granted her request at once:

and he sent her away for two months;
as she desired:

and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the
mountains;
for the space of two months: the Jewish commentators make mention of an allegorical exposition of a writer ^F9 of theirs, who by mountains understands the sanhedrim, to whom she proposed to go, who perhaps might find a way for the loosing of the vow; but it is a question whether there was such a court then in Israel; and had there been one, and either she or her father had applied to it, in this case the priests would have pointed out what was to be done, and especially if the vow had any regard to the sacrifice of his daughter; and even to her virginity, which he had no power to oblige her to; but the literal sense is no doubt to be followed.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Tanchuma.

Judges 11:38 In-Context

36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which has proceeded out of thy mouth, forasmuch as the LORD has taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the sons of Ammon.

37 And she said again unto her father, Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.

38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months, and she went with her companions and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

39 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 had never known a man. From here came the custom in Israel

40 that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, four days in a year.