Judges 11:38

38 To whom he answered, Go thou. And he suffered her in two months (And he allowed her to go away for two months). And when she had gone forth with her fellows, and her play-fr?res, she bewept her maidenhood in the hills.

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 To whom she answered, My father, if thou openedest thy mouth to the Lord, do to me whatever thing thou promisedest, while vengeance and victory of thine enemies be granted to thee (for vengeance and victory over thy enemies have been granted to thee by the Lord).

37 And she said to her father, Give thou to me only this thing, which I beseech; suffer thou me that in two months I compass [the] hills (allow me for two months to go about the hills), and bewail my maidenhood with my fellows.

38 To whom he answered, Go thou. And he suffered her in two months (And he allowed her to go away for two months). And when she had gone forth with her fellows, and her play-fr?res, she bewept her maidenhood in the hills.

39 And when two months were fulfilled, she turned again to her father, and he did to her as he (had) avowed; and she knew no man fleshly, (that is, she died a virgin). From that time a custom came in Israel, and that custom is kept (to this day),

40 that after the end of the year the daughters of Israel come together, and bewail the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead (for) four days.