---
title: "Bullinger"
description: "Jephthah = He will deliver. Note the Fig,  Epanadiplosis ( App-6 ), to call attention to the facts of this verse, introducing Jephthah. All was irregular"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/bullingers-companion-bible-notes/judges/11"
---

**Jephthah** = He will deliver. Note the Fig, *Epanadiplosis* ( App-6 ), to call attention to the facts of this verse, introducing Jephthah. All was irregular: no king, no judge, no priest.
**Gileadite** = son of the man Gilead.
**man.** Hebrew. *gibbor.* App-14 .

**strange** = foreign.

**from.** Hebrew "from the face of". Figure of speech *Pleonasm.* App-6 .
**Tob** = fruitful land. East of Syria.
**vain** = unemployed, or bankrupt.

**children** = sons.

**the LORD.** Hebrew. *Jehovah.* App-4 .

**be witness** = be a hearer.

**with.** Some codices, with three early printed editions, read "unto".
**before the LORD** = in the presence of Jehovah.
**in Mizpeh.** Compare [Judges 10:17](../../../kjv/judges/10/17) .

**And said.** A special reading ( *Sevir* , App-34 ) and some codices read "and they said". Hebrew text = he.

**me.** Most codices, with Syriac, read "us" as in [Judges 11:19](../../../kjv/judges/11/19) . Compare [Numbers 20:14](../../../kjv/numbers/20/14) .

**Went along** = went on.
**but came not.** Compare [Numbers 21:13](../../../kjv/numbers/21/13) , [Numbers 21:24](../../../kjv/numbers/21/24) .

**Israel sent.** Compare [Deuteronomy 2:26](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/2/26) .
**us.** Compare [Judges 11:17](../../../kjv/judges/11/17) and [Deuteronomy 2:27](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/2/27) .

**trusted** = stayed or rested on. See App-69 .
**coast** = border.

**shouldest thou . . . ?** Figure of speech *Erotesis.*
**it** = him: i.e. Israel. Being *masculine* (in Hebrew), cannot refer to the land of [Judges 11:21](../../../kjv/judges/11/21) ; and *singular,* so that it cannot refer to coasts of [Judges 11:22](../../../kjv/judges/11/22) .

**Wilt not thou . . . ?** Figure of speech *Erotesis* . Jephthah does not recognize Chemosh as a god. The emphasis is on "thy" and "our", and is the argument *a fortiori* : and, taking them on their own ground, it is the *argumentum ad hominem.*

**art thou. ?** Figure of speech *Erotesis.* Compare [Numbers 22:2](../../../kjv/numbers/22/2) .[Deuteronomy 23:4](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/23/4) .[Joshua 24:9](../../../kjv/joshua/24/9) .

**three hundred years.** Not a "round number". See App-50 .

**the Spirit.** Hebrew. *ruach* (feminine.) See App-9 .
**unto.** This word is read in the text of some codices with Aramaean, Syriac, and Vulgate.

**vowed a vow.** Figure of speech *Polyptoton* ( App-6 ) = made a solemn vow. See notes on [Leviticus 27:1-8](../../../kjv/leviticus/27/1-8) .

**whatsoever.** This is *masculine.* But the issuer from his house was *feminine.* Thus his rash vow was impossible of fulfillment, and was to be repented of.
**and** = or. The Hebrew ( *Vav* ) is a connective Particle, and is rendered in many different ways. It is also used as a *disjunctive,* and is often rendered "or" (or, with a negative, "nor"). See [Genesis 41:44](../../../kjv/genesis/41/44) .[Exodus 20:4](../../../kjv/exodus/20/4) ; [Exodus 21:15](../../../kjv/exodus/21/15) , [Exodus 21:17](../../../kjv/exodus/21/17) , [Exodus 21:18](../../../kjv/exodus/21/18) . [Numbers 16:14](../../../kjv/numbers/16/14) ; [Numbers 22:26](../../../kjv/numbers/22/26) (Revised Version "nor"); [Deuteronomy 3:24](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/3/24) . [2 Samuel 3:29](../../../kjv/2-samuel/3/29) . 1Ki 18:10 , [1 Kings 18:27](../../../kjv/1-kings/18/27) . With a negative = "nor", "neither". [Exodus 20:17](../../../kjv/exodus/20/17) . Deu 7:25 . [2 Samuel 1:21](../../../kjv/2-samuel/1/21) .[Psalms 26:9](../../../kjv/psalms/26/9) . [Proverbs 6:4](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/4) ; [Proverbs 30:3](../../../kjv/proverbs/30/3) , &c. See note on "but", [1 Kings 2:9](../../../kjv/1-kings/2/9) . Here, Jephthah's vow consisted of two parts: (1) He would either dedicate it to Jehovah (according to [Leviticus 27](../../../kjv/leviticus/27) ); or (2) if unsuitable for this, he would offer it as a burnt offering. He performed his vow, and dedicated his daughter to Jehovah by a perpetual virginity (verses: [Judges 11:36](../../../kjv/judges/11/36) , [Judges 11:39](../../../kjv/judges/11/39) , [Judges 11:40](../../../kjv/judges/11/40) ); but he did not offer her as a burnt offering, because it was forbidden by Jehovah, and could not be accepted by Him ([Judges 18:21](../../../kjv/judges/18/21) ; [Judges 20:2-5](../../../kjv/judges/20/2-5) ).

**timbrels** = drums. See note on [Exodus 15:20](../../../kjv/exodus/15/20) .
**beside her.** Figure of speech *Pleonasm.* App-6 . The fact is stated in two ways, in order to emphasize it.

**opened my mouth.** Hebraism for making a formal, prepared, and solemn statement.

**go up and down** = wander about.

**did with her according to his vow which he had vowed** = He did not offer her as a burnt offering; for Jehovah could not accept *th* a *t* . Therefore Jephthah must have *dedicated* her to the LORD by a perpetual virginity. Such a vow was provided for in [Leviticus 27](../../../kjv/leviticus/27) . See note on [Judges 11:31](../../../kjv/judges/11/31) .
**and she knew no man.** This is conclusive. It has nothing to do with a sacrificial death, but it has to do with a dedicated life to Jehovah. Thus was Jephthah's vow fulfilled.
**And it was** = and it became.

**to lament** = to rehearse with, as in [Judges 5:11](../../../kjv/judges/5/11) ; to celebrate [her dedication] in praises.
**four days in a year.** Thus annually her friends "went", evidently to Jephthah's daughter, to rehearse with her this great event of her life: not of her death.

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