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(^291) Certain critics have imagined a discrepancy between the earlier notice in Numbers
32:4l, etc., and that in the text. But the text does not say that the Havoth-Jair obtained its
name in the period of the Judges - rather the opposite, as will appear from the following
rendering of Judges 10:4: "and they had thirty cities (of) those which are called the
circuit of Jair even unto this day."
(^292) Israel's unfaithfulness is represented as keeping measure, so to speak, with God's
mercy and deliverance. The significance of the number seven should not be overlooked.
Instead of "the Maonites" in ver, 12 the LXX read "Midianites," which seems the more
correct reading. Otherwise it must refer to the tribe mentioned 2 Chronicles 26:7;
comp.1 Chronicles 4:41.
(^293) That of the Philistines commences 13:1.
(^294) I do not suppose that the Ammonites traversed the land, but that they made raids
across the fords of Jordan, and laid waste the contiguous districts.
(^295) The description is taken from Canon Tristram's Land of Israel, pp. 557, 560.
(^296) Of course these are round numbers, and not to be regarded as strictly arithmetical.
(^297) Chemosh - the destroyer or desolater - the Moabite god of war. He is represented on
coins with a sword in his right hand, a spear and lance in his left; the figure being
flanked by burning torches.
(^298) This is the correct rendering, and not "lament," as in our Authorized Version. There
was a curious custom in Israel in the days of our Lord. Twice in the year, "on the 15th
of Ab, when the collection of wood for the sanctuary was completed, and on the Day of
Atonement, the maidens of Jerusalem went in white garments, specially lent them for
the purpose, so that rich and poor might be on an equality, into the vineyards close to
the city, where they danced and sung" (see my Temple: its Services and Ministry at the
time of Jesus Christ, p. 286). Could this strange practice have been a remnant of the
maidens' praise of the daughter of Jephthah?
Such is the story; but what is its meaning? What did Jephthah really intend by the
language of his vow; and did he feel himself bound by it in the literal sense to offer up
his daughter as a burnt sacrifice? Assuredly, we shall make no attempt either to explain
away the facts of the case, or to disguise the importance of the questions at issue. At the
outset we are here met by these two facts: that up to that period Jephthah had both acted
and spoken as a true worshipper of Jehovah, and that his name stands emblazoned in
that roll of the heroes of the faith which is handed down to us in the Epistle to the
Hebrews (11:32). But it is well-nigh impossible to believe that a true worshipper of
(^)