CHAPTER X.

ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are Tola judges Israel twenty-three years, 1, 2. Jair is judge twenty-two years, 3-5. After called Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

him the Israelites rebel against God, and are delivered into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites eighteen years, 6-9 They humble themselves, and God reproves them, 10-14 They put away their strange gods, and gather together against the Ammonites, 15-17. The chicks of Gilead inquire concerning a captain to head them against the Ammonites, 13

An. Exod. Isr. ND after Abimelech there arose

259.

Anno ante

I. Olymp. 426.

of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim.

A. M. 2825.
B. C. 1179.

2 And he judged Israel twenty and An Exod. I three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.

312

Anno ante

1. Olymp. 403.

3 And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two rode on thirty

years.

4 And he had thirty sons that

g Ch. 2 16-h Or, deliver.-i Heb. save-k Ch. 5. 10. & 12 14.-1 Deut. 3. 14. in Or, the villages of Jair. Numb. 32. 41.

and are extant under various names, in more than twenty languages. But their original title is Hitopadesa, or amicable instruction: and as the very existence of Esop, whom the Arabs believe to have been an Abyssinian, appears rather doubtful; I am not disinclined to suppose that the first moral fables which appeared in Europe were of Indian or Ethiopian origin.'

Mr. Frazer, in his collection of Oriental MSS. at the end of his history of Nadir Shah, gives us the following account of this curious and instructive work.

"The ancient Brahmins of India, after a good deal of time and labour, compiled a treatise, (which they called Kurtuk Dumnik,) in which were inserted the choicest treasures of wisdom, and the most perfect rules for governing a people. This book they presented to their rajahs, who kept it with the greatest secrecy and care. About the time of Mohammed's birth, or the latter end of the sixth century, Noishervan the Just, who then reigned in Persia, discovered a great inclination to see that book; for which purpose Burzuvia, a physician, who had a surprising talent in learning several languages, particularly Sanskerritt, was introduced to him as the most proper person to be employed to get a copy of it. He went to India, where, after some years' stay, and great trouble, he procured it. It was translated into the Pehluvi (the ancient Persian language) by him and Buzrjumehr, the vizir. Noishervan, ever after, and all his successors, the Persian kings, had this book in high esteem, and took the greatest care to keep it secret. At last Abu Jaffer Munsour zu Nikky, who was the second caliph of the Abassi reign, by great search, got a copy of it in the Pehluri language, and ordered Imam Hassan Abdal Mokaffa, who was the most learned of the age, to translate it into Arabic. This prince ever after made it his guide, not only in affairs relating to the government, but also in private life.

"In the year 380 of Hegira, sultan Mahmud Ghazi put it into verse; and afterward, in the year 515, by order of Bheram Shah ben Massaud, that which Abdal Mokaffa had translated was re-translated into Persic by Abdul Mala Nasser Allah Mustofi; and this is that Kulila Dumna, which is now extant. As this latter had too many Arabic verses and obsolete phrases in it, Molana Ali ben Hessein Vaes, at the request of Emir Sohèli, keeper of the seals to sultan Hossein Mirza, put it into a more modern style, and gave it the title of Anuar Sohèli.

"In the year 1002, the great Moghul Jalal ô Dîn Mohommed Akbar ordered his own secretary and vizir, the learned Abul Fazl, to illustrate the obscure passages, abridge the long digression, and put it into such a style as would be most familiar to all capacities; which he accordingly did, and gave it the name of Ayar Danish, or the Criterion of Wisdom." Thus far Mr. Frazer under the word Ayar Danish.

"In the year 1709 (says Dr. Wilkins) the Kulila Dumna, the Persian version of Abul Mala Nasser Allah Mustofi, made in the 515th year of the Hegira, was translated into French, with the title of Les Conseils et les Marimes de Pilpay, Philosophe Indien, sur les divers Etats de la Vie. This edition resembles the Hitopadesa more than any other then seen; and is evidently the immediate original of the English "Instructive and entertaining Fables of Pilpay, an ancient Indian Philosopher," which in 1775, had gone through five editions.

"The Anuar Sohèli, above-mentioned, about the year 1540 was rendered into the Turkish language; and the translator is said to have bestowed twenty years' labour upon it. In the year 1724, this edition M. Galland began to translate into French, and the four first chapters were

m

A. M. 247.
B. C. 1157.

34

5 And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. 6 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and An Exod Is. served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and Anto ante P the gods of Syria, and the gods of 1 Olymp. 381. 9 Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.

7 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. 8 And that year they vexed and oppressed

then published; but, in the year 1778, M. Cardonne completed the work, in three volumes, giving it the name of Contes et Fables Indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokman; traduites d' Ali Tcheleby ben Saleh, auteur Turk: 'Indian Tales and Fables of Bidpay and Lockman, translated from Aly Tehelby ben Saleh, a Turkish author.'"

The Fables of Lockman were published in Arabic and Latin, with notes, by Erpenius, 4to. Amstel. 1636; and by the celebrated Golius, at the end of his edition of Erper's Arabic Grammar, Ludg. Bat. 1656, with additional notes; and also in the edition of the same grammar, by Albert Schultens, Ludg. Bat. 1748, 4to. They are only thirty-seven in number.

Of the Hitopadesa, or Fables of Vishnoo Sarma, we have two very elegant English translations from the original Sanscreet: one by Sir William Jones, printed in lis Works, 4to. vol. vi. Lond. 1799; the other by the father of Sanscreet literature in Europe, Dr. Charles Wilkins, of the India House, 8vo. Bath, 1787, with a collection of very important notes.

The Bahar Danush, or Sea of Wisdom, abounds with maxims, apothegms, &c., similar to those in the preceding works: This was most faithfully translated from the Persian, by Dr. Jonathan Scott, late Persian secretary to his excellency Warren Hastings, published in three vols. 12mo. with notes. Shrewsbury, 1799. This is the most correct version of any Persian work yet offered to the public. The original is by Einaut Ullah. Of these works it may be said, they contain the wisdom of the Oriental world; and many of the numerous maxims interspersed through them yield in importance only to those in the Sacred Writings. The fables attributed to Esop have been repeatedly published in Greek and Latin, as well as in all the languages of Europe; and are well known. Those of Phædrus are in general only a metrical version of the Fables of Æsop. The compositions of La Fontaine, in French; and those of Mr. Gay, in English, are very valuable.

NOTES ON CHAPTER X.

Verse 1. Tola, the son of Puah] As this Tola continued twenty-three years a judge of Israel after the troubles of Abimelech's reign, it is likely that the land had rest, and that the enemies of the Israelites had made no hostile incursions into the land during his presidency and that of Jair; which, together, continued forty-five years.

Verse 4. He had thirty sons, &c.] It appears that there was both peace and prosperity during the time that Jair governed Israel: he had, it seems, provided for his family, and given a village to each of his thirty son; which were, in consequence, called Havoth Jair, or the villages of Jair. Their riding on thirty ass colts seems to intimate that they were persons of consideration, and kept up a certain dignity in their different departments.

Verse 6. And served Baalim] They became universal idolaters; adopting every god of the surrounding nations. Baalim and Ashtaroth may signify gods and goddesses in general. These are enumerated-1. The gods of Syria, Bel and Saturn; or Jupiter and Astarte. 2. Gods of Zidon, Ashtaroth, Astarté, or Venus. 3. The gods of Moab, Chemosh. 4. Gods of the children of Ămmon, Milcolm. 5. Gods of the Philistines, viz. Dagon. See 1 Kings xi. 33. and I Sam. i. 2. These are called gods, because their images and places of worship were multiplied throughout the land.

Verse 7. The anger of the LORD was hot] This divine displeasure was manifested in delivering them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. The former dwelt on the western side of Jordan; the latter, on the cas! =

32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

34 And Jephthah came to i Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

m

35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I

g Ezek. 77. 17.-h Or, Abel.-i Ch. 10. 17. & Ver. 11.-k Exod. 15. 20. 1 Sam. 18. 6. Psa. 68. 25. Jer. 31. 4-1 Or, he had not of his own either son or daughter.

fit for the service of God, it shall be consecrated to him." That conditions of this kind must have been implied in the vow, is evident enough; to have been made without them, it must have been the vow of a heathen or a madman. If a dog had met him, this could not have been made a burnt-offering; and if his neighbour or friend's wife, son, or daughter, &c. had been returning from a visit to his family, his vow gave him no right over them. Besides, human sacrifices were ever an abomination to the Lord; and this was one of the grand reasons why God drove out the Canaanites, &c. because they offered their sons and daughters to Molech, in the fire, i. e. made burntofferings of them, as is generally supposed. That Jephthah was a deeply pious man, appears in the whole of his conduct; and that he was well acquainted with the law of Moses, which prohibited all such sacrifices, and stated what was to be offered in sacrifice, is evident enough from his expostulation with the king and people of Ammon, ver. 14 to 27. Therefore it must be granted, that he never made that rash vow which several suppose he did; nor was he capable, if he had, of executing it in that most shocking manner which some Christian writers (tell it not in Gath) have contended for. He could not commit a crime, which himself had just now been an executor of God's justice to punish in others.

It has been supposed that "the text itself might have been read differently in former times: if, instead of the words by mbym I will offer Ir a burnt-offering, we read by bym I will offer HIM (i. e. the Lord) a burnt-offering; this will make a widely different sense, more consistent with every thing that is sacred; and it is formed by the addition of only a single letter, ( aleph,) and the separation of the pronoun from the verb. Now the letter N is so like the letter y ain, which immediately follows it in the word by ôlah, that the one might easily have been lost in the other, and thus the pronoun be joined to the verb, as at present, where it expresses the thing to be sacrificed, instead of the person to whom the sacrifice was to be made. With this emendation the passage will read thus: Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me-shall be the Lord's; and I will offer HIM a burnt-offering." For this criticism there is no absolute need, because the pronounhu, in the above verse, may, with as much propriety, be translated him as it. The latter part of the verse is literally, And I will offer him a burnt-offering, by ôlah, not by leôlah, FOR a burnt-offering, which is the common Hebrew form when for is intended to be expressed. This is strong presumption that the text should be thus understood: and this avoids the very disputable construction which is put on the vau, in sy vehaolitihu, OR I will offer it up, instead of AND I will offer HIM a burnt-offering.

"From ver. 39. it appears evident that Jephthah's daughter was not SACRIFICED to God, but consecrated to him in a state of perpetual virginity; for the text says, She knew no man, for this was a statute in Israel, nina pa vani vetehi chok beyishrael; viz. that persons thus dedicated or consecrated to GOD, should live in a state of unchangeable celibacy. Thus this celebrated place is, without violence to any part of the text, or to any proper rule of construction, cleared of all difficulty, and caused to speak a language consistent with itself, and with the nature of God." Those who assert that Jephthah did sacrifice his daughter, attempt to justify the opinion from the barbarous usages of those times: but in answer to this, it may be justly observed, that Jephthah was now under the influence of the Spirit of God, ver. 29., and that Spirit could not permit him to embrue his hands in the blood of his

• have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and PI cannot go back.

36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, 9 do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.

37 And she said 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 fellows.

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.

m Heb. of himself.-n Gen. 37. 29, 34.-0 Eccles. 5. 2-p Numb. 30. 2. Psa. 15. 4. Eccles. 5. 4, 5-q Numb. 30. 2.-r 2 Sam. 18. 19, 31.- Heb. go and go down.

own child; and especially under the pretence of offering a pleasing sacrifice to that God who is the Father of mankind, and the fountain of love, mercy, and compassion. The versions give us but little assistance in clearing the difficulties of the text. In the Targum of Jonathan there is a remarkable gloss, which should be mentioned, and from which it will appear that the Targumist supposed that the daughter of Jephthah was actually sacrificed: "And he fulfilled the vow, which he had vowed, upon her; and she knew no man: and it was made a statute in Israel, [that no man should offer his son or his daughter for a burnt-offering; as did Jephthah the Gileadite, who did not consult Phinehas, the priest; for, if he had consulted Phinehas the priest, he would have redeemed her with money."]

The Targumist refers here to the law, Lev. xxvii. 4. where the Lord prescribes the price at which either males or females, who had been vowed to the Lord, might be redeemed. When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord at thy estimation: the male from twenty years old even unto sixty, shall be fifty shekels of silver; and if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels; and from five years old unto twenty years, the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten. This also is an argument that the daughter of Jephthah was not sacrificed; as the father had it in his power, at a very moderate price, to have redeemed her: and surely the blood of his daughter must have been of more value in his sight than thirty shekels of silver!

Dr. Hales has entered largely into the subject: his observations may be seen at the end of this chapter. Verse 33. Twenty cities] That is, he either took or destroyed twenty cities of the Ammonites, and completely routed their whole army.

Verse 34. With timbrels and with dances] From this instance, we find that it was an ancient custom that women went out to meet returning conquerors with musical instruments, songs, and dances: and that it was continued afterward is evident, from the instance given 1 Sam. xviii. 6. where David was met (on his return from the defeat of Goliath and the Philistines) by women from all the cities of Israel, with singing and dancing, and various instruments of music.

Verse 35. Thou hast brought me very low He was greatly distressed to think that his daughter, who was his only child, should be, in consequence of his vow, prevented from continuing his family in Israel; for it is evident that he had not any other child: for, besides her, says the text, he had neither son nor daughter, ver. 34. He might, therefore, be well grieved that thus his family was to become extinct in Israel.

Verse 36. And she said unto him] What a pattern of filial piety and obedience! She was at once obedient, pious, and patriotic. A woman to have no offspring, was considered to be in a state of the utmost degradation among the Hebrews; but she is regardless of all this, seeing her father is in safety, and her country delivered.

Verse 37. I and my fellows] Whether she meant the young women of her own acquaintance, or those who had been consecrated to God in the same way, though on different accounts, is not quite clear; but it is likely she means her own companions: and her going up and down upon the mountains may signify no more than her paying each of them a visit at their own houses, previously to her being shut up at the tabernacle; and this visiting of each, at their own home, might require the space of two months. This, I am inclined to think, is the meaning of this difficult clause.

JUDGES.

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

t Ver. 31. 1 Sam. 1. 22, 24. & 2. 18.

Verse 39. And she knew no man] She continued a virgin all the days of her life.

Verse 40. To lament the daughter of Jephthah] I am satisfied that this is not a correct translation of the original no nas many letannoth lebath yiphtach. Houbigant translates the whole verse thus: Sed iste mos apud Israel invaluit, ut virgines Israel, temporibus diversis, irent ad filiam Jepthe-ut eam quotannis dies quatuor, consolarentur; But this custom prevailed in Israel, that the virgins of Israel went at different times, four days in the year, to the daughter of Jephthah, that they might comfort her." This verse also gives evidence that the daughter of Jephthah was not sacrificed: nor does it appear that the custom, or statute referred to here, lasted after the death of Jephthah's daughter.

The following is Dr. Hales's Exposition of Jephthah's

VOW:

"When Jephthah went forth to battle against the Ammonites, he vowed a vow unto THE LORD, and said, If thou wilt surely give the children of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatsoever cometh out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall either be the Lord's, or I will offer it up (for) a burnt-offering, Judg. xi. 29, 30. According to this rendering of the two conjunctions, vau, in the last clause, 'either, or, which is justified by the Hebrew idiom, thus: He that curseth his father and his mother,' Exod. xxi. 17. is necessarily rendered disjunctively, ('His father or his mother,') by the Septuagint, Vulgate, Chaldee, and English, confirmed by Matt. xv. 4. (the paucity of connecting particles in that language, making it necessary that this conjunction should often be understood disjunctively,) the vow consisted of two parts: 1. That what person soever met him should be THE LORD's, or be dedicated to his service; and, 2. That what beast soever met him (if clean,) should be offered up for a burnt-offering unto THE LORD.

"This rendering, and this interpretation, is warranted by the Levitical law about vows.

"The 2 neder, or vow, in general, included either persons, beasts, or things, dedicated to the LORD for pious uses; which, if it was a simple vow, was redeemable at certain prices, if the person repented of his vow, and wished to commute it for money, according to the age or sex of the person, xxvii. 1-8. this was a wise regulation to remedy rash vows. But if the vow was accompanied with n cherem, devotement, it was irredeemable, as in the following case, Lev. xxvii. 23.

"Notwithstanding, no devotement, which a man shall devote unto THE LORD, (either) of man, or beast, or of land of his own property, shall be sold or redeemed. Every thing devoted is most holy unto the Lord.

"Here the three vaus, in the original, should necessarily be rendered disjunctively; or, as the last actually is in our translation; because there are three distinct subjects of devotement to be applied to distinct uses, the man to be dedicated to the service of the Lord, as Samuel, by his mother Hannah, 1 Sam. i. 11.; the cattle, if clean, such as oxen, sheep, goats, turtle-doves, or pigeons, to be sacrificed; and if unclean, as camels, horses, asses, to be employed for carrying burdens in the service of the tabernacle, or temple; and the lands to be sacred property.

"This law, therefore, expressly applied in its first branch to Jephthah's case, who had devoted his daughter to the Lord; or, opened his mouth to the Lord, and therefore could not go back; as he declared in his grief, at seeing his daughter, and only child, coming to meet him with timbrels and dances: she was, therefore, necessarily devoted, but with her own consent, to perpetual virginity in the service of the tabernacle, chap. xi. 36, 37.: and such service was customary; for, in the division of the spoils taken in the first Midianite war, of the whole number of captive virgins, THE LORD's tribute was thirty-two persons, Numb. xxxi. 35-40. This instance appears to be decisive of the nature of her devotement.

"Her father's extreme grief on the occasion, and her requisition of a respite for two months to bewail her virginity, are both perfectly natural. Having no other issue, he could only look forward to the extinction of his name or family; and a state of celibacy, which is reproachful among women every where, was peculiarly so among the Israelites; and was, therefore, no ordinary sacrifice on her part; who, though she generously gave up, could not but regret, the loss of becoming a mother in Israel. And he 642

had vowed; and she knew no man. And it was a "custom in Israel,

A. M. 2865. B. C. 1139.

40 That the daughters of Israel went ▾ yearly

u Or, ordinance.-v Heb. from year to year.

did with her according to his vow, which he had vowed;
and 'she knew no man,' or remained a virgin all her life,
ver. 34-39.

irredeemable, and follows the former, Lev. xxvii. 29. This
case differs materially from the former.
"There was also another case of devotement, which was

and lands. 2. It does not relate to private property, as in
the foregoing. And, 3. The subject of it was to be utterly
"1. It is confined to PERSONS devoted, omitting beasts
destroyed, instead of being most holy unto THE LOAD.
This law, therefore, related to aliens, or public enemies,
devoted to destruction either by God, the people, or by the
magistrate. Of all these we have instances in Scripture.

this law for sparing Agag, the king of the Amalekites, as
1. The Amalekites and Canaanites were devoted by
God himself. Saul was, therefore, guilty of a breach of
hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord: not as a sacrifice,
according to Voltaire; but as a criminal, whose sword
Samuel reproached him, 1 Sam. xxv. 23. 'And Samuel
had made many women childless. By this law, the Mi-
dianite women, who had been spared in battle, were slain,
Numb. xxxi. 14, 17.

by Arad, king of the southern Canaanites, who took some
of them prisoners, they vowed a vow unto THE LORD that
"2. In mount Hor, when the Israelites were attacked
they would utterly destroy the Canaanites and their cities,
if the Lord should deliver them into their hand, which THE
LORD ratified; whence the place was called Hormah, be-
cause the vow was accompanied by cherem, or devotement
plished, Judg.
to destruction, Numb. xxi. 1-3. and the vow was accom-
17.

cursed any one who should taste food till the evening. His
"3. In the Philistine war, Saul adjured the people, and
knowing his father's oath, for which Saul sentenced him
own son, Jonathan, inadvertently ate a honeycomb, not
in their collective capacity, with an unreasonable oath.
to die. But the people interposed, and rescued him, for his
public services: thus assuming the power of dispensing,
vow, which did not regard a foreign enemy, or a domestic
transgressor, devoted to destruction; but, on the contrary,
This latter case, therefore, is utterly irrelative to Jephthah's
under the former case. And, that Jephthah could not pos
sibly have sacrificed his daughter (according to the vulgar
was a vow of thanksgiving; and, therefore, properly came
nation to the Lord, of which, in numberless passages, he
opinion,) may appear from the following considerations:
"1. The sacrifice of children to Molech, was an abomi-
press law, under pain of death, as a defilement of God's
sanctuary, and a profanation of his holy name, Lev.
expresses his detestation; and it was prohibited by an ex-
xxii. 2, 3. Such a sacrifice, therefore, unto the Lord him-
precedent of any such under the law, in the OLD TESTA-
MENT.
self, must be a still higher abomination; and there is no

Isaac was not sacrificed; and it was only proposed for
trial of Abraham's faith.
"2. The case of Isaac, before the law, is irrelevant, for

offending (much less an innocent) child to death, upon any
account, without the sentence of the magistrate, Deut. xxi.
"3. No father, merely by his own authority, could put an
18-21. and the consent of the people, as in Jonathan's

case.

pointedly against it, ver. 212. 'If a Jew should devote his
son or daughter, his man or maid-servant, who are He
"4. The Mischna, or traditional law of the Jews, is
brews, the devotement would be void; because no man can
devote what is not his own, or whose life he has not the
absolute disposal of. These arguments appear to be de-
cisive against the sacrifice; and that Jephthah could not
have devoted his daughter to celibacy against her will, is
evident from the history, and from the high estimation in
which she was always held by the daughters of Israel for
her filial duty and her hapless fate; which they celebrated
by a regular anniversary commemoration, four days in the
iii. p. 319.
year." Judg. xi. 40. New Analysis of Chronology, vol.

by many learned men, to be a fable founded on this account
of Jephthah's daughter; and M. De Lavaur, Conference
The celebrated sacrifice of Iphigenia has been supposed,
de la Fable avec l'Histoire Sainte, has thus traced the
parallel:-

memnon, her father, sung by so many poets, related after
them by so many historians, and celebrated in the Greek
"The fable of Iphigenia, offered in sacrifice by Aga-