Part 153 (2/2)
11:14. And Jephte again sent word by them, and commanded them to say to the king of Ammon:
11:15. Thus saith Jephte: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
11:16. But when they came up out of Egypt, he walked through the desert to the Red Sea, and came into Cades.
11:17. And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying: Suffer me to pa.s.s through thy land. But he would not condescend to his request. He sent also to the king of Moab, who, likewise, refused to give him pa.s.sage. He abode, therefore, in Cades,
11:18. And went round the land of Edom at the side, and the land of Moab: and came over against the east coast of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon: and he would not enter the bounds of Moab.
11:19. So Israel sent messengers to Sehon, king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon, and they said to him: Suffer me to pa.s.s through thy land to the river.
11:20. But he, also despising the words of Israel, suffered him not to pa.s.s through his borders: but gathering an infinite mult.i.tude, went out against him to Jasa, and made strong opposition.
11:21. And the Lord delivered him, with all his army, into the hands of Israel, and he slew him, and possessed all the land of the Amorrhite, the inhabitant of that country,
11:22. And all the coasts thereof from the Arnon to the Jaboc, and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
11:23. So the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, destroyed the Amorrhite, his people of Israel fighting against him, and wilt thou now possess his land?
11:24. Are not those things which thy G.o.d Chamos possesseth, due to thee by right? But what the Lord our G.o.d hath obtained by conquest, shall be our possession:
Chamos... The idol of the Moabites and Ammonites. He argues from their opinion, who thought they had a just t.i.tle to the countries which they imagined they had conquered by the help of their G.o.ds: how much more then had Israel in indisputable t.i.tle to the countries which G.o.d, by visible miracles, had conquered for them.
11:25. Unless, perhaps, thou art better than Balac, the son of Sephor, king of Moab: or canst shew that he strove against Israel, and fought against him,
11:26. Whereas he hath dwelt in Hesebon, and the villages thereof, and in Aroer, and its villages, and in all the cities near the Jordan, for three hundred years. Why have you for so long a time attempted nothing about this claim?
11:27. Therefore I do not trespa.s.s against thee, but thou wrongest me by declaring an unjust war against me. The Lord be judge, and decide this day, between Israel and the children of Ammon.
11:28. And the king of the children of Ammon would not hearken to the words of Jephte, which he sent him by the messengers.
11:29. Therefore the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephte, and going round Galaad, and Mana.s.ses, and Maspha of Galaad, and pa.s.sing over from thence to the children of Ammon,
11:30. He made a vow to the Lord, saying: If thou wilt deliver the children of Ammon into my hands,
11:31. Whosoever shall first come forth out of the doors of my house, and shall meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, the same will I offer a holocaust to the Lord.
Whosoever, etc... Some are of opinion, that the meaning of this vow of Jephte, was to consecrate to G.o.d whatsoever should first meet him, according to the condition of the thing; so as to offer it up as a holocaust, if it were such a thing as might be offered by the law; or to devote it otherwise to G.o.d, if it were not such as the law allowed to be offered in sacrifice. And therefore they think the daughter of Jephte was not slain by her father, but only consecrated to perpetual virginity. But the common opinion followed by the generality of the holy fathers and divines is, that she was offered as a holocaust, in consequence of her father's vow: and that Jephte did not sin, at least not mortally, neither in making, nor in keeping, his vow: since he is no ways blamed for it in scripture; and was even inspired by G.o.d himself to make the vow (as appears from ver. 29, 30) in consequence of which he obtained the victory; and therefore he reasonably concluded that G.o.d, who is the master of life and death, was pleased on this occasion to dispense with his own law; and that it was the divine will he should fulfil his vow.
11:32. And Jephte pa.s.sed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them: and the Lord delivered them into his hands.
11:33. And he smote them from Aroer till you come to Mennith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel, which is set with vineyards, with a very great slaughter: and the children of Ammon were humbled by the children of Israel.
11:34. And when Jephte returned into Maspha, to his house, his only daughter met him with timbrels and with dances: for he had no other children.
11:35. And when he saw her, he rent his garments, and said: Alas! my daughter, thou hast deceived me, and thou thyself art deceived: for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do no other thing.
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