Commentaries, Commentary on Judges · Chapter 11 · Verses 29-33
29 Then the ſpirite of the Lord came vponupon Iiphtah: and he paſſed ouer to Gilead, & to Manaſſeh, he paſſed ouer alſo Mizpa Gilead, & from Mizpa Gilead he went to the children of Ammon.
30 And Iiphtah vowed a vowe vntounto the Lorde, and ſayd: If thou ſhalt deliuer the children of Ammon into myne hand.
31 Then that thing that commeth out of the dores of my houſe to meete me, when I returne in peace from the children of Ammon, ſhall be the Lordes, or I will offer it for a burnt offring.
32 And ſo Iiphtah went vntounto the children of Ammon, to fight agaynſt them, and the Lord deliuered them into his handes.
33 And he ſmote them from Aroer, euen till thou come to Minnith, twenty Cityes, and euē to Abel, a very great region of vineyardes: Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the chyldren of Iſraell.
Two MizpasMizpa Gilead, is an other City, differyng from that Mizpa whiche lay in the tribe of Iudah. The ſpirite of the Lord, which is ſayd to hauehave come vponupon Iiphtah, was the ſpirite of ſtrength. For there are ſundry gifts of the ſpirite, as of Wiſedome, of Vnderſtandyng of Counſell, &c. Among which, alſo is reckened the ſpirite of ſtrength. Wherfore the Lord gaue vntounto Iiphtah this ſpirite, that is, all warlike might, as well of the minde as of the body, that he might valiantly execute that warre. But we knowe that thoſe giftes, whiche in ſchooles are called gratuita that is free giftes,Fre gifts iuſtify not. do not iuſtifie: for they happen as well to the euill as to the good. But the ſpirit of god is three maner of wayes in men. Firſt, in that he is god: for ſo he is infinite, & is eueryevery where. Secōdly he is in men by fre gifts, namely of miracles,The holy ghoſt is thr… maner of wayes in mē wiſedome, ſtrength, &c. And theſe two wayes he is as wel in the euill as in the good. But the third way he is men by ſanctification, and renouation. And this dwellyng of the ſpirite of God is to be wiſhed for of all the godly. God had before ordeyned Iiphtah to he head ouer al the people of Iſraell: but yt was vnknowen vntounto the people. And ye Gileadites when they made Iiphtah theyr captayne, thought nothyng of a Iudge whiche ſhould gouerne all Iſraell. Here God ſheweth his iudgement, when he inſpired hym with the gift of ſtrength, yt all men might vnderſtand that God had choſen him to be captayne. Neither yet do I thus ſay, that Iiphtah had the ſpirite of ſtrength, as thoughe he had not alſo the ſpirit of ſanctification, for as much as he might hauehave both. But being moued with this ſpirite of ſtrength, he went out with a great courage, and finiſhed the thing valiantly.Captaines w…r wont to vowe. But before he went to handſtrokes, he vowed a vow vntounto god, as the Hiſtory declareth. It was the maner of Captaines, that when they ſhould make any great warre, they vowed ſomething to God, ſo that they got the victory. In Leui we rede oftētymes, yt the Romayne Captaynes vowed riche ſpoiles, prayes, temples, and ſuch like, either vntounto Iupiter, or vntounto Apollo, or to other Gods. So the people of god (as it is written in the boke of Numbers:) when king Adar inuaded them, they vowed to make his land Cherem. Nowe alſo Iiphtah voweth: but his vowe is confuſed, and defineth no certayne thing.
VVhat ſoeuer (ſaith he) ſhall come forth, that ſhalbe the Lordes, and ſhalbe ſacrificed. There are ſome expoſitors, whiche thinke this letter Vau otherwiſe a copulatiue, to make in thys place a diſiunction: as thoughe he ſhould hauehave ſayd: Either it ſhalbe ſacrified vntounto the Lord, if it be of that kynd, that it may be ſacrificed: or if it be not, yet it ſhalbe the Lordes, that is, it ſhalbe dedicated vntounto the Lord. And in deede D. Kimhi is of that opinion.Kimhi. The like manner of ſpeakyng is there in theſe wordes: If a man ſtrike father and mother, he ſhall dye the death: for there alſo Vau is a diſiunctiue. And the meanyng is. If a man ſtrike either father or mother, &c. Herein what I thinke I do not declare, I will afterward intreate more largely of this matter. It is not gathered by theſe wordes,Iiphtah vowed not by the inſpiration of the holy ghoſt. ye Iiphtah made this vowe by the inſpiration of the holy ghoſt. The ſpirite in deede moued hym, valiantly to atchieue the enterpriſe, yet we rede not that it moued hym, to make a vowe.
The Latine tranſlation hath: That whiche ſhall firſt come forth, but ye worde firſt is not in the Hebrew, but muſt nedes be vnderſtand: otherwiſe he had bound all thinges that ſhould come forth of his houſe. But as I hauehave ſaid it is an ambigous & confuſed vowe. For what if ſuch a thyng ſhould hauehave met him as myght neither hauehave ben ſacrificed, nor dedicated to the Lorde? What if a dogge had met Iiphtah at his returne, as it is a louing beaſt, and oftentymes meeteth his Lord returnyng home. But it is an vncleane beaſt, neither may it be ſacrificed, nor redemed with any price. It is wonderfull that ſo great a Captayne was ſo ignorāt of the law of God, that he vowed not more diſtinctly. It may be ſayd that the Iſraelites had ſo longe tyme worſhipped Baal vnderunder the Ammonites, and other nations, that they had forgotten the worſhipping of the true God. But eſpecially Iiphtah which was both a baſtard, and a baniſhed man, and alſo a man of warre, which kinde of men do not ſo much thinke vpō the lawes. Wherfore he voweth, but not according to the preſcript of the lawe.It was lawful to vowe mē alſo vntounto God. But we muſt knowe that it was lawfull for the Iewes to vowe menne alſo vntounto GOD, and to dedicate them vntounto hym. Yea and the redemption of manne is ſeaſed in the lawe by the variety of kynd and age. Hanna the mother of Samuel dedicated him from a childe to the deuine worſhyppyng, and it is very likely that Helkana her huſbande allowed the vowe.
But that which Interpreters ſay of the virginity of the daughter of Iiphtah, it cannot be gathered by the woordes of the hiſtory. Yea rather it is not true: although ſome Rabines were of that opinion, but yet without example and teſtimony of the woord of God, I know that that Hanna, of whom Luke maketh mē cion, was dayly in prayers, and other women for praiers ſake, watched continually at the Tabernacle, and that the ſonnes of Hely accompanied with diuers of them, but the ſcripture teſtifieth not of any that vowed chaſtity, neither did God in the olde Teſtament euer ſpeake anye thing of thys kynde of vowe. Wherfore this ſentence: And I wyl offer it for a burnt offring, is an interpretacion, for it expoundeth and contracteth the firſt part of the Oration: It ſhalbe the Lordes. How ſhal it be the Lordes? He declareth howe, when hee addeth: And I wil offer it for a burnt offring. Other make Vau a diſiunctiue,The vowe of Iiphtah was vnwarly made as I hauehave before touched. But that is not certayne. Neither is the vow therfore excuſed, but that it was vnwarely made. For there mought eaſely hauehave met him a dogge (as I before admoniſhed) whiche could neither be ſacrificed vntounto GOD, nor dedicated vntounto hym.
He went forth and ſmote. The victory is not here onelyonly deſcribed, but alſo amplified, namely that there fell many in that battayle, and that he ouerthrewe twenty Cityes, and ſubdewed vnderunder him the Ammonites.