The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-03-14
4 Fragment.
JEPTHA's vow.-JU9aEs xL, 3O-4
By w. W. KoNE, PASTOR OF THE BAPTIST
CHURCH, BoLIvAR.

Der ct the constellation of faithful ones
who adorned the history of the ancient
Israelites, and in the XI. of Hebrews
commended of the Apostle Paul, yer. 80. (
And yet he is charged with the worst of
crimes, TIE sacrifice of his only daughter
Ibis only child"
l confess that cannot read our trans
lation Of the narrative that records the
VOW and its execution without horror and
amazement Who that has the feelings
Of parent can witness a man who claims
to fear God and work righteousness,
flushed in the sPoils of victory and walk
ing in the shade Of his laurels, Offering
upon the shrine of Moloch a young, inno~
cent and virtuous maid The very
thought Of fond and indulsent father
burning the fruit OF his own body, his
only child, and a most alfectionate child,
is insupp0rtable Look at the whole
history Of this affair, and it will be app
rent to the thoughtful that she was the
o! ject Of his present comforts and his
future hoFes What gives the deed a
greater atrociousness, it is said (by the
sacred histo:iaD) that it was executed at
the time when the spi,H Of the Lord 1cas
upon lin, whose interJict as to human
sacrifices well defed the deed Who can
believe it?
Translators are to blame for these in
consistencies. That they should have
rendered several passages of this VOW in
favor Of such cruel and barbarous sense
is unaccountabIe, especially so when they
knew better, as shown by the notes they
have set dow in the margin in two in
stances, as in the 3Ist yer, or I will offer
1t, and in the 40th yer, ''1ccnt forth from
year to year to talk aeitb her." This re>
lieves tho VOW of its seeming atrocity.
There is something wrong.
If the Both and 3lst verses were ren>
dered so as to accord with the marginal
readings, the difficulty would disappear;
thus: thou ShaH aCitA0ut fail deliUer
the children Of Ammon into my hands,
| the1, it shall be that cHatsoerer cometb
forth Of my house to meet me, aohea Ire
/ t,frra in peace from the children Of Aa1.
mon, shall surely be consecrated to JehO-
cab, or (IIeb ce) eciH ofey 1t up for a
burnt q6iering."
A learned lexic ograFher affrms that
the rtiele 'se, which in our version is
rendered AID, is not conjunetive here,
but distinctive, and should be translated
cor" Wore it desirable, many instances
might be adduced clearly conveying this
sense of it. Two passages from the book
of Job will suffice. iii, y, "Why did
the knees prevent me, or Why the breasts
that l should suck p Chap vi, %, %,
did I say, bring unto me or give a res
Y ward to ne Of your substance? or de-
liver me from the enemy's hand or re-
deem me from the hand of the mighty p
The clause "SkaU surely be the Lord s.
carries with it the force of probability
that, instead of Offering her as a burnt
Offering, she was merely Conseerated as q
NazaTeness unto the Lord The note
which the translators' have appended to
the 3Ist verse, and as a substitute for the
word custom" which renders it an 'OT-
dinance" in Israel, is justified in the
original Lejehore, the lord s, meaning
an appropriation to the service Of JehoUaa
as that Of the Nazarenes. A Biblical
scholar, Dom Cal, observes, "That it Is
in such a sense as this that Jepthah is
said to have done according to his ro1C is
clear, because it is Immediately suhjoin-
ed, And she knew 20 man Now, if she
was sacrificed just as she came dowr
from the Mount, this expression is alto
gether supcrAuous, because it is sufici'
emily plain from her bewailing her vir
ginity for three months that she haC
known no man before, and it is very
ceI tain that she knew 10 man after. s.
that IL is very natural to understand tht
words thus that Jepthah, according tt
his VOW, had set apart his daughter fol
Gods special service, and that she con
tinued unmarried that she might be NOR,
careful of the things which belong unt(
the Lord"
It has been supposed by many laarnet
men that piou5 young women were EN-
ployed in the public service Of God undo
the name Of virgins In some Of the oil
copies Of the King james translation
there is title prefxed, which is reRdere
by Street thus: al Psalm Of Daric
Performed by Virgins and Youth "
More than twenty copies of DR.. Ken
! nicots collation. and forty of Dr. Bossi'
have O7nluth, a Hebrew word, whjc
sign lies virgins; and the presumption
that in the performance alluded to j
, Streets translation above, there were
chorus Of virgins, to whom youth mad
alternate responses. To q service Of thi
kind, doubtless, Jepthah devoted or coz
secrated his daughter.
\ But it may be asked, 'If this be all il
: tended to be understood, why the gre'
trouble and sorrow Of heart evinced c
the part Of Jepthah when he rent his GO
: rnents and exclaimed, "A,ae, my daugI
: ter! thou hast brought me very low, an
: ,hou TT one of them that trouble me
, This objection arises from want of 4
4, knowledge cf O,d Testament rotic rs, al
especially in reference to human nature
10 The exclamation Of Rachel, ''Givs II
n children O. else l die" Gen. ky,
It shows that in those carly times barrcI
- ness was a rcProaoh, and hat tie deui
r. Of offspring was an insupp0rtable Fo