Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-01-24
AND HIS DAUGHTER.

This cantata, so beautifully present
ed at the G. F. College last week, has
caused some of us to review the bib
lical history of Jephthah and his
daughter. He was one of the judges
of Israel (the 9TH, the illegitimate
son Of Gilead. On account of this he
was driven away from his fathers
estate by his brothers, and went into
the land of Tob, which perhaps be-
longed to or was claimed by the
King of Ammon. There he placed
himself at the head of a company of
freebooters. AS such he made him
self famous as a leader. When the
people of Gilead were sorely Cypress
ed by the children of Ammon, and
determined to throw off the yoke of
oppression, they sent for Jophthah,
and covenanted with him to make
him ruler over all the land of Gilead
if he would lead them to victory
against the children of Ammon.
Jephthah resolved to go to battle and
called together all the provinces that
acknowledged his authority, but be-
fore starting to battle he prayed the
Lord to give him success, and vowed
unto the Lord that if He would
give him victory over the enemy of
his people, on his return in peace he
would sacrifice unto the Lord the
first thing that met him on his return.
1t so happened that as Jephthah re-
turned to Mizpeh there came out to
meet him a procession of damsels
with timbrels and dances, and among
them the first to meet him was his
daughter, an only child. "Alas 4!
my daughter, thou hast brought me
very low" was the language of the
heart-stricken father. But the noble
young woman urged him to make
good his vow, though certainly a
rash one that she was ready to be
offered as a sacrifice to the Lord who
had delivered her people from the
yoke of oppression. She asked re-
spite of two months that she might
go to her native mountains and weep
with her virgin friends over her dis
appointment and sad fate. 1t is said
that at the expiration of the time she
returned and paid the penalty. But
whether Jephthah's daughter was
actually sacrificed as burnt offering
or not is not certain. Some of the
ablest commentators believe she was
never sacrificed as a burnt offering,
but was given or dedicated to the SER
vice of the Lord and kept in seclusion
from the world. Whether she was
sacrificed or not the narrative is one
of much interest. Jephthah was a
brave and courageous man, and
whether right or wrong, the Lord
was with him in his battles. After
subduing the Ammonites, the
Ephraimites quarreled with Jeph-
than because he had not invited
them to join him in battle against
the Ammonites, and in a battle with
Jephthah the Ephraimites were de-
feated. The Gileadites selling the
fords of the Jordan, slew every Eph-
raimite who attempted to cross.
The GileaditeS were stationed at the
fords of the Jordan, and given the
password, "Shibboleth." In order
to pass over, each was required to
give the password. The dialect OF
the Ephraimites being different from
the Gileadites they could not pro-
nounce the word Shibboleth, but
called it "Sibboleth," which cost
them their lives. The Bible tells us
that $4,000 Ephraimites were slain on
that day on account of their being
unable to pronounce the password
We notice in the drama, Iphigenia is
given as the name of Jephthah's
daughter. Such name we cannot
find mentioned in the Bible.