Judges 11:39

King James Version (KJV)

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

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

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

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

Several important lessons are to be learned from Jephthah's vow. 1. There may be remainders of distrust and doubting, even in the hearts of true and great believers. 2. Our vows to God should not be as a purchase of the favour we desire, but to express gratitude to him. 3. We need to be very well-advised in making vows, lest we entangle ourselves. 4. What we have solemnly vowed to God, we must perform, if it be possible and lawful, though it be difficult and grievous to us. 5. It well becomes children, obediently and cheerfully to submit to their parents in the Lord. It is hard to say what Jephthah did in performance of his vow; but it is thought that he did not offer his daughter as a burnt-offering. Such a sacrifice would have been an abomination to the Lord; it is supposed she was obliged to remain unmarried, and apart from her family. Concerning this and some other such passages in the sacred history, about which learned men are divided and in doubt, we need not perplex ourselves; what is necessary to our salvation, thanks be to God, is plain enough. If the reader recollects the promise of Christ concerning the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and places himself under this heavenly Teacher, the Holy Ghost will guide to all truth in every passage, so far as it is needful to be understood.

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SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7

39. According to his vow. This seems to imply that he offered her as a burnt offering, according to his vow (see on v. 31). It has been suggested that the author of the book of Judges, with fine reserve, drew a veil over the tragic act of sacrifice.

On the other view that Jephthah did not offer up his daughter (see on v. 31) might be mentioned the following:

About 1200 a.d. Rabbi Kimchi, followed by many writers since, promulgated the view that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter. He said that the words “offer it up for a burnt offering” (v. 31) would apply only if whatever met Jephthah should be a sacrificial animal. He interpreted verse 39 to mean that Jephthah built his daughter a house where she was secluded from men the rest of her life, in sacred celibacy, in order that all her moments might be dedicated to the Lord, and that there the virgins of Israel went annually to visit her and bewail her fate.

Against this interpretation of Kimchi’s is the fact that the customs of that day knew nothing about treating women as nuns. Perpetual virginity and childlessness were looked upon as the greatest of misfortunes. There is no law, usage, or custom in all the OT that in the least intimates that a single woman was looked upon as the more holy, more the Lord’s, or more fully devoted to Him than a married woman. It was no part of the law of the priests or Nazirites. Deborah and Huldah, both prophetesses, are particularly mentioned as married women. Moreover, if the daughter were to remain unmarried in harmony with such an unknown custom, the case would not have been so tragic as it is portrayed here; neither would she have needed two months to bewail her virginity, for she would have had the rest of her life to do that. All Jewish and Christian interpreters up to the time of Kimchi held to the natural intent of the passage, namely, that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter as an offering to the Lord, a thing that Abraham almost did to his son Isaac under different circumstances.

She knew no man. Or, “she had not known man.” See Gen. 24:16 for identical words in Hebrew.

It was a custom. These words really belong with the following verse.

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Cross References

to his vow

The Period of the Judges

The Judges of Israel

Jephthah and the Ammonites

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Judges 11:39