Judges 11 :: Amplified Bible (AMP)

Lit listening.

Lit spoke all his words.

The land under discussion was actually Amorite territory when Israel entered and took possession of it three hundred years earlier.

Jephthah’s argument illustrates the essence of the conflict between Israel and its neighboring enemies. To a disinterested observer, occupancy of the land of Canaan might simply be a matter of conquest by the stronger warring nation, so no one could claim true ownership and the land would naturally change hands over the course of history. For Israel, however, possession of the land was the will of God, pitting the one true God against the false gods of foreign nations who were being dispossessed. These other nations understandably did not see things Israel’s way because they did not recognize the sovereignty of Israel’s God, and might have felt just as strongly about their own gods’ will for them to possess the land in question. Therefore the struggle for land was not just the result of pragmatism or greed, or even the basic desire to have a secure home and country. It was seamlessly interwoven in the fabric of faith, a non-negotiable element of one’s religion--or in Israel’s case, of faith in the true God, whom they frequently neglected or abandoned, to their own peril.

Lit opened my mouth wide. The tragic outcome of Jephthah’s vow (vv 30, 31) reveals the folly and danger of making such a “deal” with God, as though a mere human could really offer God something of value as an incentive or bribe for His help.

I.e. the tragedy that marriage and children would be denied to her.