the Deity, he entered into a contract with him which was expressed in these words (Gen. xxviii: 20-22): "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I am going; and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall Jehovah be my God, and this stone which I have set up for a pillar shall be a house of God; and of all that thou shall give me, I will surely give a tenth unto thee." When Jephthah made his vow and prom ised to offer up as a sacrifice whatever came forth to meet him from the doors of his house, it is quite unlikely that he had any idea that his daughter would be the first one to greet him. It is rather to be supposed that what he meant was that he would offer up as a sacrifice any one of the domestic animals, or even perhaps a slave that might have come forth from the gates of his house on his return; and his consternation and grief upon seeing his daughter come forth to meet him strengthens this view. At any rate, after having made his vow, "Jephthah passed over unto the sons of Am mon to fight against them, and Jehovah delivered them into his hands. And he smote them from Aroer even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto Abel Keramim with a very great slaughter: thus the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel. "And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child. Beside her, he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass when he saw lier, that he rent his clothes and said: 'Alas, my daughter, thou hast brought me very low. and thou art one of them that trouble me, for I have opened my mouth unto Jehovah, and I can not go back.' " So great was the fear of of fending the Deity by breaking the vow, that Jephthah, this unconquered warrior, return ing from a victorious campaign, master of a
great army, never thought of escaping the consequences of his vow, even though it involved the loss of his only child. He had opened his mouth unto Jehovah and he could not go back. Furthermore, there may be seen here the extent of the patria potestas. There was no public tribunal before which matters affect ing the family could be brought for decision; in each household the head of the family was absolute arbiter, from whose decision there was no appeal, and whose authority was absolutely indisputable. Public law took no cognizance of family matters; and family law, so far as it may be called law, was simply the expressed will of the head of the house hold. The fact that the case of Jephthah's daughter excites no comment on the part of the Biblical writer, even though she was offered up as a sacrifice by her father in ful fillment of a vow, is an indication of the fact that the writer accepted the view that Jeph thah's right to kill his daughter was undis puted and indisputable. It may be that if his daughter had pleaded for her life, Jephthah might have been in duced to brave the wrath of God and break his vow; but her answer to him is not only an illustration of sublime resignation, but also a shining example of determination that a contract solemnly entered into must be fulfilled. She said unto him, "My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto Jehovah, do to me according to that which hath pro ceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as Jehovah hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemy, even the sons of Ammon. It was not merely, therefore, that she urged him to fulfill his vow. but also that she called his attention to the fact that in the contract socalled, made between Jehovah and himself, Jehovah had fulfilled his part, and it now behoved him to do likewise. And she said unto her father: "Let this thing be done to me, and let me alone for two months that I may go up and down upon the mountains and bewail my virginity, I and my com panions." This brief respite before the exe
