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of Jephthah in her separation unto the Lord, but it is conclusive proof that she lived out
her life and had not been sacrificed.
Thus we see that there is no necessity to find extenuating circumstances for the
barbarity of literal human sacrifice or strain the meaning of "and" by making it read "or".
In dealing with the matter we have but followed the obvious course of passing by
demonstrably inaccurate translations and seeing for ourselves just exactly what is stated
in the Scriptures. No great learning is called for in doing this: only the ability to
recognize the presence or absence of the Hebrew letter lamed; yet how many pages have
been written on the subject, based upon inaccurate versions of the passage!
Except for one point, the rest of the story of Jephthah's life must be left to the reader
to study. That exception is in connection with Judges 12: 6, "Say now Shibboleth".
The inability of the men of Ephraim to pronounce "Sh" in the word "Shibboleth" finds
confirmation in the Tel-el-Armarna tablets. The entire district occupied by the men of
Ephraim had been Amorite territory (Josh. 10: 1-5). The Tel-el-Armarna tablets show that
the substitution of "S" for "Sh" was a peculiarity of the Amorites. "Shiloh" for example
appears as "Silu". Conder says:--
"This has always presented the difficulty, that the "S" is not the proper representative
of the Hebrew "Sh". Perhaps, as in the other cases, the peasant pronunciation represents
the Amorite rather than the Hebrew sound."
The Ephraimites, by continual contact with the Amorites, had fallen into their manner
of speech, and these ancient tablets have been preserved to bear their witness to the fact
in our day.
Samson.
We now come to the last of the Judges (Samson) whose acts of deliverance are
recorded in this book. He foreshadows Christ, in that his birth was foretold by an angel:
"Thou shalt conceive and bear a son" (Judges 13: 3; Isa. 7: 14; Luke 1: 31), and that
he was a Nazarite, though it is hardly necessary to say that that state was fully
exemplified only by Him Who was, "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners"
(Heb. 7: 26).
Samson's exploits are twelve in number, and are the probable origin of the Greek
story of the twelve labours of Hercules. These twelve exploits are associated with three
women, and fall into three groups of four, as follows:--