the enemies out of the land. Then, as he was going back to his home, his daughter, who was his only child, came out to meet him, leading the young girls, her companions, dancing and making music, to welcome his return. When Jeph'thah saw her he cried out in sorrow, "Oh, my daughter, what trouble you bring with you! I have given a promise to the Lord, and now I must keep it!"

As soon as his daughter had learned what promise her father had made she met it bravely, as a true daughter of Iş'ra-el. She said:

"My father, you have made a solemn promise to the Lord, and you shall keep it, for God has given to you victory over the

enemies of your people. But let me live a little while and weep with my young friends over the death that I must suffer."

For two months she stayed with the young girls upon the mountains, for perhaps she feared that if she was at home with her father he would fail to keep his promise. Then she gave herself up to death, and her father did with her as he had promised. 1 In all the history of the Iş'ra-el-ites this was the only time when a living man or woman was offered in sacrifice to the Lord. Among all the nations around Iş'ra-el the people offered human lives, even those of their own children, to the idols which they

The Death of Jephthah's Daughter

231

worshipped. But the people of Iş'ra-el remembered what God had taught A'bră-hăm when he was about to offer up I'şaac; and they never, except this once, laid a human offering upon God's altar. If Jěph'thah had lived near the Tabernacle at Shiloh, and had been taught God's law, he would

There was no

JEPH'THAH OFFERS UP HIS DAUGHTER.

From stories see how

ītes lived dur

hundred years judges ruled.

strong power

to which all gave obedience; but each family lived as it chose. Many people worshipped the Lord; but many more turned from the Lord to the idols, and then turned back to the Lord, after they had fallen under the hand of their enemies. In one part of the land they were free; in another part they were ruled by the foreign peoples.

Story Twelve

THE STRONG MAN: HOW HE LIVED AND
HOW HE DIED

Judges xiii: 1, to xvi: 31.

FTER Jěph'thah three judges ruled in turn, named Ib'zăn, E'lon, and Ab'don. None of these were men of war, and in their days the land was quiet.

But the people of Iş'ra-el again began to worship

idols; and as a punishment God allowed them once more to pass under the power of their enemies. The seventh oppression, which now fell upon Iş'ra-el, was by far the hardest, the longest, and the most widely spread of any, for it was over all the tribes. It came from the Phi-lis'tineş, a strong and warlike people, who lived on the west of Iş'ra-el upon the plain beside the Great Sea. They worshipped an idol called Da'gon, which was made in the form of a man's head on a fish's body.

These people, the Phi-lis'tineş, sent their armies up from the plain beside the sea to the mountains of Iş'ra-el, and overran all

the land.

They took away from the Iş'ra-el-ites all their swords and spears, so that they could not fight; and they robbed their land of all the crops, so that the people suffered for want of food. And as before, the Iş'ra-el-ītes in their trouble cried to the Lord, and the Lord heard their prayer.

In the tribe-land of Dăn, which was next to the country of the Phi-lis'tineş, there was living a man named Ma-no'ah. One day an angel came to his wife, and said, "You shall have a son; and when he grows up he will begin to save Iş'ra-el from the hand of the Phi-lis'tineş. But your son must never drink any wine or strong drink as long as he lives. And his hair must be allowed to grow long, and must never be cut, for he shall be a Năz'a-rite under a vow to the Lord."

DÊ-Lİ'LAH TRIES TO LEARN FROM SAM'SON THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH.