Abarbanel on Judges

Abarbanel on Judges 11:36:1

And she replied to him that he should uphold his vow, but requested that he leave her be to descend on the mountains for two months, to weep over her maidenhood with her friends. And she said "I will descend [ירדתי] on the mountains" (Judges 11:37) -- "I sob [אריד] in my complaint, and make moan" (Psalms 55:3) [ie, the use of the ירד shoresh is in reference to mourning and not to descent]. Or perhaps, Mitzpah, which is where Yiftach's house was, was in the highest of places, and his daughter said that she would descend from there and walk on the mountains. And this is because she would in the future be separated in one house and not go out from there all the days of her life, she requested that she would walk for two months -- since she wanted to fill her soul's appetite for wandering and walking, for she would no longer wander nor walk all the days of her life. And this is "I will weep for my maidenhood" (Judges 11:37) - that she would never be married, and also that she would walk to select the place of her dwelling in solitude. And my intention is that from this we learn the nation of Edom to make houses of solitude [Abarbanel calls these קליסט"ר, presumably 'cloister'] -- to women who enter there and do not leave, and do not see a man for the rest of their lives.