Albert Barnes Commentary Judges 11

The history of Jephthah appears to be an independent history inserted by the compiler of the Book of Judges. Judges 11:4–5 introduce the Ammonite war without any apparent reference to Judges 10:17-18.

A genealogy of Manasseh (1 Chronicles 7:14–17) gives the families which sprang from Gilead, and among them mention is made of an “Aramitess” concubine as the mother of one family. Jephthah, the son of Gilead by a strange woman, fled, after his father’s death, to the land of Tob (Judges 11:3), presumably the land of his maternal ancestors and an “Aramean” settlement (2 Samuel 10:6, 2 Samuel 10:8; 2 Samuel 1:0). It is difficult to conceive that Jephthah was literally the son of Gilead, if Gilead was the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. Possibly “Gilead” here denotes the heir of Gilead, the head of the family, whose individual name has not been preserved, nor the time when he lived.

The land of Tob - To the north of Gilead, toward Damascus. The readiness with which Jephthah took to the freebooter’s life gives us a lively picture of the unsettled times in which he lived.

This gives a wider signification to Judges 11:2-3, and shows that Jephthah’s “brethren” include his fellow tribesmen.

Jephthah made his own aggrandizement the condition of his delivering his country. The circumstances of his birth and long residence in a pagan land were not very favorable to the formation of the highest type of character. Yet he has his record among the faithful (Hebrews 11:32).

Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh - This phrase designates the presence of the tabernacle, or the ark, or of the high priest with Urim and Thummim (Judges 20:26; Judges 21:2; Joshua 18:8; 1 Samuel 21:7). The high priest attended Jephthah with the ephod, and possibly the ark, at his own house . A trace of Jephthah’s claim to unite all Israel under his dominion is found in Judges 12:2, and it breathes through his whole message to the king of the Ammonites (see Judges 11:12, 11:15, 11:23, 11:27).