Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 11:1

"Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah." — Judges 11:1 (ASV)

The son of an harlot. —These words are rendered this way in all the versions and can hardly have any other meaning. If an inferior wife had been meant, the word used would not have been zonah, but pilgesh, as in Judges 8:31. The word may, however, be used in the harsh sense employed by Jephthah’s brothers, without being strictly accurate (Compare to 1 Chronicles 2:26).

Gilead begat Jephthah. —Here we encounter the same questions as those concerning Tola and Jair. That Gilead is a proper name, not the name of the country mythically personified, may be regarded as certain.

But is this Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, or some later Gilead? Or does “begat” mean “was the ancestor of?” The answer to these questions depends mainly on the insoluble problem of the chronology.

However, we may note two points:

1. Since no other Gilead is mentioned, we should naturally infer that this is the grandson of Manasseh.
2. The fact referred to in the obscure genealogy of 1 Chronicles 7:14–17 seems to show that the family of Manasseh had Syrian (Aramean) connections, and Jephthah’s mother may have been an Aramitess from the district of Tob.

The name Jephthah means “he opens” (the womb).