Judg. 11 Jephthah dwells in the land of Tob, Judg. 11:1–3; is called by the elders of Gilead to command in chief against the Ammonites, Judg. 11:4–6. He demands to be continued head after the war should cease; they swear it shall be so, Judg. 11:7–11.

The Gileadite; so called, either from his father Gilead, Josh. 17:1–2, or from the mountain or city of Gilead, the place of his birth or abode. The son of an harlot, i.e. a bastard; for though such were not ordinarily to enter into the congregation of the Lord, Deut.

The land of Tob, the name either of the land or territory, or of the man who was the owner or ruler of it. This place was in or near Gilead, as appears by the speedy intercourse which here was between Jephthah and the Israelites.

In process of time, Heb. after some days; or, after a year; days being oft put for a year, as hath been showed, after that year mentioned Judg. 10:8. The Ammonites had vexed and oppressed them eighteen years, and now that the Israelites begin to make opposition, they commence a war against them.

By direction or instinct from God, who both qualified him for and called him to the office of a judge. See Judg. 12:7, Heb. 11:32. Otherwise they might not have chosen a bastard, Deut. 23:2.

Our captain: they say not our king; for the experience of Abimelech’s kingship had cooled their appetite in that particular; but our captain.

Did not ye expel me out of my father’s house, and deprive me of all share in my father’s goods, which, though a bastard, was due to me? This expulsion of him was the act of his brethren; but he here ascribes it to the elders of Gilead; either because some of them were among these elders, as is very…

Therefore we turn again to thee now; being sensible that we have done thee injury, we come now to make time full reparations.

If ye bring me home again; if you recall me from this place where I am now settled, to the place whence I was expelled. Shall I be your head? will you really make good this promise? Jephthah was so solicitous in this case, either from his zeal for the public good, which required that he should be…

They confirm their promise by a solemn and sacred oath.

Jephthah uttered all his words, objectively so called; i.e. all that was spoken, not only by him, but also by the elders of Gilead concerning him, and concerning this whole transaction, and the conditions of it; or, all his matters, the whole business. Before the Lord, i.e.

Messengers, i.e. ambassadors, to prevent bloodshed, and make peace, as far as in him lay; that so the Israelites might be acquitted before God and men from all the sad consequences of this war: herein he showed great prudence, and no less piety.

My land, i.e. this land of Gilead, which was mine, but unjustly taken from me, by Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and the injury perpetuated by Israel’s detaining it from me. This land, before the conquests of Sihon and Og, belonged partly to the Ammonites, as is affirmed, Josh.

Unto the Red Sea; unto which they came three times; once, Ex. 13:18; again, a little after their passage over it, Ex. 15:22; and a third time, long after, when they came to Ezion-gaber, Num. 33:35, Deut. 2:8, which was upon the shore of the Red Sea, 1 Kings 9:26, 2 Chron.

Peaceably, and did not revenge their unkindness and inhumanity, as they could have done.

i.e. Unto the land of Canaan, which God hath given to me.

So Sihon was the aggressor or beginner of the war; and the Israelites were forced to it for their own defence.

The coasts, or borders, together with all the land included within those borders; for so that word is oft used, as Ex. 8:2, Ps. 147:14, Jer. 15:13, Jer. 17:3. The wilderness, to wit, the desert of Arabia.

God, the sovereign Lord of all lands, hath given us this land: this he adds, as a further and a convincing reason; because otherwise it might have been alleged against the former argument, that they could gain no more right to that land from Sihon than Sihon himself had, and he had but an unjust…

He speaks according to their fond and absurd opinion. The Ammonites and Moabites got their land by right of war, and conquest of the old inhabitants, whom they cast out; and this success, though given them by the true God, for Lot’s sake, Deut.

Art thou better than Balak? art thou wiser than he? or hast thou more right than he had? Balak, though he plotted against Israel, in defence of his own land, which he feared they would invade and conquer, Num.

Three hundred years; not precisely, but about that time; either from their coming out of Egypt, or from their first conquest of those lands; and thus numbers are oft expressed: see Num. 1:46, Num. 2:32, Num. 11:21, Judg. 20:46.

I have not sinned against thee; I have done thee no wrong. The Lord be judge this day; let him determine this controversy by the success of this day and war.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah; endued him with a more than ordinary courage and resolution. Manasseh, i.e. Bashan, which the half tribe of Manasseh, beyond Jordan, inhabited, Josh. 20:8, Josh. 21:6. Mizpeh of Gilead; so called, to distinguish it from other cities of that name.

Of this and the following verse, See Poole “Judg. 11:39”

Minnith; a place not far from Rabbah, the chief city of; the Ammonites.

With timbrels and with dances; in consort with other virgins, as the manner was. See Ex. 15:20, 1 Sam. 18:0.

Thou art one of them that trouble me: before this, I was troubled by my brethren; and since, by the Ammonites; and now most of all, though but occasionally, by thee. I have opened my mouth, i.e. I have vowed, which was done by words, Num. 30:2, Num. 30:6. I cannot go back, i.e.

Do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; do not for my sake make thyself a transgressor; I freely give my consent to thy vow; wherewith, and with the success of his arms, he had now acquainted her, though it be not here expressed.

She chose the mountains as a solitary place, and therefore fittest both for lamentations, and for her preparation for her approaching calamity. Bewail my virginity; that I shall die childless, which was esteemed both a curse and a disgrace for the Israelites, Gen. 30:23, 1 Sam. 1:6–7, Isa.

Quest. What was it which Jephthah vowed and performed concerning his daughter? Answ. Many, especially of modern writers, conceive that Jephthah’s daughter was not sacrificed, but only devoted to perpetual virginity, which then was esteemed a great curse and reproach. This they gather, 1. From Judg.

Went yearly, to a place appointed for their meeting to this end, possibly to the place where she was sacrificed. To lament the daughter of Jephthah; to express their sorrow for her loss, according to thee manner.