The Pulpit Commentary — Judges — Section 113

EXPOSITION. the person so calletl, i. e. the son or descend- CHAPTER XI. ant ?f Machir, from whom the family, in- Vers. 1-ll. -The narrative here goes. back cludmg J ephthah, were railed Gileadi tes ; probably some years, to explain the antece- b_ut whether son or descendant cannot posi- dents of Jephthah, who was about to play tively be affirmed. All that is certain is that he was that one of Machir's descend- so prominent a part in the ensuing history. ants who was the head of that division of Jephthah we learn was a bastard son of the Manassites who were called Gileadites. Gilead by a foreign harlot, an Aramitess, if Again, when it is said Gilead begat Jephthah, there is any connection between this verse we cannot be certain whether it is meant and 1 Chron. vii. 14 ; and when the sons of that Gilead was Jephthah's father, or merely his ancestor (see eh. x. 3, note). Gilead's wife were grown up, they expelled Ver. 2.-And Gilend's wife. ,Vhenever Jephthah, and refused to let him have any Gilead lived, besides the son by the foreign share in the inheritance of their father, harlot, whom Jephthah represented, he hil.d because he was the son of a foreigner ; J eph- sons o.nd descendants by his legitimate wife, thah therefore fled from Gilead, and took up who claimed to be his sole heirs, and wbo therefore drove J ephthah from the inherit- his residence in the land of Tob, apparently ance of their father's house. They might, an Aramean settlement (2 Sam. x. 6, 8), and as for as the language used is concerned, have presumably the land of his mother's birth, been Gilead's own sons, or they mav have where he gsthered round him "vain men" been his grandsons or great-grandsons; and so (eh. ix. 4), and became a famous freebooter. either the brothers or the cousins and fellow- tribesmen of Jephthah. There he was at the time of the Ammonite Ver. 3.-The land of Tab. This is cer- invasion mentioned in eh. x. 17, and thither tainly the same country as is spoken of in the Gileadites sent for him to come and be Ish-tob, i. e. the men of Tob, of whorn ; 2,000 their captain, after the consultation in eh. x. were hired by the children of Ammon to 18, with the .promise that if he came he should fight against David. They are thus nameu. side by side with the men of Beth-Reholi, be the head or prince of all the inh!Lbitants of and Zobe., and Maacah, other small Aramean Gilead. After some demur he agreed, and or Syrian states (2 Se.m. x. 6, 8). Tob is came, and was installed as head of the State again mentioned in all probability in 1 Mace. at the Gileadite metropolis of Mizpah (eh. x. v. 13; 2 .Mace. xii. 17, and the Thauba of 17, note). Ptolemy agrees in situation as well e.s in name with Tob, but no identification with Ver. 1.-J'ephthah the Gileadite. Gilead any existing place has been hitherto effected. has two mennings : it is the name of the Va.in men, as in eh. ix. 4. country so called (eh. x. 8, note), and it is the Ver. 4.-This verso briugs us back to eh. name of the son or descendant of Machir x. 17, and reunites the two streams of nar- tl1e son of Mtmnsseh (1 Chron. vii. 14, 17 ; rative. Numb. xxvi. 29, 30). Gileadite o.lso may be Ver. ·s.-The elders of Gilee.d. Tho s,1me explained in two ways : it mo.y mean an in- as the princes in eh. x. 18. habitant r:if Gilead (eh. x. 18), orit mny mean Ver. 6.-0ur captain. A military term. a member of the family of the Gileadites, ns in J oah. x. 2-L It is also used in ls,1. i. either an actual son or a more remote descentl- 10 for the r1ile1·s of Sodom, nnt of Gilead (Numb. xxvi. 29)-two mean- Ver. 7.-Did not ye he.te me, &c. Jeph- ings which would usually coincide. Gilead thah's reproach to the "elders of Gile,i,l " l>ege.t J'ephthah. He.re Gilead must mei\ll st1·o"gly favours the i<lea tha.t '' his brethren·•  120 THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [cH, XI. 1-2111.