John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 1. Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour , etc.] Jephthah had his name of Gileadite either from his father, whose name was Gilead, or from the city and country in which he was born, which is most likely, and so was of the same country with the preceding judge; and he was a man of great strength and valour, and which perhaps became known by his successful excursions on parties of the enemies of Israel, the Ammonites, being at the head of a band of men, who lived by the booty they got from them: and he was the son of an harlot ; the Targum says, an innkeeper; and, according to Kimchi, she was a concubine, which some reckoned no better than an harlot, but such are not usually called so; some Jewish writers will have her to be one of another tribe his father ought not to have married; and others, that she was of another nation, a Gentile, so Josephus f224 : and, according to Patricides f225 , he was the son of a Saracen woman; but neither of these are sufficient to denominate her a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah ; he was his son; this was a descendant of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, called after the name of his great ancestor.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-11 - Men ought not to be blamed for their parentage, so long as they by their personal merits roll away any reproach. God had forgiven Israel therefore Jephthah will forgive. He speaks not with confidence of his success, knowing how justly God might suffer the Ammonites to prevai for the further punishment of Israel. Nor does he speak with an confidence at all in himself. If he succeed, it is the Lord deliver them into his hand; he thereby reminds his countrymen to look up to God as the Giver of victory. The same question as here, in fact, is put to those who desire salvation by Christ. If he save you, will ye be willing that he shall rule you? On no other terms will he save you. I he make you happy, shall he make you holy? If he be your helper, shal he be your Head? Jephthah, to obtain a little worldly honour, wa willing to expose his life: shall we be discouraged in our Christia warfare by the difficulties we may meet with, when Christ has promise a crown of life to him that overcometh?
Original Hebrew ויפתח3316 הגלעדי1569 היה1961 גבור1368 חיל2428 והוא1931 בן1121 אשׁה802 זונה2181 ויולד3205 גלעד1568 את853 יפתח׃3316
