Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 11:3

Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.

3. the land of Tob ] A Syrian district near the territory of Gilead ( Jdg 11:5), 2Sa 10:6 ; 2Sa 10:8; cf. 1Ma 5:13 ; 1Ma 5:2 Mace. 12:17 (probably the same place). A town now called e-aiyibe between Der‘t and Bostra perhaps preserves the name and indicates the situation.

vain fellows ] i.e. worthless fellows, Jdg 9:4, and cf. 1Sa 22:1 f.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 3. There were gathered vain men to Jephthah] anashim reykim, empty men – persons destitute of good sense, and profligate in their manners. The word may, however, mean in this place poor persons, without property, and without employment. The versions in general consider them as plunderers.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

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.

Vain men; idle persons, who desire to get their living rather by spoil and rapine, than by honest and diligent labour. These evilminded persons Jephthah managed well, employing them against the enemies of God and of Israel that bordered upon them; and particularly, upon parties of the Ammonites, which made the Israelites more forward to choose him for their chieftain in this war. Went out with him, when he made excursions and attempts upon his and their enemies.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. Jephthah . . . dwelt in the landof Tobon the north of Gilead, beyond the frontier of theHebrew territories (2Sa 10:6;2Sa 10:8).

there were gathered vain mento Jephthahidle, daring, or desperate.

and went out withhimfollowed him as a military chief. They led a freebootinglife, sustaining themselves by frequent incursions on the Ammonitesand other neighboring people, in the style of Robin Hood. The samekind of life is led by many an Arab or Tartar still, who as theleader of a band, acquires fame by his stirring or gallantadventures. It is not deemed dishonorable when the expeditions aredirected against those out of his own tribe or nation. Jephthah’smode of life was similar to that of David when driven from the courtof Saul.

Jud11:4-11. THEGILEADITES COVENANTWITH JEPHTHAH.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then Jephthah fled from his brethren,…. Being ill used by them, and a man of spirit and courage, and could not bear to be treated with contempt, nor to live in a dependence on others, and therefore sought to make himself another way:

and dwelt in the land of Tob; which Kimchi and Ben Gersom think was the name of the lord and owner of the land; Abarbinel interprets it, a good land, as Tob signifies, so the Targum; but others the name of a city or country, and conjecture it may be the same with Ishtob, and which was not far from the children of Ammon, since they sent thither for assistance, 2Sa 10:6. Jerom g takes it for a country, in which Jephthah dwelt, but says no more of it. Junius says it was on the entrance of Arabia Deserta, in the Apocypha:

“Yea, all our brethren that were in the places of Tobie are put to death: their wives and their children also they have carried away captives, and borne away their stuff; and they have destroyed there about a thousand men.” (1 Maccabees 5:13)

“Then departed they from thence seven hundred and fifty furlongs, and came to Characa unto the Jews that are called Tubieni.” (2 Maccabees 12:17)

where the inhabitants of it are called Tobienians or Tubienians:

and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah; not wicked men, but empty men, whose pockets were empty; men without money, as Abarbinel interprets it, had nothing to live upon, no more than Jephthah, and he being a valiant man, they enlisted themselves under him:

and went out with him; not on any bad design, as to rob and plunder, but to get their living by hunting; or rather by making excursions into the enemy’s country, and carrying off booty, on which they lived. Josephus h says he maintained them at his own expense, and paid them wages.

g De loc. Heb. fol. 25. A. h Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 7.)

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Jephthah departed from his brothers into the land of Tob, i.e., according to 2Sa 10:6, 2Sa 10:8, a district in the north-east of Perea, on the border of Syria, or between Syria and Ammonitis, called in 1 Macc. 5:13, or more correctly , according to 2 Macc. 12:17, where loose men gathered round him (cf. Jdg 9:4), and “went out with him,” viz., upon warlike and predatory expeditions like the Bedouins.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(3) Dwelt in the land of Tob.A Syrian district on the north-east of Pera (2Sa. 10:6). It is referred to in 1Ma. 5:13; 2Ma. 12:17. The name means good, but lends no sanction to the idle allegories which have been based upon it.

Vain men.Jdg. 9:4.

Went out with him.Jephthah simply became a sort of Syrian freebooter. His half-heathen origin, no doubt, influenced his character unfavourably, as it had done that of Abimelech.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Fled Violence and abuse were apparently used in thrusting him out.

Land of Tob A district lying northeast of Gilead, and apparently between the Syrians and Ammonites. Compare 2Sa 10:6. It has not been identified with any modern name.

Vain men Loose and desperate characters like those whom Abimelech made his friends.

Jdg 9:4. These eastern deserts were the common resort of such characters. See note on 2Sa 13:37. Jephthah’s mode of life during this period has been aptly compared to that of David when he fled from the court of Saul, and gathered round him a company of lawless characters, (1Sa 22:2,) and also to that of a Scottish border chieftain in the Middle Ages, and that of Robin Hood in England.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and dwelt in the land of Tob, and there were gathered adventurers to Jephthah, and went out with him.’

So Jephthah had to leave his home and make his living as best he could in an unfriendly world. He had every disadvantage. He went to live in the region of Tob. Tob was an Aramaean city and area north of Gilead (compare 2Sa 10:6), possibly al-Taiyiba. It was named tby in the list of Thutmose III. But there his worth was recognised by similar stateless and rejected men and other adventurers who joined him under his leadership.

“Went out with him” indicates their purpose. They sought booty and spoils, probably attacking caravans, rustling and even attacking small towns and villages. And so, like David would after him, he developed skills in leading men, in fighting and in generalship, ready for when he would hear the call of Yahweh. He also built up a force of efficient, trained fighting men. It is probable also, that, like David, he did not attack his own countrymen, even possibly coming sometimes to their defence, otherwise they would not have considered him for the leadership.

We must beware of depicting him as too ‘rough’. He had grown up in an aristocratic household as a son of the house, and was used to good living. He had also had opportunity to develop his faith, even though he would have been excluded from much on the grounds that he was a bastard, although that may not have been generally known.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The gathering of vain men unto Jephthah, is not unsimilar to David’s army, when he became their captain, when everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became their captain. See 1Sa 22:2 . But in all this, do I not see Jesus pictured out as the real David, and the captain of his people? Never, dearest Lord, should I have gathered with others unto thee, nor have sought to have thee to reign over me, if I had not been in soul distress, by reason of sin; in a state of insolvency by reason of debt to the law of God, and miserably discontented in the claims of a guilty conscience, until I found ease under thy precious banner, as the captain of my salvation.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jdg 11:3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.

Ver. 3. Dwelt in the land of Tob. ] Or, Of the Tubiemites, as histories call it. Some think it took its name from one Tob, the possessor of it: who might be so surnamed for his goodness, as Aristides was by the Athenians surnamed Justus, and Phocion Bonus. Of Probus the Emperor it was said, Si Probi nomen non haberet, habere cognomen posset: a that he was Probus or honest all over.

a Flav. Vopisc., in Probo.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)