Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 12:2
And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.
2. were at great strife with the children of Ammon ] lit. ‘I was at strife, I and my people, and the children of A. exceedingly.’ Supply afflicted me in the last clause, with LXX. cod. A, Luc. etc., Syro-Hex . The verb ( ‘innni) was accidentally omitted, probably owing to its resemblance to ‘Ammon. Jephthah identifies himself with his people, as in Jdg 11:12.
when I called you ] The summons is not mentioned in ch. 11, but it may be implied in Jdg 11:29; see note.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When I called you … – This circumstance is not related in the main narrative. It is likely to have occurred when Jephthah was first chosen leader by the Gileadites, and when Ephraim would probably ignore his pretensions.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hence it appears that he craved their assistance, which they denied, though that be not elsewhere expressed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. when I called you, ye deliveredme not out of their handsThe straightforward answer ofJephthah shows that their charge was false; their complaint of notbeing treated as confederates and allies entirely without foundation;and their boast of a ready contribution of their services came withan ill grace from people who had purposely delayed appearing till thecrisis was past.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at a great strife with the children of Ammon,…. As to the cause of the war, or the reason of his going over to fight the children of Ammon, it was a strife or contention between the Gileadites and them, concerning their country; which the children of Ammon claimed as theirs, and the Gileadites insisted on it they had a just right to it; by which it appeared that this was not a personal contention between Jephthah and them; and therefore the Ephraimites had no reason to fall so furiously upon him particularly; and it was a contention which chiefly concerned the two tribes and a half, and not the rest; and so could not be blamed for defending themselves alone if they could, without interesting others in the quarrel: but this is not all he has to say, he adds,
and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands; it seems he had called them to assist in driving the enemy out of their boarders when there, and they refused to help him; though it is not elsewhere said, and it is not denied by them, so that it was false what they alleged; or however, since they declined giving him any assistance, when the children of Ammon were in his country, he could not expect they would join him in an expedition into theirs.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon.Literally, I was a man of strife, I and my people, and the children of Ammon exceedingly. We have a similar phrase in Jer. 15:10. Jephthah adopts the tone of a recognised chief, as he had done to the Ammonites.
And when I called you, ye delivered me not.Ephraim was not immediately affected by the Ammonite oppression, any more than it had been by the Midianite. The effect of those raids was felt chiefly by Manasseh and by the Eastern tribes. Hence the Ephraimites held themselves selfishly aloof. That we are not told of this previous appeal of the Gileadites to Ephraim illustrates the compression of the narrative. We cannot tell whether it took place before or after the summons of the Gileadites to Jephthah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. When I called you Jephthah speaks in the name and as representative of the eastern tribes. These tribes were the ones specially afflicted by Ammon, and when they could no longer endure the oppression they resolved on fight. See Jdg 10:17-18. Then they looked for a leader; and then it doubtless was they appealed to the western tribes, and especially to Ephraim, to come and save them from their bitter foes. Jephthah himself, too, when collecting his forces to go against the Ammonites, probably called on them to come and help in the war. Keil thinks the Ephraimites probably refused their co-operation because the eastern tribes had appointed Jephthah as commander without consulting them. The designed brevity of the history led to the necessary omission of many minor facts and details.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were at a great strife with the children of Ammon, and when I called you, you did not save me out of their hands.”
Jephthah had no thought of submitting. He merely pointed out the great trouble that Gilead, Gad and Reuben had been in and that Ephraim, when called on along with others, had not been willing to do anything about it. ‘Did not save me.’ Here he was speaking of his people as now represented by himself. The call to the tribal confederacy for help, which had gone unheeded, was probably made by the elders of Gilead long before his appointment. But it had shown them that they would get no help from that quarter.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 12:2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.
Ver. 2. And Jephthah said unto them. ] Apologies are lawful, and in stone cases needful: the primitive Christians, as Tertullian, Athenagoras, and others, offered their apologies to the Roman emperors to very good purpose.
And when I called you.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I and my: Jdg 11:12-33
Reciprocal: Num 21:24 – Israel
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 12:2-3. When I called you, ye delivered me not He answers them with great mildness, but denies their charge. He affirms that he had begged their assistance, but they had refused to grant it. When I saw that ye delivered me not When I became sensible that there was no hope of your assistance to preserve us from ruin; I put my life in my hand That is, I exposed myself to the utmost danger; as a man that carries a brittle and precious thing in his hand, which may easily either fall to the ground or be snatched from him. He had but a small part of the people of Israel with him, to encounter their powerful oppressors. And passed over against the children of Ammon With such forces only as I could raise on the east of Jordan, Jdg 11:29-30. Wherefore are ye come up? Why do ye thus requite my kindness in running such hazards to defend and preserve you and yours? Jephthah here manifests an excellent spirit and great wisdom. He would have prevented the civil war had it been possible.