Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 12:7

And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in [one of] the cities of Gilead.

7 . The story of Jephthah is brought to a close with the formula which is used of the Minor Judges, Jdg 12:8-15, Jdg 10:2-5.

was buried in one of the cities of Gilead ] The text has in the cities of G.! Can this mean that Jephthah was buried somewhere or other in Gilead? The vagueness of the expression is supposed to be an indication of the vaguely historical character of the whole story (Meyer, Die Israeliten, p. 535). Probably, however, the text is incorrect. The LXX. cod. B reads ‘in his city in G.’, cod. A ‘in his city G.’; Vulgate in civitate sua Galaad. Some cursive mss. of LXX read ‘in his city in Sephe Gilead,’ cf. Jos., Ant. Jdg 12:7; Jdg 12:12 ‘in Sebee of G.’; this suggests that the text originally ran in his city, in Mizpeh of G., cf. Jdg 8:27, Jdg 11:29. The rabbis are driven to explain ‘limb after limb fell off his body and was buried each in a different place,’ Midrash Rabba Levit. 37, Bereshith 60.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

In one of the cities, Heb. in the cities; the plural number put for the singular, as Gen 19:29, where Lot is said to dwell in the cities, i.e. one of the cities; and 1Sa 18:21, the twain is put for one of the twain; and Jdg 18:11, houses for house; and Jon 1:5, the sides for one of the sides.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7. Jephthah diedAfter agovernment of six years, this mighty man of valor died; and howeverdifficult it may be for us to understand some passages in hishistory, he has been ranked by apostolic authority among the worthiesof the ancient church. He was followed by a succession of minorjudges, of whom the only memorials preserved relate to the number oftheir families and their state [Jud12:8-15].

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

And Jephthah judged Israel six years,…. After the affair of the Ephraimites, he was acknowledged by all Israel as their judge and supreme governor, but did not live long; being perhaps depressed and worn away with grief, on account of his daughter, and other troubles that attended him:

then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead: it is not said in what city he was buried, but very probably it was in his own city Mizpeh, where he dwelt. Josephus w says it was in his own country, Sebee, a city of Gilead.

w Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 12.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Jephthah judged Israel six years, though most probably only the tribes on the east of the Jordan. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead. The plural is used quite indefinitely, as in Gen 13:12; Neh 6:2, etc. (see Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 665), simply because the historian did not know the exact town.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(7) Judged Israel.The word implies that he was one of the recognised Shophetim, but there are no details to show in the case of any of the judges either what were the limits of their jurisdiction or what amount of authority it implied.

In one of the cities of Gilead.The Hebrew only says, in cities of Gilead. This may, no doubt. mean one of the cities of Gilead, as in Gen. 19:29 the cities in the which Lot dwelt means in one of which Lot dwelt. But the burial-place of so renowned a hero as Jephthah was not likely to be forgotten, and the reading adopted by the LXX. and Vulg., in his city, Gilead (i.e., Ramoth-Gilead or Mizpeh of Gilead), is furnished by a mere change of into The Sebee, in which Josephus says he was buried, may be a corruption of Mizpeh.

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

JEPHTHAH’S DEATH, Jdg 12:7.

7. Judged Israel six years His dominion, probably, never extended to the west of the Jordan. The elders of Gilead had made him their “head and captain,” (Jdg 11:11,) and after his victory over the Ammonites, and his defeat of the Ephraimite invasion, he seems to have been content to rule over the inhabitants of Gilead.

Buried in one of the cities of Gilead From this indefiniteness about the place of his burial, compared with the fact that the burial of Abimelech is not mentioned at all, Wordsworth infers that a dark shadow hung over the name and memory of Jephthah. But he seems to have been honoured and respected among the eastern tribes, though we have no record of his making any efforts to lead back his people to the first principles of the theocracy, from which they had greatly departed. The eastern tribes still felt themselves to be of Israel, and never lost that feeling; but their isolation from the western tribes, causing the dialectic variation noticed Jdg 12:6, and their remoteness from the tabernacle, whereby they were cut off in a great measure from the practice of the divine worship, greatly weakened the ties of nationality. Jephthah’s offering, too, of a human sacrifice, taken in connexion with the fact that it seems not to have occasioned any feelings of horror among the people, creates the belief that they had become generally ignorant of the requirements of their own law, and estranged from the principles of Moses.

Our impression of Jephthah’s character is reverent. Driven by wrong from home and country, he wrought for himself a heroic name that made the chiefs of eastern Israel realize him to be their only hope. Recalled by their repentance, he, like Camillus, forgave all, and returned to his native home and altars. The dark vow that shades his character was an act of mistaken piety; yet his very fidelity to his vow shows it to have been a profoundly conscientious piety. At the same time it furnishes, in the self-devoting response of the daughter, one of the most touching strokes of pathos in all history. His diplomacy was as honest as his chivalry was brave. No shadow but his mistaken vow rests upon this heroic chief.

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

‘ And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.’

Jephthah ‘judged Israel’ for six years. That is was responsible for acting as God’s representative over a part of Israel for six years. All who judged a part of Israel were seen as ‘judging Israel’. He may have died from wounds, or disease, for his life was short. And he never received acceptance by his family for there was no room for him in the family grave. He was buried ‘somewhere in Gilead’. To man he was an outcast to the end. But he was accepted by God.

“Six years.” In view of the seven years of Ibzan and the ten of Elon, this may indicate a life cut short, falling short of the seven.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jdg 12:7. In one of the cities of Gilead In the Hebrew it is, in the cities of Gilead, which has given rise to a thousand ridiculous rabbinical fables. Houbigant well remarks, that all the ancient versions read, In the city of

Gilead. It is the Chaldee alone that reads, In the cities. He observes, that the phrase, whom he sent abroad, Jdg 12:9 expresses the giving these daughters in matrimony. We are to remember, that a numerous issue was considered as a peculiar blessing of Providence; and where many wives were permitted, such a number of children will not appear improbable.

REFLECTIONS.No sooner is Jephthah delivered from foreign enemies than he is disturbed by domestic feuds.

1. The men of Ephraim, jealous of the honour that Manasseh had got, seek occasion to quarrel with him, as they had before done with Gideon, under pretence of being slighted, because not called to the war against Ammon; and threaten, with outrageous violence, to fire Jephthah’s house over his head. Note; (1.) Quarrels between brethren are usually most bitter and violent. (2.) They who have done the greatest services to the cause of God are not secure from the greatest insults, even sometimes from the pretended friends of the cause. (3.) The most spotless characters are the fairest mark for the foul fangs of envy to fasten upon.

2. Jephthah remonstrates against their violence and accusation. Their charge was as false as malicious: he had called them, and they had refused to come. When, therefore, the danger was so imminent, at the risk of his life, he went out to battle, and, through the strength of God, prevailed. Was this a cause for their anger? Ought it not rather to have been cause of thankfulness? Note; (1.) The greatest boasters are usually the greatest cowards. (2.) They, who are themselves most in fault, would often save themselves by clamouring against the innocent. (3.) They well deserve the honour who purchase it at the peril of their lives.

3. The ill temper of the Ephraimites will not be pacified, and their ill tongue provokes the Gileadites, who came to interpose with them in behalf of the captain. They call them fugitives, a vagabond race, pretending as if they were expelled Canaan from the Ephraimites and Manassites, as unworthy of their relation. Such insult is too much for men of war usually to bear: swords are instantly drawn, and the Ephraimites justly punished for their insolence. They are routed in the field, and the passes of Jordan being secured by the men of Gilead, by the pronunciation of the word Shibboleth, they are all detected and slain, to the number of forty-two thousand. Note; (1.) A hasty and lying tongue usually occasions much mischief to its owner. (2.) They who insolently upbraid others quickly bring themselves into a worse condition. 4. Six years ended Jephthah’s government. Note; Great and good men must die, as well as others; but there is one who liveth, who will never leave his people to want a friend and protector in time of need.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

How quick in succession the departure of men! It may be said of all God’s servants, as it is of David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, he fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But Reader! what a precious addition to this remark doth the Holy Ghost make concerning our Jesus? He whom God raised again saw no corruption. Pray read the passage, and the two beautiful verses which follow, Act 13:36-39 .

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

Jdg 12:7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in [one of] the cities of Gilead.

Ver. 7. And was buried in one of the cities of Gilead. ] Heb., In the cities; whereupon some have founded a conceit that Jephthah was so esteemed for his valour, that they cut his body in pieces when he was dead, and carried a part to each of their cities, and there buried it. Peter Martyr by “cities” understandeth some one city so called, as Accius called Athens Quatrurbem.

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