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._ Jephthah ... dwelt in the land of Tob - on the north of Gilead, beyond the frontier of the Hebrew territories (2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Samuel 10:8). THERE WERE GATHERED VAIN MEN TO JEPHTHAH - idle, daring, or desperate; probably the Arabs of the adjoining desert. AND WENT OUT WITH HIM - followed him as a military chief, They led a freebooting life, sustaining themselves by frequent incursions on the Ammonites and other neighbouring people, in the Style of Robin Hood, or Highland reivers in the border forays, even when England and Scotland were at peace. The same kind of life is led by many an Arab or Tartar still, who, as the lea

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 prevail for the further punishment of Israel. Nor does he speak with any confidence at all in himself. If he succeed, it is the Lord delivers 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. If he make you happy, shall he make you holy? If he be your helper, shall he be your Head? Jephthah, to obtain a little worldly honour, was willing to expose his life: shall we be discouraged in our Christi...

Verse Judges 11:3. _THERE WERE GATHERED VAIN MEN TO JEPHTHAH_] אנשים ריקים _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_....

THE LAND OF TOB - To the north of Gilead, toward Damascus. The readiness with which Jephthah took to the freebooter’s life gives us a lively picture of the unsettled times in which he lived....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 11:1 The narrative here goes back probably some years, to explain the antecedents of Jephthah, who was about to play so prominent a part in the ensuing history. Jephthah we learn was a bastard son of Gilead by a foreign harlot, an Aramitess, if there is any connection between this verse and 1 Chronicles 7:14; and when the sons of Gilead's wife were grown up, they expelled Jephthah, and refused to let him have any share in the inheritance of their father, because he was the son of a foreigner; Jephthah therefore fled from Gilead, and took up his residence in the land of Tob, apparently an Aramean settlement (2 Samuel 10:6,...

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, 2 Samuel 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

CHAPTER 11 JEPHTHAH AND THE AMMONITES _ 1. Jephthah's covenant (Judges 11:1)_ 2. The messages to Ammon (Judges 11:12) 3. Jephthah's vow and victory (Judges 11:29) 4. Jephthah keeps his vow (Judges 11:34) Jephthah the judge who delivered Israel from the servitude of Ammon was the offspring of an unholy union “the son of an harlot.” Then he became an outcast and had to flee from his brethren. He dwelt in the land of Tob (goodness) and vain, or worthless, men gathered unto him. Yet he was a mighty man of valor. He was therefore an humble instrument, despised and rejected by his own. But finally thos

JEPHTHAH'S YOUTH. Jephthah (God _opens_ the womb) is the Othello of Israelitish history, a splendid barbarian, little blessed with the soft phrase of peace, familiar with moving accidents by flood and field, who by his valour delivers his country, and by a mysterious fate sacrifices a life dearer to him than his own. A great warrior, he was handicapped in the race of life, and persecuted by his own flesh and blood, because he came into the world with the cruel stain of illegitimacy. All the greater honour will be his if he can burst his birth's invidious bar. Tradition did not preserve the real name of the hero's father, who is simply called Gilead, which was properly the name of a district or its people (see Judges 10:3). Like Ishmael, another unwanted son, Jephthah was driven from his home and cast upon a cold world. But he found his way to the land of Tob (good), which proved a good l...

FROM. Hebrew "from the face of". Figure of speech _Pleonasm._ App-6. TOB. fruitful land. East of Syria. VAIN. unemployed, or bankrupt....

_the land of Tob_ A Syrian district near the territory of Gilead (Judges 11:5), 2Sa 10:6; 2 Samuel 10:8; cf. 1Ma 5:13; 1Ma 5:2 Mace. 12:17 (probably the same place). A town now called eṭ-Ṭaiyibe between Der-ât and Bostra perhaps preserves the name and indicates the situation. _vain fellows_ i.e. worthless fellows, Judges 9:4, and cf. 1 Samuel 22:1 f....