Judges 11:4

_AND IT CAME TO PASS IN PROCESS OF TIME, THAT THE CHILDREN OF AMMON MADE WAR AGAINST ISRAEL._ In process of time - on the return of the season. THE CHILDREN OF AMMON MADE WAR. Having prepared the way by the introduction of Jephthah, the sacred historian here resumes the thread of his narrative from Judges 10:17. The Ammonites seem to have invaded the country, and active hostilities were inevitable....

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 11:4. _THE CHILDREN OF AMMON MADE WAR_] They had invaded the land of Israel, and were now encamped in Gilead. See Judges 10:17....

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,...

AND IT CAME TO PASS IN PROCESS OF TIME,.... Some time after Jephthah had been expelled from his father's house, and he was become famous for his martial genius, and military exploits; or at the close of the eighteen years' oppression of the children of Israel by the Ammonites, or some few days after the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpeh, that the people and princes of Gilead were preparing for war with Ammon, and were thinking of a proper person to be their general: THAT THE CHILDREN OF AMMON MADE WAR AGAINST ISRAEL; not only passed over Jordan again, and encamped in Gilead, but began to attack them in some place or another, at least threatened them with it, and made motions towards it....

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...

CHILDREN. sons....

_after a while_ An indefinite mark of time as in Judges 14:8; Judges 15:1. The wording implies that the Ammonites have not been mentioned before; this is another reason for believing that the introductory notice Judges 10:6-18 was composed later than the present passage....

_Jephthah Delivers Israel Judges 11:1-28_ Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah, 2 And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman. 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. 4 And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob: 6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. 7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead