This chapter gives as the history of Jephthah, another of Israel's judges, and numbered among the worthies of the Old Testament, that by faith did great things (Heb. xi. 32), though he had not such an extraordinary call as the rest there mentioned had. Here we have, I. The disadvantages of his origin, ver. 1-3. II. The Gileadites' choice of him to be commander-in-chief against the Ammonites, and the terms he made with them, ver. 4-11. III. His treaty with the king of Ammon about the rights of the two nations, that the matter might be determined, if possible, without bloodshed, ver. 12-28. IV. His war with the Ammonites, which he enters upon with a solemn vow (ver. 29-31), prosecutes with bravery (ver. 32), and ends with a glorious victory, ver. 33. V. The straits he was brought into at his return to his own house by the vow he had made, ver. 34-40.
Jephthah's Promotion. (b. c. 1143.)