Judges 10:17

PREPARATIONS FOR WAR, Judges 10:17-18.

These two verses serve as an introduction to the history of Jephthah, and ought not to have been separated from it by a division of chapters. Chapter 11 should have begun here.

17. Were gathered together Literally, let themselves be called together. Clarke’s rendering, they cried against Israel, is not allowable.

Gilead The mountainous tract of country on the east of the Jordan, extending from the northern end of the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee. In what particular part of this region the Ammonites encamped is not said, but probably at the southern base of Mount Gilead, (Jebel Osha,) or between that place and Rabbah, their capital. This whole region was wrested from the Ammonites and ruled by Jephthah. See map, page 234.

Mizpeh Probably identical with Mizpeh of Gilead, (Judges 2:29,) and the Ramoth-mizpeh of Joshua 13:26, near or at the modern es-Salt. It was the great gathering place of the Israelites east of the Jordan. “About three miles northwest of es-Salt is the highest peak east of the Jordan, commanding one of the widest and most interesting views in the country.

Its top is broad and flat, and would form a fine gathering place for a nation of warriors. On its northern shape is an ancient ruin called Jiliad. It is probable that this is the true site of Mizpeh of Gilead, the gathering-place of the eastern tribes. Mizpeh was situated close to the frontier of the Ammonites, and apparently near their capital, Rabbath, (Judges 11:29;) consequently it must have been on the south side of the Jabbok, and could not have been identical, as some have thought, with the Mizpeh where Jacob and Laban met. Genesis 31:49.” Porter.