Judges 12:7

7 Jephthah judged Israel for six years. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead.

Judges 12:7 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 12:7

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 ^F23 says it was in his own country, Sebee, a city of Gilead.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 12.

Judges 12:7 In-Context

5 Jephthah captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go back across, the men of Gilead would challenge him. “Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,”

6 they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly. Then they would take him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites were killed at that time.

7 Jephthah judged Israel for six years. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead.

8 After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel.

9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He sent his daughters to marry men outside his clan, and he brought in thirty young women from outside his clan to marry his sons. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years.