Wesley Corpus

Expel me - And deprive me of all share in my father's goods, which, though a bastard, was due to me. This expulsion of him was the act of his brethren; but he here ascribes it to the elders of Gilead; either because some of them were among these elders, as is very probable from the dignity of this family; or because this act, though desired by his brethren, was executed by the decree of the elders, to whom the determination of all controversies about inheritance belonged; and therefore it was their faults they did not protect him from the injuries of his brethren. Therefore - Being sensible that we have done thee injury, we come now to make thee full reparation. If, c. - If you recall me from this place where I am now settled, to the place whence I was expelled. Shall I, c. - Will you really make good this promise Jephthah was so solicitous in this case, either from his zeal for the public good, which required that he should be so; or from the law of self - preservation, that he might secure himself from his brethren; whose ill - will he had experienced, and whose injuries he could not prevent, if, after he had served their ends, he had been reduced to his private capacity. The Lord be witness - The Lord be an hearer: so the Hebrew word is. Whatever we speak it concerns us to remember, that God is an hearer! All his words - Or, all his matters, the whole business. Before the Lord - That is, before the public congregation, wherewith God was usually, and then especially present. Messengers - That is, ambassadors, to prevent blood - shed, that so the Israelites might be acquitted before God and men, from all the sad consequences of this war; herein he shewed great prudence, and no less piety. What hast thou, c. - What reasonable cause hast thou for this invasion In my land - He speaks this in the name of all the people. My land - That is, this land of Gilead, which was mine, but unjustly taken from me, by Sihon and Og, the kings of the Ammonites; and the injury perpetuated by Israel's detaining it from me. This land, before the conquests of Sihon and Og, belonged partly to the Ammonites, and partly to the Moabites.