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.
Gilead's wife gave birth to sons for him. When his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away and told him, 'You will not receive any inheritance in our father's house, because you are the son of another woman.'
The writer is showing how Jephthah was rejected and cast out by his half-brothers because his mother wasn't their father's official wife.
📚 Historical Context
In the time of the Judges, Israel was a loose confederation of tribes without a central king, and leadership often fell to individuals raised up by God during periods of crisis. Jephthah was the son of Gilead by a woman who was not his wife, making him illegitimate in the eyes of his family and leading to his exclusion from inheritance. This reflects the patriarchal society of ancient Israel, where birth status determined rights and family dynamics were heavily influenced by cultural norms of legitimacy.
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