Judges 11:1

Jephthah. Literally, “he will open.” Some believe that the name may have been a shortened form of Jipthah-el (Joshua 19:14, 27), which means “the Lord will open.”

Harlot. His mother did not even have the status of an inferior wife or concubine. She was merely a prostitute, and because of this the father apparently took the child to his home and reared him there, thus signifying his desire to treat him as a legitimate son.

Gilead begat Jephthah. Here Gilead stands for a person. Everywhere else where the name occurs in this narrative, except in v. 2, it refers to the region of Gilead. Manasseh had a grandson named Gilead, who gave his name to this region (Num. 26:29, 30; Joshua 17:1; 1 Chron. 7:14-17). But it is highly improbable that he was the father of Jephthah. If he were, the events here recorded concerning Jephthah must be among the earliest in the book of Judges. It is difficult to extend four generations over the period from the descent into Egypt to this point in the judges period. Jephthah’s father was probably another man of the tribe of Manasseh who bore the famous tribal name. It should be noted also that the narrative goes back a number of years to explain the family background of Jephthah.