"The loss of his daughter was not the only trial Jephthah had
to face at this time of victory. The men of Ephraim were known throughout Israel
for their sense of self-importance. Taking undue pride in the precedence
assigned to their tribe in Jacob's prophetic blessing on Joseph's younger son,
they never lost an opportunity to assert what they deemed to be their primacy in
Israel. Even with Joshua, himself a man of Ephraim, they had shown themselves
cantankerous and greedy of territory (Josh 17:14), so that it had called for
much forbearance and tact on Joshua's part in the handling of their selfish
complaint. Gideon had had to face the same problem. Instead of applauding his
heroism, stamina and skill in routing the Midianites, they childishly complained
that they had been ignored in the rally and struggle for liberty.
"Jephthah had to face the same unreasonable spirit. Angry at
being left in the background when glorious victories were being won by such an
upstart leader, the Ephraimites gathered in force and crossed Jordan into
Gilead. Possibly, too, they felt it unwise to allow a man such as Jephthah to
become too powerful, for then their own dominance of central Israel might be
challenged" (WJR).
Jdg 12:4
The Ephraimites taunted the Gileadites: 'You are fugitives
(debtors, criminals) who fled from us.' This might have some basis in
fact.
Jdg 12:6
When the men of Ephraim turned to flee, Jephthah with quick
foresight detailed off squads of men to travel swiftly to the fords of Jordan.
It was Ehud's coup de grace over again (Jdg 3:28). Yet in his fairness Jephthah
strictly forbad them to slay any except the men of Ephraim who should fall into
their hands there (for the fords of Jordan were always busy with travelers other
than Ephraimites).
Evidently there was some local trick of speech characteristic
of the men of Ephraim which enabled a rough and ready discrimination to be made
between them and others. Cp Peter, betrayed by his Galilean accent (Mat
26:73).