Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he [was] the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
Ver. 1. Was a mighty man of valour.] Magna vi animi et corporis fuit, as Sallust saith of Catiline: He was stout and strong, hardy and able to suffer hardship, as a good soldier should do; one that had done great exploits, and had oft looked death in the face upon great adventures in the field.
And he was the son of an harlot.] A bastard this was a blur to him, through the fault of his parents. The Hebrews call such a one Mamzer that is, a strange blot: the Greeks, υβριδα, a reproach. The English, in disgrace of such births call all whores harlots, from Arlett, a skinner's daughter, on whom Robert Duke of Normandy begat our William the Conqueror. Howbeit God made choice of such a one here to be a deliverer of his people; and hath registred him among other of his worthies, famous for their faith. Heb 11:32 This is for the comfort of bastards, if believers and born of God. Joh 1:12-13 We read in our Chronicles of one Faustus, the son of Vortiger, who wept himself blind for the sin of his incestuous parents. And that David had good assurance that the child born of his adultery with Bathsheba went to heaven, is gathered from those words of his, "I shall go to him; he shall not return to me."