The ill-considered oath of these leaders of Gilead that the one who initiates the attack against the Ammonites will be the head (ro’sh) of everyone living in Gilead shows that only under extreme duress is Jephthah appointed as the leader of the Israelites. Presumably this is why it is not said of Jephthah that Yahweh raises him up to deliver Israel. The absence of such a statement only reinforces how ill-advised the elders’ oath is to choose “whoever” (v. 18) to be head of their clan. With an ironic twist, the elders’ ill-considered oath is anticipatory of Jephthah’s later ill-considered oath.
