Judges 10:17

On this and the following verse see above. The Ammonites occupied the district which lay to the N.E. of Moab, bordered by the eastern desert. Their chief city was Rabbath-ammon, in Greek Philadelphia, now -Ammân, near the source of the Jabbok; their other cities (Judges 11:33; 2 Samuel 12:31) were insignificant. Like the Moabites, the Ammonites were regarded as akin to Israel, but with feelings of repugnance, Genesis 19:36 ff.; probably also, like the Moabites, they spoke a language closely allied to that of Israel. In the days of Saul (1 Samuel 11) and David (2 Samuel 10-12) their hostility broke out afresh. The Bedouin on the edge of the Syrian desert have always been ready to plunder the agricultural country within reach.

encamped in Gilead Here apparently a city, cf. Hosea 6:8, perhaps the modern Jal-ûd, on the high ground a little S. of the Jabbok.

encamped in Mizpah Cf. Judges 11:11; Judges 11:34, apparently = Mizpeh of Gilead Judges 11:29; the name (which belongs to several places) means -outlook point," LXX here ἡ σκοπιά, and implies a situation commanding a view; Jebel Ôsha-, near es-Salt, not far S. of Jal-ûd, would suit the conditions. Among other sites proposed, that of Ḳal-at er-Rabaḍ, N. of Jal-ûd and of the Jabbok, may be mentioned. At Mizpah was a sanctuary of Jehovah, and the home of Jephthah (Judges 11:11; Judges 11:34). The Israelites gathered to the camp, but as yet they had no leader.