The OlD JePhThAh TAle IN JuDGeS 5 Aroer referred to here is the place mentioned in Josh 13,25 in proximity to Rabbah of the Ammonites (Josh 13,25). It should be sought on the western Ammonite border. In the Bible and con- temporary sources Abel-keramim appears only in the Jephthah story. eusebius says that “until today there is a vine-growing village of Abela six miles from Philadelphia” (On. 32: 14-16). This place is usually sought in the area of Na‘ur 21, not far from Minnith 22. All in all, it is clear that the reality hidden behind 11,33a is that of the border of the Northern kingdom with Ammon and Moab in the century between ca. 840-740, that is, in the actual days of the author of the Book of Saviors. Judges 12,1-6 is a riddle. It seems to be a polemic against ephraim by Israelites who lived in Transjordan. The ephraimites are portrayed as whiners with no reason (they did not join Jephthah in the fight against the Ammonites) and as thugs (“We will burn your house over you with fire”); by gathering at Zaphon (v. 1; see n. 7 below), probably in the area of Succoth, they were well-positioned to threaten the town of Gilead (below). The fords of ephraim on the Jordan are mentioned in two other stories in Judges (3,28; 12,5 — the origin is probably in the ehud story). In the Gideon narrative the ephraimites also appear as grumblers, but Gideon appeases them. here the episode ends in a slaughter. Dating this part of the Jephthah narrative is difficult. On the one hand, it is not part of the original story; on the other, the author still seems to know that Gilead is a town rather than a region (on later confusions regarding Gilead see below). Assuming that “and the lord gave them into my hand” in v. 3b is a Deuteronomistic or post- Deuteronomistic insertion, the original (vv. 1-6), with no divine inter- vention, may be pre-Deuteronomistic. If so, these verses are “trapped” between the writing of the North Israelite author of the early 8th cen- tury and the Deuteronomistic layer. Therefore, the origin of this story may be sought in a possible conflict between Israelite groups in the end-days of the Northern kingdom 23. In any event, the crucial word- 21 Summary in B. MAZAR, “Abel-kermaim”, Encyclopaedia Biblica 1 (1972) 37-38 (in hebew); this fits the description of a watered place with vineyards. 22 For the possible identifications of the places mentioned in 11,33 see summaries in e. GASS, Die Ortsnamen des Richterbuchs in historischer und redaktioneller Perspektive (Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 35; Wiesbaden 2005). 23 GROSS (Richter, 624) sees these verses as memories portraying the process of separation of (the tribe) Gilead from ephraim.