שופטים, פרק י״ב, פסוק ז׳

Jephthah’s time as a leader comes to an abrupt close after just six years. With his passing and burial in Gilead, the story of his remarkable deeds reaches its end [אברבנאל]. The record of his burial presents a puzzle, as it mentions him being laid to rest in the cities of the region. Naturally, a person cannot be buried in multiple locations at once. The primary approach among commentators is that he was simply buried in one specific city in Gilead, noting that the plural form is a common biblical style used to refer to a single location [רד"ק, רלב"ג, אברבנאל, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

However, some understand the plural literally, suggesting his remains were indeed distributed across the area. According to this view, his bones were divided and buried in various cities throughout Gilead to serve as a lasting memorial in the very places he saved from the Ammonites [מצודת דוד, רלב"ג]. Adding a tragic layer to this explanation, [רלב"ג] notes that because Jephthah died without a son or daughter to carry on his legacy, he personally ordered his bones to be scattered to ensure his memory would survive. Another possibility is that while his physical body was not divided, memorial stones were erected in multiple cities to honor him [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

A darker tradition offers a different reason for the scattered burial, viewing it as a severe punishment. In this account, Jephthah was struck by a terrible skin disease that caused his limbs to fall off as he traveled from town to town. Wherever a piece of his body fell, it was buried right there. This gruesome fate was a direct consequence of sacrificing his daughter instead of finding a way to cancel his vow and save her life [רד"ק].