The term is an inflammatory insult. Its normal sense, which can be assumed here, is in reference to escapees from some peril, especially battle. Yet there is no hint in the narrative of an earlier battle between Gilead and Ephraim. Its truthfulness, therefore, is not certain. It could be an allusion to the Gileadites occupying of land east of the Jordan, which lay outside the heart of Israel. It may even be a fabrication to incite the men of Gilead to war. Regardless of its meaning or truthfulness, the use of the term is surely intended to hit a sore spot in Jephthah, who had suffered much of his life with the label illegitimate son,
son of a prostitute,
1 and who had been an outcast from his Gileadite countrymen (Judges 11:1–7).2 But he had since achieved social status and acceptability, to the point where he could now speak of I and my people.
So he could not tolerate the insult.
What the term does from a narrative perspective is set up the reversal of this phrase in Judges 12:5–6, where Ephraim becomes the fugitives
of Gilead.
4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.”