These leaders have no leader and they know it. Their solution to this problem is not to trust the Lord or turn to him for help. They are so far gone from where Israel was at the beginning of chapter 1, when they did ask the Lord, Who shall go up first for us in battle?
and the Lord said, Judah.
Instead, the leaders of Gilead ask the same question of themselves: Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites?
1 They are desperate enough to offer leadership of the tribe to whoever would lead them into battle. But there is no clear answer. God has said he won’t save them. At the start of every other cycle in Judges, the Lord is the divine agent behind the rise of the leader (Judges 3:9, Judges 3:15; Judges 4:4–10; Judges 6:11–24, Judges 13:3–25), here there is no such indication. The breakdown in the appointment process is unmistakable. They did not care about the true worship of the Lord. The Gileadites are left to their own resources.
Of course, God was sovereign over all of this. He would send a judge to deliver them out of their misery. But the judge he sent them in chapter 11 is exactly the type of judge they deserved.
18 And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”