What does Judges 11:29 mean?
This is the text's first indication that God has legitimately endorsed Jephthah as a deliverer of Israel from her enemies. It's also the first indication to the reader that the Lord is responding to Israel's repentance from serving other gods and request for deliverance (Judges 10:10–16).God sends His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, on Jephthah. This apparently happens as Jephthah seeks to recruit additional fighters to take on the Ammonites. The Holy Spirit also came on Gideon when the time came to recruit fighters and attack Israel's enemies (Judges 6:34). The sense of this passage is that Jephthah is supernaturally empowered to raise and lead an army of God's people into battle.
This verse vaguely describes Jephthah's route as he passes through both Gilead and Manasseh. He returns to Mizpah in Gilead (Judges 11:11) before attacking the Ammonites. Passing "through Manasseh" suggests Jephthah may have raised fighters outside of his region of Gilead, as well as from within.