On the opposite side, the Philistines assailed the neighbouring tribes of Israel, and sought to subdue them. They first attacked the tribe of Dan; nor did they spare the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. Even these disasters did not arouse the tribes to make a combined resistance. The trans-Jordanic tribes had turned to the Ephraimites for help; but the latter took no part in the contest, either from selfishness or because the inhabitants of Shechem and other Ephraimite towns had been enfeebled by Abimelech. In those troubled times there arose two deliverers, who drove off the enemy, and procured temporary relief. Jephthah and Samson, two adventurers, disregarding order and discipline, brought their powers to bear, as much for evil as for good. They both displayed extraordinary activity; but while Jephthah was a warrior who conquered his enemies by warlike measures, Samson, though endowed with great strength and daring, appears to have overcome his enemies by stratagems and unexpected attacks. Jephthah, the Gileadite, of the tribe of Manasseh having been banished by his tribesmen, began to lead the life of a highwayman. Daring associates, who thought little of law and order, joined him and appointed him their leader. When attacked by the Ammonites, the men of Gilead remembered their outlawed kinsman, whose bold deeds had come to their knowledge. Some of the elders of his tribe went to him, and urged him to aid them with his troops, and help them to expel the enemy from their territories. Full of proud indignation, Jephthah rebuked them with the words, "You hated me, and drove me from my father's house; wherefore do you come to me now when it goes ill with you?"[12] The Gileadite elders, however, entreated him more urgently, and promised, if he should vanquish the enemy, that they would recognise him as chief in Gilead. Upon this Jephthah determined to return with them. He then sent a formal message to the Ammonites, demanding that they should desist from their incursions into the territory of the Israelites; and when they refused on the pretext of ancient rights, he traversed the districts of Gilead and Manasseh in order to enlist warriors. Jephthah knew well how to gather many brave youths round him, and with these he proceeded against the Ammonites, defeated them, and wrested twenty cities out of their hands. After Jephthah had gained these decisive victories, the Ephraimites began a quarrel with him; and as previously, in the case of the heroic Gideon, they were displeased that he had obtained victories without their aid.