The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn't call us to go with you? we will burn your house on you with fire.
"They said, Ye are fugitives of Ephraim, ye Gileadites"  (Judges 12:4). Strahan remarked that, "These words make no sense."[6]  On the other hand, it is comments like that which are without good sense.  Right here is the reason why Ephraim would not respond to Jephthah's plea.  The Ephraimites considered Jephthah as a nobody and his "men" as a group of social outcasts, that is, fugitives from their respective tribes.  It was their low opinion of Jephthah and his men that led to their refusal to supply the requested aid, and their anger overflowed when God gave Jephthah the victory without them.