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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Judges 11:12 - 11:28
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Jephthah's Message to the Ammonites
v. 12. And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, for he intended to remove every suspicion as though he had ruthlessly violated the Lord's command not to molest the children of Ammon, Deu_2:5 to Deu_9:19, saying, What hast thou to do with me, what matter should cause us to wage war against each other, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?
v. 13. And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok and unto Jordan, for a part of the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, had originally been in the hands of Moab and Ammon, Num_21:26. Now, therefore, restore those lands again peaceably.
v. 14. And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon,
v. 15. and said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab nor the land of the children of Ammon;
v. 16. but when Israel came up from Egypt and walked through the wilderness unto the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh, Num_14:25; Num_13:26,
v. 17. then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land; but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto, Num_20:18; Num_20:21. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab; but he would not consent; and Israel abode in Kadesh. This was at the time when the children of Israel were on the western side of the mountains of Seir.
v. 18. Then they went along through the wilderness, marching south to the Elanitic Gulf, and thence east into the desert, and compassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, Num_21:11, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, on the south side, but came not within the border of Moab, to the territory actually occupied by the Moabites; for Arnon was the border of Moab.
v. 19. And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
v. 20. But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
v. 21. And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
v. 22. And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan. This account agrees exactly and almost verbally with Num_21:21-25. Jephthah relates the history as it concerned the children of Israel and shows the false pretense of the king of Ammon.
v. 23. So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel, by a war of extermination, and shouldest thou possess it? For Ammon had not conquered Sihon and his host.
v. 24. Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh, thy god, giveth thee to possess? They would surely consider such a procedure as just and fair, if they believed their war-god to have given them the victory in battle. So whomsoever the Lord, our God, shall drive out from before us, them will we possess, for Israel was surely entitled to the same consideration.
v. 25. And now art thou anything better than Balak, the son of Zipper, king of Moab, namely, at the time when Israel conquered the land east of Jordan? Did he ever strive, enter into litigation, against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, although he might have claimed an interest in the land with greater right than the Ammonites, Num_21:26,
v. 26. while Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? Why, therefore, if so sure of their ownership, did ye not recover them within that time? Possession, so long undisputed, could not be called in question at this late day.
v. 27. Wherefore I, Israel, have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me; the Ammonites were using their supposed claim to the land as a pretext for attacking Israel. The Lord, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon. Jephthah placed his case in the hands of Jehovah as the righteous Judge, who would render His decision by bestowing victory upon the righteous cause.
v. 28. Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him; he refused to change his plans. The fact that God occasionally suffers the wickedness of the enemies to continue as a punishment upon His people does not change the fact that their doing is still wickedness before Him.