Judges 11:12 - Meaning and Application

Here Jephthah, now judge of Israel, deals with the king of the Ammonites, whose name is not given, in hopes of settling the dispute without bloodshed. He sends a message as one with authority and asks why Ammon has come to fight in Israel’s land: “Why have you come to fight against me in my land?” (Judges 11:12). If Jephthah had first entered Ammon’s land to disturb their possession, that would have given them cause for war. But since Ammon had invaded his land, he asks what right they had to do so.

This shows that Jephthah did not love war, even though he was a mighty man of valor. He wanted peace if it could be reached by reason, and he would not force the issue with the sword if he could avoid it. War should be the last resort, after every peaceful way of settling the matter has failed. The same is true in lawsuits. The sword of justice, as well as the sword of war, should not be used until both sides have first tried gentler means to understand each other and settle the dispute (1 Corinthians 6:1).

It also shows that Jephthah loved fairness and meant to do what was right. If the children of Ammon could prove that Israel had wronged them, he was ready to restore what belonged to them. But if they could not prove that, then their invasion itself showed that they were wronging Israel, and he was ready to defend Israel’s rights. A sense of justice should guide everything we do.

The king of the Ammonites now states his claim, though he should have done so before invading Israel (Judges 11:13). His claim is this: “Israel took my land long ago, so now restore those lands.” It seems likely that the Ammonites came at first mainly to plunder and enrich themselves, as they had done before under Eglon (Judges 3:13). But when Jephthah asked for the reason behind the attack, and they could not openly admit their true purpose, they searched old records or traditions and used this claim as a legal-sounding excuse for their invasion.

Even those who do great wrong often feel the need to make themselves look just. “Restore those lands.” This reminds us how uncertain our earthly possessions are. What we think we hold most securely can still be challenged and taken from us. Those who have reached the heavenly Canaan do not need to fear that their title will ever be questioned.

Jephthah gives a full and clear answer, showing that the Ammonites had no right to the land between the Arnon and Jabbok rivers, now held by Reuben and Gad. He speaks as a man well taught in the history of his nation. First, he says Israel never took land from either the Moabites or the Ammonites. He groups them together because they were related, both descended from Lot, and were near neighbors with common interests. Israel had been expressly commanded by God not to disturb them or take anything that belonged to them (Deuteronomy 2:9, Deuteronomy 2:19), and Israel obeyed.

The land in question was not taken from Moab or Ammon, but was found in the hands of Sihon, king of the Amorites. Israel took it from him justly, as Jephthah will later explain. If the Amorites had earlier taken that land from Moab or Ammon, Israel was not bound to investigate that older dispute or settle it for them. If the Ammonites had lost the land and their claim to it, Israel had no duty to recover it for them. Israel’s task was to conquer land for themselves, not for other nations. This is Jephthah’s first defense, that Israel was not guilty of trespass.

Second, Jephthah says Israel had been careful not to invade the land of any people except the cursed line of Canaan, and the Amorites were part of that line (Genesis 10:16). Israel would not even force a passage through the land of Edom, descended from Esau, or Moab, descended from Lot. Though they had been worn out by a long march through the wilderness, when the king of Edom first, and then the king of Moab, refused to let them pass (Judges 11:17), they chose instead to go around both lands, even though it made them more tired (Judges 11:16, Judges 11:18). Those who behave honestly and peacefully can take comfort in it and use it in their defense against false charges. Their right conduct will speak for them in due time (Genesis 30:33), and it will silence foolish accusations (1 Peter 2:15).

Third, Jephthah says that in the war by which Israel took the land from Sihon, king of the Amorites, Sihon was the attacker, not Israel (Judges 11:19-20). Israel first sent a humble request, asking permission to pass through his land. They were willing to give any assurance needed that they would behave well on the way. “Let us pass through to our place,” they said, meaning the land of Canaan, the only land they truly claimed as their own. They were not looking to settle in Sihon’s country.

But Sihon refused them, just as Edom and Moab had done. More than that, he gathered all his forces and attacked Israel (Judges 11:20). He did not simply keep them out of his land, he tried to destroy them utterly (Numbers 21:23-24). Israel then fought only in self-defense, and after defeating him, they could justly take his land as the fruit of victory and as punishment for his aggression. So Israel came into possession of this country and had good reason to stand by that title. It is unreasonable for the Ammonites to question it, because the land belonged to the Amorites, and it was the Amorites’ land and borders that Israel took (Judges 11:21-22).

Fourth, Jephthah pleads a grant from the king’s own authority and claims under that grant (Judges 11:23-24).

It was not Israel, who were tired from their long march and not ready for battle so soon. It was the Lord God of Israel, King over all nations, whose is the earth and everything in it. He drove out the Amorites and planted Israel in their place. God gave them the land by a clear and special grant, so their claim stood firm against the whole world. In Deuteronomy 2:24, God said, “I have given Sihon and his land into your hand.” He gave it to them by giving them a full victory over the people who were there, even though they were at a great disadvantage.

Jephthah’s point is this: “Do you think God gave us this land in such an unusual way, only so we would hand it back to the Moabites or Ammonites? No, we value God’s gifts too highly to give them up so easily.” To strengthen his case, he uses an argument aimed right at the man he is speaking to. “Will you not keep what Chemosh, your god, gives you?” He appeals not only to the common human wish to keep one’s own, but also to the religious habits of the nations. They thought they should guard carefully what their gods had given them.

Jephthah does not mean that Chemosh was really a god. He is simply speaking of him as the Ammonites did. Even people who worshiped those worthless idols, who could do neither good nor evil, still thought they owed their possessions to them. In Hosea 2:12, the people said, “These are my rewards that my lovers have given me.” See also Judges 16:24. They used that belief as a reason to hold tightly to what they had. Jephthah says, “If you think that is a good title, should not we think the same of ours?” The Ammonites had themselves driven out the people who lived in their land before them. They believed Chemosh had helped them, but in truth it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who did it for them, as Deuteronomy 2:19 and Deuteronomy 2:21 say plainly. Jephthah’s point is simple: “We have just as good a claim to our land as you have to yours.”

One way we honor God as our God is by using rightly what he gives us. We should receive it from him, use it for him, keep it for his sake, and give it up when he asks for it. He gives us things to possess, but not to cling to as our highest good. He alone is to be enjoyed as our true treasure.

Jephthah also argues from long possession. First, no one challenged Israel’s title when they first took the land. Balak, the king of Moab, from whom most of that land had been taken by the Amorites, was the person most likely to resist Israel if he had any case at all. Yet he stayed quiet and never fought against Israel. He knew he had already lost the land fairly to the Amorites, and he could not get it back. He also knew that Israel had fairly won it from the Amorites, so his only concern was to keep what was left. He never claimed what was gone. See Numbers 22:2-3. He accepted God’s way of handing over kingdoms, and Jephthah says, “Will you not do the same now?”

Second, Israel’s possession had never been disturbed. They had held the land as their own for about 300 years, and the Ammonites had never tried to take it from them. This was true even when they had the power to oppress Israel, as Judges 3:13-14 shows. So even if their claim had not been clear at the start, which Jephthah has already shown it was, no claim made after so many generations could stand. A title that has gone unchallenged so long is to be treated as sound.

By these arguments Jephthah clears himself and his cause. He is saying, “I have not sinned against you by taking or keeping what is not mine. If I had, I would return it at once.” At the same time, he condemns the Ammonites: “You are wrong to make war on me, and you must expect the result.” This also shows that in Israel’s days of strength and success, they had likely behaved peacefully toward their neighbors and had not oppressed them. When the king of Ammon wanted a reason to quarrel, he had to look back 300 years for an excuse. God’s people should live in such a way that they are blameless, harmless, and above reproach.

To settle the matter, Jephthah leaves the case with God and with the sword. The king of Ammon accepts the challenge, as Judges 11:27-28 says: “The Lord, the Judge, be judge this day.” By appealing to the Judge of heaven and earth, Jephthah means either to turn the Ammonites back when they see the right is against them, or to clear himself if they continue and he must defeat them. War is an appeal to heaven, to God the Judge of all, whose hands the outcome rests in. If the right is doubtful, he is asked to decide it. If the right is plain and people still violate it, he is asked to defend what is just and punish the wrong.

Just as the sword of justice was made for lawless and rebellious people (1 Timothy 1:9), so the sword of war was made for lawless and rebellious rulers and nations. So in war the eye must stay fixed on God. It is always a serious thing to wish or expect that God would support what is unjust.

Neither Jephthah’s defense nor his appeal moved the king of the Ammonites. They had enjoyed the spoil they took from Israel during the eighteen years they oppressed them (Judges 10:8), and now they hoped to seize the whole tree because they had long enjoyed its fruit. He would not listen to Jephthah’s words, because his heart was hardened to his own ruin.