Judg 11:13-23 | KingComments | STEP | Jephthah begins his encounter with the king of Ammon by drawing a clear dividing line between Israel and his enemies. That may seem intolerant, but it is the only right way to deal with the enemy. Ammon means in a spiritual sense: error about what God has said. Any form of compromise is completely out of place here. Therefore, modern theologians who use the human mind as a basis to judge the authority of the Bible can never be treated on a friendly basis. Such people must be made clear that they do not participate in the relationship that exists between God and His people. However kind such people may be, they are essentially enemies of the people of God. We can bear a lack of knowledge, not enmity. The reaction is not long in coming. The king of Ammon confirms his claim to the land by pointing to its history. He makes another nice gesture: they can give the land back at will, then Israel does not have to fear that he will use violence. It sounds so plausible. If Jephthah had not known the history of God’s people, he would probably have succumbed to the arguments. This is how many people are doing today. They fall prey to the fine talk of modern theologians because they do not read the Bible themselves. They do not know the Word of God and are “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” ( ).

‏ Judges 11:13-23

The First Conversation With the Enemy

Jephthah begins his encounter with the king of Ammon by drawing a clear dividing line between Israel and his enemies. That may seem intolerant, but it is the only right way to deal with the enemy. Ammon means in a spiritual sense: error about what God has said. Any form of compromise is completely out of place here.

Therefore, modern theologians who use the human mind as a basis to judge the authority of the Bible can never be treated on a friendly basis. Such people must be made clear that they do not participate in the relationship that exists between God and His people. However kind such people may be, they are essentially enemies of the people of God. We can bear a lack of knowledge, not enmity.

The reaction is not long in coming. The king of Ammon confirms his claim to the land by pointing to its history. He makes another nice gesture: they can give the land back at will, then Israel does not have to fear that he will use violence. It sounds so plausible.

If Jephthah had not known the history of God’s people, he would probably have succumbed to the arguments. This is how many people are doing today. They fall prey to the fine talk of modern theologians because they do not read the Bible themselves. They do not know the Word of God and are “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph 4:14).

The Second Conversation

Jephthah knows the history of God’s people very well. He is well aware of God’s dealings with them in the past. He returns to the origin, as the apostle John says, what is “from the beginning” (1Jn 1:1 ; 1Jn 2:13 ; 14 ; 24). John writes in view of certain errors that undermined the truth about Christ – that He is truly God and truly Man in one Person. Then you cannot do better than go back to what God has told in the beginning. What God has entrusted to us from the beginning, we must preserve and defend, but then we must know those words. The best way to resolve a conflict with ‘Ammon’ is to read a chapter from the Bible.

In everything that Jephthah brings forward of Israel’s history, we see submission to what God has said. He recounts history as it has happened in reality and as God has made it written down. He knows his ‘Bible’ well and knows what is written in Numbers 21 and Deuteronomy 2, where it is described that Israel has conquered this area from the Amorites and not from the Ammonites (Num 21:21-25; Deu 2:24 ; 33 ; Deu 3:1-10). The Amorites and the Ammonites are two different peoples, although the names still look so much alike. God has forbidden Israel to pass through the Ammonite region, and the Israelites have kept to this (Deu 2:37).

Jephthah’s conclusion is clear. The LORD, the God of Israel, has given His people the land, and they have taken possession of it (Jdg 11:23). The same goes for us. We too can and must take possession of what God has given us in the heavenly places in terms of spiritual blessings, and do not allow them to be robbed. Jephthah challenges the king of Ammon to take possession of what their god gives them and thus makes the dispute a battle between God and the idols.

The last argument he uses is based on the number of years Israel has lived in the disputed area. Balak, the king of Moab, has tried to get rid of Israel by hiring Balaam and cursing the people of God through him (Num 22:1-7). That attempt failed and in the 300 years that followed, no attempt was ever made to free the cities conquered by Israel from the Amorites. Israel’s right to those cities has remained undisputed all this time. And should they give up this area now? No way!