No King in Israel (25)

New readers of Old Testament history may occasionally find themselves lost in a sea of names, places and peoples. Ammonites and Amorites both begin with the letter “A”, but seasoned readers know the Ammonites were fellow Hebrews descended from Lot, as Israel was descended from Abraham, whereas the Amorites were descendants of Canaan son of Ham. They founded the Old Babylonian Empire and ruled Mesopotamia, the Levant and parts of Egypt for four centuries prior to and including Israel’s time in Egypt.

In fact, one reason the Lord obliged Israel to spend so long in Egypt was to give the Amorites opportunity to repent. God told Abraham their iniquity was “not yet complete”. He would judge their sin at the appropriate time, and not before.

A couple of centuries before Israel arrived in the Promised Land, the Kassites conquered Babylon and the surviving Amorites moved south, occupying land in the north of Ammon and Moab. When Moses led a new generation of Israelites toward Canaan after the forty years of wandering, the Amorites were one of many nations in the region. They also occupied territory west of the Jordan, possibly including Jerusalem.

YHWH had promised Israel the territory of the Amorites, along with that of the Hittites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, at the burning bush in Exodus 3. This was the “land flowing with milk and honey” God described to Moses. Amorite territory became Israel’s first major land conquest. None of Ammon, Moab or Edom were on Israel’s judgment radar, though they certainly made entering Canaan at God’s command more complicated than it had to be.

All clear?

II. Twelve Judges in Chronological Order (continued)

8. Jephthah (continued)

Judges 11:12-13 — The Casus Belli

“Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, ‘What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?’ And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, ‘Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.’ ”

Jephthah is most famous for the single rash, spontaneous decision that defined his judgeship. However, when dealing with the king of the Ammonites, we see him proceeding methodically. The elders of Gilead had drafted him to lead their people in battle, and he could certainly have proceeded directly into conflict if he had chosen to. Instead, he elects to negotiate. So he asks, “What’s all this about? Why are you here?”

As mentioned, Jephthah may have had in mind that Ammon had history and genetics in common with Israel and that God had previously granted them a measure of protection from Israel. He was not about to fight with them if he could get what he wanted another way.

The king of Ammon replies that he’s redressing an ancient grievance, along the lines of many land claims today. He alleges that Israel conquered and settled Ammonite territory, and he wants it returned.

Judges 11:14-27 — Just the Facts, Jack

“Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said to him, ‘Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.’

‘Then they journeyed through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our country,” but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel. And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time? I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.’ ”

A History Lesson

Jephthah then gives the king of the Ammonites a lengthy history lesson. Despite the passage of three centuries since the events in question, the two-and-a-half Transjordan tribes remembered very well how they came to occupy their home in Gilead. Jephthah recounts the events described in Numbers 20 and 21, in which Moses appealed to the king of Edom for passage through his nation and was turned away. Some of the material Jephthah goes over also comes from Deuteronomy 2. In that passage, God told Moses he was not to contend with the Ammonites because “I have given [Ammon] to the sons of Lot for a possession.” It goes on to describe how Ammon originally took that land from the Zamzummim (giants) and settled there in their place.

Having worked their way north, Israel then requested passage through Gilead to the Jordan. This time the hard-hearted Amorites did not merely refuse Moses, they actually initiated the battle with Israel. So God gave the Amorites over to Moses, and Israel devoted all in that region to destruction, capturing their cities and settling in their territory. In all this, they never troubled Ammon or Moab.

Four Arguments

Jephthah makes four distinct arguments to the king of Ammon concerning Israel’s position. First (and by far the lengthiest), Gilead was not Ammonite territory at the time Israel conquered it; it belonged to the Amorites in those days. Second, Gilead was Israel’s by right of conquest, just as Ammon held its territory by right of conquest. Third, the most famous king of Moab did not instigate war with Israel; why would Ammon be so unwise? Fourth, if Ammon had a legitimate beef about ownership of Gilead, it had 300 years to settle it, yet it had never done so.

All of these are reasonable arguments, and Jephthah has his history correct. However, he does not mention how the Amorites had originally acquired the territory in Gilead. In fact, the Amorites had taken part of it from Ammon’s sister nation Moab. The book of Joshua also notes that another part of the territory, which Moses later granted to tribe of Gad, was originally Ammonite. Probably the Amorites had conquered that territory as well, since Israel did not have any direct conflict with Ammon in those days.

So then, the king of Ammon was wrong in a couple of ways. He was trying to advance an ancient claim long abandoned because it was now convenient to pursue it. Even so, Israel was not directly responsible for taking away his land. That would have been something to take up with the Amorites, assuming he could find any.

Chemosh Your God

Chemosh was actually the principal god of Moab, but Jephthah’s argument indicates the nations were very close. It’s probable both nations worshiped Chemosh. Jephthah is not making a theological point here, arguing for the existence of other gods. He’s simply making a rhetorical argument the king of Ammon would understand. “You attribute your victories to your god. We attribute ours to our God too.”

Balak Son of Zippor

Three hundred years prior, Balak king of Moab feared for his own nation when he saw how efficiently the Israelite army had dispatched his powerful northern neighbors, so he tried to hire the prophet Balaam to curse Israel. In telling the tale to Israel later on, Joshua remarked that the king of Moab “arose and fought against Israel”.

Jephthah appears to contradict Joshua when he asks, “Did [Balak] ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them?” The implication is “No, he did not.” This would have been a rather ineffective argument for Jephthah to make to the king of Ammon if in fact Moab had gone to war with Israel under Balak, and it’s doubtful he would have advanced this line of debate if he did not know it to be the truth.

However, if we go back to the account in Numbers, there’s no indication of any pitched battle with Moab in Balak’s days. Rather, Balaam counseled Balak to use attractive young Moabite and Midianite women to tempt Israelite men into idolatry, causing a plague that killed 24,000 guilty Israelites. These deaths were very much Balak’s responsibility even if he achieved them by subterfuge rather than direct conflict. His “fight” against Israel [Hebrew: lāḥam] was no less deadly despite being indirect and spiritual in nature, and Israel remembered the sin of Peor very bitterly.

Perhaps this is what Joshua was referring to. Balak’s campaign against Israel was more effective than any conflict of arms.

Judges 11:28 — Yet, Inevitably …

“But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.”

Many nations lay claim to territory that arguably does not belong to them. It’s highly probable the king of Ammon knew he was making a specious argument. But he had no interest in negotiating any settlement that didn’t give him everything he wanted, just as Vladimir Putin currently has no interest in negotiating with NATO concerning the territory he has acquired in Ukraine by force of arms. He wants what he wants, and he appears to have the troops to hold it, so America will have to decide if that territory half a world away is worth contending over.

The king of Ammon was equally intransigent. The difference is that he couldn’t back up his words. Jephthah wisely appealed to YHWH to settle the matter. “The Lord, the Judge, decide this day …”

Much to the king of Ammon’s surprise, that’s exactly what happened.