And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land unto my place.
Ammon has accused Israel of stealing land. Jephthah's reply goes back three hundred years, and the message sent to Sihon, king of Heshbon, is a key part of it. Why would a people promised the land ask permission to cross it?
Ammon's king wanted the dispute framed as theft, and Jephthah answers by laying out the record step by step.
The moral importance of this was immense. If they were simply doing the will and word of God, who could stand in their way? The aim of the king of Ammon was to put the children of Israel in the wrong. Jephthah proves in the most convincing way that the right was all on their side. ... They did not wish to quarrel with the king of Heshbon, Amorite though he was, unless he was actually in the holy land. But it was of God that these Amorites, to their own ruin, would not let them pass through in peace.
The message follows God's own way of dealing with an enemy.
In this case let us see the principles of Jehovah's discipline. Did He authorise Israel to force Sihon with threats of vengeance, or to win him over by flattery? Did He offer him the book of the law with one hand and the sword with the other? Nothing of the sort... Israel kept the path of right and courtesy. Sihon rushed on them to his own ruin; and only so did Israel strike down and dispossess the king of Heshbon.
Darby draws the same pattern into the believer's own conflicts.
We meet with people with whom we do not wish to have war, but they will not let us pass peaceably. Our warfare is with the possessors of our inheritance beyond Jordan. If we are attacked, we must defend ourselves; but we are not to be aggressors. Israel wishes to pass quietly through the land of the Amorites, but the Amorites refuse. So they suffer the consequences of the war they had sought against the people of God.
Because the land passed from Sihon's hand and not Ammon's, Ammon's whole claim collapses — any grievance it had belonged to an earlier quarrel.
Israel had not taken these lands from Ammon at all. They had taken them from the Amorite. If the Amorite first took them from Ammon, as was no doubt the case, that was a matter between Ammon and Sihon, not between Israel and Ammon... They had won the land by the fight the Amorite provoked and drew them into. They had sought peace, and Sihon would have war.
Kelly finds God's own hand behind that refusal.
God Himself had ordered things so. He knew very well that having the Amorites on their borders would be a constant snare and evil. He allowed that no one would trust Israel's peaceful intentions, for the very purpose of putting them in possession of the land.
Notice what Jephthah does not do: he sends no army first. He sends history.
Instead of the methods of conflict, you have a chapter of the Bible read to them. Jephthah goes to them, and, as it were, reads to them a chapter of Scripture. He gives them the history of God's ways. He tells how God had overthrown Sihon, king of the Amorites, and had brought His people into the inheritance that Ammon now claimed from them. For three hundred years they had enjoyed it without dispute.
Commentators differ here. Kelly saw courtesy and right. Another writer asks a harder question about the same message.
The land of the Amorite was part of God's original gift to Israel. So the question arises: why send messengers asking permission to pass through it, as they did with Edom?... To ask permission to pass quietly through a land given to them by God — was that the obedience of faith? The Amorite met righteous retribution, for they had taken that land from Moab. And now Israel, by the will of God, takes it from them.
- Asked — Israel asked Sihon for passage, with no threat and no flattery behind it.
- Refused — Sihon did not trust Israel, and chose war over letting them pass.
- Overruled — Kelly sees God's hand in that refusal. It removed a neighbour who would have been a lasting snare.
- Owned — so the land came to Israel from the Amorite, not from Ammon. Ammon's quarrel lay with Sihon.
- Argued — Jephthah's weapon is the record of God's ways: three hundred years of possession no one had disputed.
But Sihon trusted not Israel, to let him pass through his border, and Sihon gathered all his people, and they encamped in Jahzah; and he fought with Israel.
Jephthah is arguing a case, not telling a story. An Ammonite king claims Israel stole his land. Jephthah answers by retracing a journey made three hundred years earlier. This verse is the hinge of his case, because it names who started the fighting.
Israel's message to Sihon asked only for passage. One commentator weighs what hung on Israel being in the right, and what God was doing through Sihon's refusal.
The moral importance of this was immense. If they were only doing the will and word of God, who could stand in their way? The king of Ammon's aim was to put the children of Israel in the wrong. Jephthah proves in the clearest way that the right was all on their side... They did not want to quarrel with the king of Heshbon, Amorite though he was, unless he was actually inside the holy land. But it was God's doing that these Amorites, to their own ruin, would not let them pass through peacefully.
Before Sihon, Edom and Moab had turned Israel away. Israel took the refusal and went the long way round.
And what did Israel do? Resent it? No: they took the insult patiently... They took it quietly, and passed along their way... It was a long way round, and very inconvenient. Who doubted that Moab and Edom were unfriendly? It was known, and it was meant to be so. But for all that, as Jephthah showed, the children of Israel would not go against the word of God.
Sihon's distrust was not just a political misjudgement. One commentator explains why God would let a king suspect a people who meant him no harm.
Israel kept the path of right and courtesy. Sihon rushed on them to his own ruin; and only so did Israel smite and dispossess the king of Heshbon.
The same writer explains why God would allow Sihon to suspect a people who meant him no harm.
God Himself had ordered things so. He knew well that Amorites on their borders would be a constant snare and evil to them. He allowed that no one would trust Israel's peaceful intentions, and He did it for the very purpose of putting Israel in possession of the land.
Everything in Jephthah's argument turns on who Israel fought. The land came from Sihon, not from Ammon — and that single fact decides the case.
Israel had not taken these lands from Ammon at all. They had taken them from the Amorite. If the Amorite first took them from Ammon, as no doubt he did, that was a matter between Ammon and Sihon, not between Israel and Ammon... They won the land in a fight the Amorite provoked and drew them into. They wanted peace; Sihon wanted war. The result was that the Amorite lost his land... So Israel's title to that land could not be overturned.
Some writers also look at what the names here mean: Sihon, his city Heshbon, and Jahaz where he fought.
There is not much agreement about his name. What seems to come most fairly from the Hebrew root is "sweeping off," perhaps "refuse" or "off-scouring" — which is how the wisdom of the world would count God's wisdom. Or it may mean "sweeping away," as pride of intellect would sweep away the things of God. He is always called king of Heshbon, the place where he lived. The common English version translates that word only as "account," "device," or "reason." It clearly carries the thought of mental work. He comes out to meet Israel at Jahaz, which... is given as "a place trodden down," probably a "threshing-floor."
Notice what Jephthah does with this old battle record. He answers a land claim by telling God's history.
Instead of the methods of conflict, you have a chapter of the Bible read to them. Jephthah goes to them, and, as it were, reads to them a chapter of Scripture. He gives them the history of God's ways; how God had overthrown Sihon, king of the Amorites, and had brought His people into that inheritance which Ammon now claimed from them. For three hundred years Israel had enjoyed it without dispute. Through those three hundred years Ammon had to acknowledge the rights of the children of Israel, who had received the inheritance from God... Jephthah opens up the Scripture to them, and as he does so, he takes clear issue against them.
- Asked — Israel asked to pass through, and meant it. The war began with Sihon's distrust, not with Israel's greed.
- Refused — Edom and Moab had already turned Israel away. Israel went the long way round rather than disobey God.
- Overruled — God allowed the distrust. Through it He gave Israel the land Sihon was defending.
- Owned — the land came from the Amorite, not from Ammon. So Ammon's quarrel was with Sihon, and Israel's title stood.
- Rehearsed — Jephthah answered a hostile claim by reading out God's history with His people. The record was his argument.
And Jehovah the God of Israel gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them; and Israel took possession of the whole land of the Amorites, who dwelt in that country.
The king of Ammon has demanded back the land Israel held east of the Jordan, and Jephthah answers him with history rather than with an army. His case rests on one line: the Lord gave Sihon into Israel's hand three hundred years before.
Ammon's demand was a moral attack before it was a military one.
The moral importance of this was immense, for if they were simply doing the will and word of God, who could stand in their way? The object of the king of Ammon was to put the children of Israel in the wrong. Jephthah proves in the most triumphant way that the right was all on their side.
The verse names the loser: Sihon and the Amorites. Even if Ammon once held that land, their quarrel was with someone else.
Israel had not taken these lands from Ammon at all. They had taken them from the Amorite. If the Amorite took them from Ammon in the first place, as was no doubt the fact, then the affair was not between Israel and Ammon. It was between Ammon and Sihon. The Ammonites should have defended their claims against the Amorites as best they could. If they could not make those claims good, if they had lost their land and could not win it back, what had Israel to do with their affairs?
Israel did not start this fight. They asked to pass through, and the refusal and the attack came from Sihon.
We meet people we do not want to fight, but they will not let us pass in peace. Our warfare is with those who hold our inheritance beyond the Jordan. If we are attacked, we must defend ourselves; but we are not to be the aggressors. Israel wants to pass quietly through the land of the Amorites. The Amorites will not allow it, and they suffer the consequences of the war they had sought against the people of God.
Before the battle, God had already spoken of Sihon's land as something He was handing over.
Yet Israel gained these lands east of the Jordan by conquest, and according to God. "Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you," is the Lord's word to Moses: "begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land" (Deut. 2:31). Of Israel's right to hold it, then, there can be no question.
A nation destroys a kingdom and calls it right — many readers stumble there. One writer answers by setting Israel beside the Spanish conquest of South America.
Israel had the direct authority of God for what they did to Sihon and Og. The Spaniards could show no such authority for what they did to the poor, ignorant native peoples of South America. This alters the case completely. The introduction of God and His authority is the one perfect answer to every question, the divine solution of every difficulty.
Notice what Jephthah does before he draws a sword. He recites history — this verse is part of that recital — and lets the record do the work.
Instead of the methods of conflict, Jephthah goes to them and, as it were, reads them a chapter of Scripture. He gives them the history of God's ways. He tells how God had overthrown Sihon, king of the Amorites, and had brought His people into that inheritance which Ammon now claimed from them. For three hundred years they had enjoyed it without dispute. In all that time Ammon had been forced to acknowledge that the children of Israel had received the inheritance from God.
God's hand was in the refusal that led to this battle, and in what it left of Ammon's claim.
God Himself had ordered things so. He knew well that the presence of the Amorites on their borders would be a constant snare and evil. So He allowed that there should be no confidence in Israel's peaceful intentions, in order to put them in possession of the land. Thus the king of Ammon had lost his old claim, and had no present title to question Israel's right of conquest... The king of Ammon might attack the Israelites and let the sword decide again, but he was unrighteous in demanding the land from Israel.
- Given, not grabbed. The Lord gave Sihon into Israel's hand, so Israel's right to the land is beyond question.
- Provoked, not sought. Israel asked only to pass through. God let Sihon refuse, and Sihon suffered the war he himself chose.
- Amorite, not Ammonite. Israel took the land from Sihon, not from Ammon. Any older claim was Ammon's to settle with the Amorites.
- Authority, not appetite. God's direct authority is what sets this apart from every other conquest. Bring God in, and every difficulty has its answer.
- Scripture, not swords. Jephthah reads God's record like a title deed before he fights. That is the pattern for meeting any claim against what God has given.
And they possessed all the borders of the Amorites, from the Arnon unto the Jabbok, and from the wilderness unto the Jordan.
Ammon's king demanded back a stretch of land east of the Jordan, and Jephthah answers by naming who Israel really took it from: the Amorites. That one point decides the case, since Ammon had never lost this land to Israel.
Ammon's charge was that Israel had stolen its territory. One writer sets out what really happened:
Jephthah replied that Israel had not taken the lands of the Ammonites, but had in fact bypassed Moab and Ammon. The Amorites refused to let Israel pass through their land. So Israel defeated the Amorites and took possession of their lands. These lands came from the Amorites, not from Ammon — yet now Ammon was demanding them.
If Ammon ever owned that ground, its quarrel was with the Amorites who took it, not with Israel:
If the Amorite first took these lands from Ammon, as was no doubt the fact, that was a matter between Ammon and Sihon. It was not a matter between Israel and Ammon. It was the business of the Ammonites to defend their claims as best they could against the Amorites. Suppose they could not prove their claims. Suppose they had lost their land and could not win it back. What did any of that have to do with Israel?
Israel asked Sihon, king of Heshbon, only for safe passage. Sihon refused, and the war started:
The object of the king of Ammon was to put the children of Israel in the wrong. Jephthah proves in the most triumphant way that the right was all on their side. They did not want to quarrel with the king of Heshbon, even though he was an Amorite, unless he stood inside the holy land itself. But God was behind what followed: these Amorites would not let Israel pass through in peace, and it ruined them.
The same writer traces that refusal back to God Himself:
God Himself had ordered things so. He knew very well that Amorites on their borders would be a constant snare and evil. So He allowed there to be no trust in Israel's peaceful intentions. He did this for the very purpose of putting Israel in possession of the land. So the king of Ammon had lost his old claim, and had no present title to question Israel's right of conquest.
The Jabbok, one of the two rivers marking this border, has its own history:
Stream on the east of the Jordan, near which the angel wrestled with Jacob. It was afterwards called "the border of the children of Ammon."
That strip of country was no accidental prize. God had promised it in advance:
The Amorite territory east of Jordan was to form part of the inheritance of Israel; of this God told Moses. "Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle" (Deuteronomy 2:24).
Jephthah's first weapon is history, not the sword:
Instead of the methods of conflict, you have a chapter of the Bible read to them. Jephthah goes to them and, as it were, reads them a chapter of Scripture. He gives them the history of God's ways. God had overthrown Sihon, king of the Amorites. He had brought His people into that inheritance which Ammon now claimed from them. For three hundred years they had enjoyed it without dispute.
The strength of the case lay in documents both sides could recognise:
Israel's own statements might carry weight with Israel, but they were no proof against their enemies. So the record preserves well-known popular memorials instead. They tell how the Amorites had earlier conquered Moab, how the Amorites took this territory, and where the border then stood. They uphold Israel's title to these lands. This fits the case exactly. In Jephthah's day the children of Ammon claimed this very territory. Jephthah goes back over all this ground to justify Israel in keeping the country.
One writer draws a picture out of the land lying on both sides of the river:
God designed His people's inheritance to lie on the east of Jordan as well as on the west. This is a picture of the full inheritance of the heavenly saints, which takes in heaven and earth: what lies east of Jordan as well as what lies west, for Jordan is a symbol of death.
- Claim. Ammon demanded land back, alleging Israel seized it on the way from Egypt.
- Correction. Israel took the land between the Arnon and the Jabbok from the Amorites, not from Ammon. Any older grievance lay between Ammon and Sihon.
- Cause. Israel asked only to pass through in peace. Sihon refused, and that refusal started the war — God allowed it so that Israel would gain the land.
- Charter. God promised the ground east of Jordan to Israel in His word to Moses, before a blow was struck.
- Case. Jephthah answered with recorded history, not bare claims. He pointed to records his opponents knew, and to three hundred years of undisputed possession.