The Ammonites had invaded Israel from the east, eventually
crossing the Jordan taking over most of Israel.
The Philistines took advantage of the situation to attack from the
west. After eighteen years, the
Israelites on the east side, in the land of Gilead chose Jephthah to lead a
rebellion. Jephthah first tried to
resolve the problems peaceably, as described in Judges 11:12. “And
Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What
hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?”
The Ammonites claimed Israel had taken all the land on east
of the Jordan from them and demanded they give it back, in Judges 11:13. “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: now therefore restore those lands again
peaceably.”
Jephthah pointed out that Israel had gone out of their way
to avoid conflict with the various tribes who occupied the land east of the
Jordan, in Judges 11:15-19. “And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah,
Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon: But
when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red
sea, and came to Kadesh; 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. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he
would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
Then they went along
through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab,
and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of
Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of
Moab. 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.”
Rather than allowing Israel to pass by as the requested, the
Amorites attacked them and were defeated, as Jephthah explained in In Judges
11:20-22. “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. 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. And they possessed all the
coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness
even unto Jordan.” Israel had not
taken the land from the Ammonites but from the Amorites. The Ammonites had no rightful claim on the
land.
In similar situations, the Ammonites had taken the land of
those they defeated, claiming their god had given it to them, and Israel was
claiming the same right, as he explains in Judges 11:23-24. “So now
the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people
Israel, and shouldest thou possess it? Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy
god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from
before us, them will we possess.”
Their demands for Israel to give them the
land were unfounded, and hypocritical.
Other people had just as much right to claim that land as the Ammonites,
and for three hundred years all of them had accepted Israel’s claim, as Judges
11:25-27 explains. “And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king
of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, 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 did ye not recover them within that time? Wherefore I have not sinned
against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be
judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.” After three hundred years, all of the
people who might have had a legitimate claim were dead. There was no way to make thing right with
them.
It is impossible to correct the wrongs of the past once the
original victims and perpetrators have died.
Constantly trying to right the
wrongs of past generations perpetuate resentments and keep both sides from
being able to move forward. For example,
slavery in the United States has been illegal for over a hundred fifty
years. All of the former slaves and
slave owners have long since died, making it impossible to make things right
for either side. Unfortunately, the
focus on trying to correct that has perpetuated racism and resentment, convincing
many blacks they have no chance of success, and burdening whites with a sense
of guilt for things they had no control over.
Con artists and corrupt politicians play on those feelings to enrich
themselves. It is amazing how rich people like Al
Sharpton, Michael Moore, and others have gotten while the people they purport
to be helping get steadily poorer.
Don’t allow yourself to be caught in that trap. We can’t change the past, so don’t waste time
and energy trying. Acknowledge there
were problems and move on from where you are, as Paul said in Philippians
3:13-14. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I
do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
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