Judges 11:26-30
Judges 11:26
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?
Here
is a very important verse which gives evidence that the exodus of Israel was not
in the 13th century B.C. The exodus of Israel took place 1447 B.C.
The Pharaoh of the exodus was Thutmoses III who reigned 1479-1426 B.C.
It was under his reign that Egypt became the most powerful nation on
earth. God allowed it to gain much
strength so when He came against it with the 10 plagues, He was showing the
world that even the most powerful nation on earth was no match for His power.
This is also a great warning for the United States that no matter how
militarily powerful it gets, if we turn our backs on God, we will go the way of
ancient Egypt. Here is a verse
which speaks about Israel being in the land for 300 years at the time of
Jephthah. He asks them, in all that
time, why didn’t you go up against Israel and take the land?
Heshbon was about 25 miles (40 km) north of Aroer on the east side of the
Jordan.
Judges 11:27
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.
Jephthah then states to the king that he has done nothing against Ammon to
warrant a war like response. He
would be doing wrong which can also be understood as the king of Ammon would be
committing evil against Jephthah and Israel if he creates a war between them.
Jephthah was not warning him about losing the war but he told him that
the Lord will be the one who will judge the matter between the Ammonites and
Israel. He was basically saying
that the Lord would be the one who would cause the party who is in the right to
have victory. This should have been
a warning to the king of Ammon.
Judges 11:28
Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of
Jephthah which he sent him.
As
usual the pagan kings were arrogant and refused to listen to any rational
counsel given to them. So they
rejected the words of Jephthah which was delivered through ambassadors as if he
was right on the spot talking to the king.
Ambassadors delivered what they were told to deliver and were not to
divert from their core message.
Judges 11:29
Then
the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and
Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed
over unto the children of Ammon.
It is also
interesting to note that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. I have done
research into this subject and when the Spirit of the Lord came upon someone in
the Old Testament, it was for an empowerment to do a specific task. Here the
Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah to fight against the Ammonites. My study
which contains that study is called,
“How Were the Old
Testament Saints Saved?”
which is available on this site. So at this point we are not looking at a man
who was saved that would be indwelled with the Holy Spirit. Instead he was being
empowered to gain victory over the Ammonites for Israel. Well Jephthah gained
the victory and he returned home and that is where we will pick up the rest of
the story.
Judges 11:30
And
Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver
the children of Ammon into mine hands,