Continued from yesterday. [When offered the Kingship of Israel,] Jephthah exclaimed, "Do you expect me to believe that?"

   "We swear it," [the leaders of Gilead] replied. "We promise with a solemn oath." So Jephthah accepted the commission and was made commander-in-chief and king. The contract was ratified before the Lord in Mizpah at a general assembly of all the people. Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon, demanding to know why Israel was being attacked. The king of Ammon replied that the land belonged to the people of Ammon; it had been stolen from them, he said, when the Israelis came from Egypt; the whole territory from the Arnon River to the Jabbok and the Jordan was his, he claimed. "Give us back our land peaceably," he demanded.

   Jephthah replied, "Israel did not steal the land. What happened was this: When the people of Israel arrived at Kadesh, on their journey from Egypt after crossing the Red Sea, they sent a message to the king of Edom asking permission to pass through his land. But their petition was denied. Then they asked the king of Moab for similar permission. It was the same story there, so the people of Israel stayed in Kadesh. Finally they went around Edom and Moab through the wilderness, and traveled along the eastern border until at last they arrived beyond the border of Moab at the Arnon River; but they never once crossed into Moab.

   "Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites . . . and asked permission to cross through his land to get to their destination. But King Sihon didn't trust Israel, so he mobilized an army at Jahaz and attacked them. But the Lord our God helped Israel defeat King Sihon and all your people, so Israel took over all of your land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan River. So you see, it was the Lord God of Israel Who took away the land from the Amorites and gave it to Israel. Why, then, should we return it to you? You keep whatever your god Chemosh gives you, and we will keep whatever Jehovah our God gives us! And besides, just who do you think you are? Are you better than King Balak, the king of Moab? Did he try to recover his land after Israel defeated him? No, of course not." To be continued.

Taken from Judges 11, The Living Bible. For free Lifescope book,
write to Box 1575, Carlsbad, NM 88221. Please send $1.00 for postage and handling.