God's Title Deed
Introduction: The Grievance Industry
We live in an age that has perfected the art of historical grievance. Our culture is awash with activists and ideologues who make their living by digging up old bones, rewriting history, and manufacturing claims of victimhood in order to justify present-day aggression, theft, and revolution. They tell a story, a false story, in which they are the dispossessed and you are the oppressor, and the only solution is for you to surrender what is rightfully yours. This is not a new tactic. It is as old as the dirt, and we see it here in our text, deployed with insolent confidence by the king of the Ammonites.
But what we also see here is the righteous response. We see a man, Jephthah, an outcast made a commander, who does not simply rattle his sword in reply. Before he does anything else, he engages in diplomacy. But this is not the weak-kneed, relativistic diplomacy of our modern State Department. This is the diplomacy of a man who knows his history, knows his theology, and knows his God. He does not negotiate the truth; he declares it. He presents a detailed, logical, and devastating legal and theological brief that not only refutes the Ammonite claim but establishes the bedrock principles of just war, divine right, and historical possession.
This passage is a master class in how God's people are to answer the bad-faith accusations of the world. We are not to be ignorant. We are not to be silent. We are to know our story, the great story of redemption, and we are to be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us. Jephthah here is more than a warrior; he is a theologian, a historian, and a statesman. And his appeal is not ultimately to his own strength, but to the final court of appeals, to "Yahweh, the Judge." This is a lesson we desperately need to recover. We must learn how to argue, not as quarrelsome fools, but as confident heirs who know the terms of our inheritance and the authority of the One who gave it.
The Text
And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, "What is between you and me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?" Then the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel took away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan; so now, return them peaceably." But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon, and they said to him, "Thus says Jephthah, 'Israel did not take away the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon. For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh, then Israel 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 also sent to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel remained at Kadesh. Then they went through the wilderness and around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and came to the east toward the sunrise of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, "Please let us pass through your land to our place." But Sihon did not believe Israel to allow them to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz and fought with Israel. Then Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them down; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. So they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel. Are you then to possess it? Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever Yahweh our God has taken possession of before us, we will possess it. So now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? While Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns and in Aroer and its towns and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them for yourself within that time? I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me evil by making war against me; may Yahweh, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.'" But the king of the sons of Ammon did not listen to the words which Jephthah sent him.
(Judges 11:12-28 LSB)
The False Premise (vv. 12-13)
The conflict begins with Jephthah's reasonable inquiry and the Ammonite king's outrageous claim.
"And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, 'What is between you and me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?' Then the king of the sons of Ammon said... 'Because Israel took away my land... so now, return them peaceably.'" (Judges 11:12-13)
Jephthah opens with a simple, direct question: "What is this about?" This is the first step in any just conflict: you must seek to understand the cause. But the king of Ammon's reply is a classic piece of historical revisionism. He claims that the land Israel possesses, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, was stolen from him. His demand to "return them peaceably" is a threat veiled in the language of justice. He is positioning himself as the aggrieved party, the victim seeking restitution.
This is the lie that undergirds his entire war effort. Without this lie, his aggression is naked theft. With it, he can pretend it is a righteous crusade. The world always does this. It must first create a false narrative before it can justify its rebellion against God and His people. It will accuse the church of being hateful in order to justify its persecution of the church. It will accuse Christians of being oppressors in order to justify seizing their liberties. The Ammonite strategy is alive and well.
The History Lesson (vv. 14-22)
Jephthah does not respond with insults or threats. He responds with a history lesson. He knows that the first casualty of war is truth, so he begins by reestablishing it.
"Thus says Jephthah, 'Israel did not take away the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon...'" (Judges 11:15)
He begins with a direct, factual denial. Then he proves it. He recounts the story from Numbers 20 and 21. He points out that Israel peacefully requested passage through Edom and Moab, and was refused. In response, Israel did not attack. They respected the borders and took the long way around. This demonstrates a crucial point: Israel's default posture was peace. They were not marauders looking for a fight.
The land in question was not taken from Ammon or Moab. It was taken from Sihon, king of the Amorites. And how was it taken? Not by an unprovoked attack, but because Sihon, in his pride and unbelief, refused Israel peaceful passage and "gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz and fought with Israel" (v. 20). Israel's conquest of that land was the result of a defensive war. They were attacked, and God gave them the victory. Jephthah's argument is meticulous. He is demonstrating that Israel's title to the land is clean. They have a just cause, established by historical fact.
The lesson for us is plain. We must know our Bibles. We must know the history of redemption. When the world accuses God of being a moral monster, or the Bible of being a book of oppression, we cannot just shrug. We must be able to walk them through the text, just as Jephthah did, and show them that their premise is false. A Christian who does not know his history is defenseless against the accusations of the Ammonites.
The Theological Argument (vv. 23-24)
Having established the historical facts, Jephthah moves to the theological foundation. This is the knockout blow.
"So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel. Are you then to possess it? Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever Yahweh our God has taken possession of before us, we will possess it." (Judges 11:23-24)
First, he states the ultimate reality: "Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon... into the hand of Israel" (v. 21). This was not an accident of history or a fluke of battle. It was a divine act. God is the one who distributes real estate. He is the sovereign Lord of all the earth, and He gives it to whomever He pleases. The question, "Are you then to possess it?" is a direct challenge to the Ammonite king's presumption. Do you think you can undo what the God of heaven and earth has done?
Then comes the brilliant argument concerning Chemosh, the god of the Ammonites. Jephthah is not admitting that Chemosh is a real deity. This is not syncretism. This is a masterful ad hominem argument. He is reasoning from the Ammonite's own worldview. He says, in effect, "You operate under the principle that your god gives you territory. You believe you have a right to what Chemosh gives you. Very well. On what possible grounds, then, can you object when we operate on the same principle? Our God, Yahweh, has given us this land. By your own logic, you have no case."
He uses their pagan presuppositions to corner them. It is a devastating piece of polemical jujitsu. He shows that the Ammonite king is not only wrong on the facts, but is a hypocrite according to his own corrupt theology. This is how we must argue. We must show the unbeliever that their own worldview, if consistently applied, collapses into absurdity and contradiction.
The Legal Argument (vv. 25-27)
Finally, Jephthah adds two more points to his brief, appealing to precedent and the statute of limitations.
"So now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? While Israel lived in Heshbon... 300 years, why did you not deliver them for yourself within that time?" (Judges 11:25-26)
The appeal to Balak is brilliant. Balak was the king of Moab at the time of the conquest. He saw what happened to Sihon. He was terrified of Israel. But even he, the contemporary witness, never contested Israel's right to that land. If the man on the scene didn't dispute the title, what right does some upstart king 300 years later have to do so? The silence of the past testifies against the clamor of the present.
And the 300 years is a common-sense appeal to the principle of established possession. "We have been living here, building cities, raising families, and tending these fields for three centuries. Where were you? If this was your land, why did you wait until now?" This exposes the Ammonite claim for what it is: an opportunistic pretext for a land grab. It has nothing to do with justice.
Having laid out his case with impeccable logic, Jephthah concludes his diplomacy. "I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me evil by making war against me; may Yahweh, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon" (v. 27). He has done his due diligence. He has sought peace. He has presented the truth. Now, with a clear conscience, he can commit the matter to God and prepare for war. The Ammonite king's rejection of these words proves his guilt. He did not want truth; he wanted a fight.
Conclusion: Standing on God's Word
This is not just a story about an ancient border dispute. It is a paradigm for how the people of God are to live in a hostile world. We have been given a glorious inheritance. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been made heirs of the world (Romans 4:13). The gospel is our title deed, signed in the blood of the Lamb.
And the world, like the Ammonites, constantly contests our claim. They tell us we have no right to speak of sin and righteousness. They tell us we have no right to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. They tell us we have no right to the public square. They do this by rewriting history, by creating false grievances, and by demanding that we "return peaceably" what God Himself has given us.
We must be like Jephthah. We must be people who know our story. We must be able to articulate the history of God's dealings with mankind. We must be able to present the theological truth that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus Christ. We must be able to show the world the hypocrisy and foolishness of its own worldview. We must do this with courage and clarity, not backing down, not compromising the truth.
And when we have made our case, and the world still refuses to listen, we do not despair. We commit our cause to the one who judges justly. We appeal to "Yahweh, the Judge," and we stand our ground. For the God who gave Sihon into the hand of Israel is the same God who has promised that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His church. Know your history. Know your God. And stand fast in the inheritance He has won for you.