Category: The Land and the People
Land for Peace
One of the strangest stories in the book of Judges is the account of the fall and rise of Jephthah, the son of Gilead. Being the son of a harlot, he was ostracized by his half brothers. He then took up residence away from them in another part of the country. He also had a reputation for being a great warrior. Accordingly, when the sons of Gilead found themselves threatened by the Ammonites, they went to attempt to secure his services in hopes that Jephthah would be their leader. Consequently, Jephthah led their men in victory.
(The part of the story which is the most unusual section is curiously left out of the haftarah. Jephthah promised the Lord that if He were to grant him the victory, that he would then sacrifice the first thing that came out of his home upon his return from battle; the first thing that came out from his house to greet him was his own daughter.)
Jephthah could have simply led Israel's armies into battle with the Ammonites and no one would have questioned him because the Ammonites had already proven to be the aggressors. But this leader chose to do things differently. Instead of military action, he chose direct diplomacy to attempt to avoid bloodshed.
Land For Peace
Notice particularly, the content of the Ammonite response. The answer they gave to Jephthah was that,
Because Israel took away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan; therefore, return them peaceably now. (Judges 11:13)
On the surface this sounds reasonable. After all, if Israel did take their lands, it was only fair that they should be returned. But, in reality, we see here that the philosophy of the Ammonites was nothing other than the age old propaganda called "land for peace" in which Israel was being called upon to return what the Ammonites considered to be "occupied territory."
The Problem
All of Jephthah's attempts to find a diplomatic ...
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© 2009 First Fruits of Zion. All rights reserved. We encourage you to share this material with your friends for further personal study. However, This material may not be republished, in print, electronically, or any other form without our prior permission.
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