Biblical Parallel: What The Bible In Judges 11 Can Teach Us Today About The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

There is one chapter of the Bible whose contemporary relevance to Israel's war with Palestinian terror is astounding. The lessons about waging a just war are also important. The parallels between the story told in this chapter and the current Middle East conflict is worthy of looking to for those that think important lessons can be gleamed from Biblical text. This is not to say that all modern Israeli policy is or even should be based in the Bible when engaging in a current war. But it is only to say that perhaps something important can be learned from a Biblical event of years past.

Judges chapter 11 tells the story of the leader of the Israelites Jephthah the Gileadite and his confrontation with the Children of Ammon. Jephthah was the outcast as the son of a concubine that is recruited by the elders of Gilead to help the nation when they are confronted with the hostility of Ammon who "made war with Israel" (Judges 11:4). Jephthah is perhaps more famous for his unfortunate oath, which if you know nothing about you can learn about by reading the chapter in its entirety. I shall instead focus on the earlier part of the chapter that directly deals with the war with Ammon.

Jephthah begins by sending "emissaries to the king of the Children of Ammon, saying, 'What is there between you and me that you have come to me to make war in my land?'" (Judges 11:12) Before commencing any hostilities in response to threats of war from Ammon, Jephthah first wants to know the reasons that Ammon is hellbent on waging a war with Israel in the first place. Jephthah seeking to understand the reason for Ammon doing so sends an important message to any nation making a decision about whether to go to war. Before a leader makes the difficult call to put men in harm's way and lives at stake to defeat an enemy, it is indeed first important to see if the enemy is one who can be negotiated with. If peace is possible without arms, then peace should of course be pursued.

So "the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah: 'Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt... now therefore restore those cities peaceably'" (Judges 11:13). The claim of Ammon is very similar to those claims made by many Palestinians and the haters of Israel. They claim that Israel "stole land," be it in 1948 or 1967 or whenever it is at the given moment that they happen to wish to revise history. The truth is that modern Israel "stole" nothing. Like Ammon before, in our times there have been those that believe Israel must exchange "land for peace."

Now Jephtah understood what he was dealing with and it is important to understand his response. He begins with a refusal to accept historical lies and demands that Ammon accept historical truth. He justifies his own position against the ludicrous claims of Ammon. He refuses the offers of "land for peace." He instead responds to Ammon, "Thus said Jephthah: Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon" (Judges 11:15). He begins to retell the true story of Israel's conquest of the land Canaan. He concludes his responsive message by declaring, "I therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me; the Lord, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon" (Judges 11:27). The response of the king of the children of Ammon was to not "hearken unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him" (Judges 11:28). In other words, because of the nature of the claims of Ammon and the falsehoods they were perpetuating as a cause for waging their own war, in addition to their outright refusal to accept the historical truth, Jephthah realized this was an enemy that could not be reckoned with. He certainly did not consider concessions to Ammon under the false hope that they would respond with peace.

What follows is "the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah" (Judges 11:29) and "Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hand... So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel" (11:32-33). Jephthah did not initiate a peace process with Ammon to begin the process of continuing concessions from the people of Israel in order to placate their foe. He attempted to reason with his enemy, and when he realized his enemy was not amenable to reason, he began a victory process instead. He fought his enemy until they were subdued and defeated.

Today false claims are still being levied against Israel, and pressures continue for Israel to negotiate and make further concessions to an enemy bent on her total destruction. The Hamas charter openly declares, "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." Israel's modern enemy not only makes claims to land, but openly declares and promises, based on a warped Islamist fanaticism, that their goal is the obliteration of Israel, to wipe Israel off the map. Perhaps Israel could learn a lesson from Jephthah in years past. Instead of appeasing this enemy or the international community, it must be made clear that Israel is no thief of land and that Israel faces an implacable foe. It must be made clear that Israel will not allow threats of annihilation to be constantly made and mounted without a response. If the Palestinian enemy refuses to hearken to this truth, then it is incumbent upon Israel in self-defense to fight the war that is being brought against her and achieve a true victory. That, at least, is the lesson one can learn from Judges chapter 11. Tweet