The clarification that "the Lord, the God of Israel, gave [Sihon] and all his people into Israel's hands, and they defeated him" emphasizes that Israel's military victory and territorial possession resulted from divine action rather than merely human military prowess, establishing that God's hand guided the conquest. This attribution to divine agency elevates the conquest above mere military victory to the status of theological act, suggesting that God was actively delivering the Amorite kingdom into Israel's hands as part of the fulfillment of the land promise. The phrase "gave... into Israel's hands" echoes the covenant language used elsewhere in Judges and Joshua to describe how God accomplishes military victories on Israel's behalf. By emphasizing divine causation, Jephthah's argument transforms a historical dispute about territorial claims into a theological claim about God's purposes and Israel's special status as the covenant people.

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