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JUDGES 11:24 — KING JAMES VERSION 0 0
Judg 11:23Judg 11:25
Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
Jephthah's assertion that the Ammonites should accept their god's grant of territory to them just as Israel accepts the Lord's grant of territory to Israel represents a remarkable rhetorical move that acknowledges Ammonite religious claims while asserting Israel's superior theological grounding. The reference to "your god Chemosh" recognizes that the Ammonites understand themselves to possess their own divinely granted territories, suggesting that Jephthah accepts the principle of divine territorial allocation while asserting that Israel's God has allocated Israel the disputed lands. This verse demonstrates Jephthah's rhetorical sophistication: he frames the dispute in terms that the Ammonites can understand (divine authorization of territorial possession) while asserting Israel's claim to possess the lands that their God has given them. The verse also implicitly asserts that the Lord's gifts are more reliable and more extensive than those of Chemosh, though this implicit comparison remains subtle.
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Judges 11:24 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy