The Facts Beneath the Frays
Monday, March 17
The Facts Beneath the Frays
Judges 11:12-15
Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” And the king of the Ammonites answered … “Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.” Jephthah again sent messengers … and said to him, “… Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.”
There are always varying perspectives in any conflict, different sensitivities felt by warring parties, different moral justifications from both sides as to why a fight is necessary, but buried beneath the diverse perceptions and simmering under the embers of the heated moment are a bedrock of immovable, unalterable facts. And those facts determine whether a fight is just or not.
To that end, please take a moment now to read the list of historical facts Jephthah details for the king of Ammon between verses 12 and 28, as he succinctly outlines why the king’s gripe against him is based on false pretexts. In a nutshell, Jephthah reveals how Israel pleaded for help from King Sidon during their exodus, how Sidon refused their request, instead choosing to aggressively attack them though unprovoked, and how he utterly lost the battle and justly lost his land as a result. Well, even under fire, Jephthah offers this new Ammonite king a chance to admit the facts of history, learn from Sidon’s grave mistake, and keep the peace, which deserves our admiration, doesn’t it? At this juncture, the battle lines are already drawn, the cavalries are lining the horizon, and the soldiers are awaiting marching order, yet Jephthah is diplomatic enough to offer his enemy one last chance to keep the peace.
“Blessed are the peacemakers,” proclaimed our Prince of Peace, which is a convicting challenge to me as I’ve failed to bring a spirit of diplomacy into many of my own conflicts of late. Friend, even if you find a battle at your doorstep, even as you grab your sharpest sword and suit up for the fray, as far as it remains in your power, overcome your impulses and perceptions with the facts of the matter, and reach out a hand of peace to your opponent before it all goes down.