So now the LORD God of Israel has driven out the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess it?
All Commentaries on Judges 11:23 Go To Judges 11
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
His land, which the Amorrhite had first conquered, and which God took from him to give to Israel. It was clear that this country was not then considered as the property of the sons of Lot, since God expressly forbad his people to molest them. (Haydock)
Jephte produces the right of conquest, the grant of God, and the possession of 300 years, to prove that the country belonged to the Israelites. All acknowledge that the right of conquest, in a just war, give a good title. (Grotius, Jur. iii. 6, 7.)
The children of Lot had lost all hopes of recovering what Sehon had taken from them. (Calmet)
He could not be proved to be a thief or an usurper, but was in peaceable possession when the war with Israel commenced, in which he lost all his dominions. (Haydock)
By the same right, David kept what he had taken from the Amalecite plunderers, (1 Kings xxx. 20,) and Abraham might have retained the spoils which had been carried off from Sodom, Genesis xiv. 21. The Roman and Grecian histories are full of such examples; and this right was admitted by all as the law of nations, Quæ ex host bus, jure gentium, statim capientium fiunt. (Caius. J. C.)
The second argument of Jepthe is unanswerable, since God may undoubtedly transfer the property of one to another. But as the Ammonites might reply that they did not admit the God of Israel, he observes that the latter might at least have the same privilege as their Chamos, ver. 24. Prescription of so long a time, with good faith, was the third argument, as the Amorrhites being destroyed, and the Moabites disheartened, could not pretend to reclaim the conquered country. There would never be an end of disputes among men, if the undisturbed possession of a country for such a length of time did not confirm their right to it. These principles establish the tranquillity of families and of states. (Calmet; Grotius, Jur. ii. 4.)
