Judges 11:23

23 Therefore the Lord God of Israel destroyed Amorites, fighting against him for his people Israel. And wilt thou now have in possession his land? (And so the Lord God of Israel destroyed the Amorites, fighting against them for his people Israel. And now wilt thou take possession of their land?)

Judges 11:23 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 11:23

So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites
from before his people Israel
It is his doing, and not the work of the Israelites; it is he that dispossessed the Amorites, and put the Israelites into the possession of their land, and therefore they enjoy it by a good tenure:

and shouldest thou possess it?
what through the blessing of God on their arms they have obtained by conquest, and he has settled them in; did they conquer, that thou should possess what they conquered? did their God put it into their hands to deliver it into thine? did they fight to recover for thee what thou hadst lost, and to put thee into the possession of it? did not they fight in their own defence, and their enemies and their land fell into their hands, and by the laws and right of nations became theirs? and canst thou expect to possess it? what reason is there for it?

Judges 11:23 In-Context

21 And the Lord betook Sihon with all his host into the hands of Israel; and Israel smote him, and had in possession all the land of Amorites, the dweller(s) of that country, (And the Lord delivered Sihon with all his army into the hands of Israel; and Israel struck them down, and had in possession all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country,)
22 and all the coasts thereof, from (the) Arnon unto (the) Jabbok, and from the wilderness unto (the) Jordan.
23 Therefore the Lord God of Israel destroyed Amorites, fighting against him for his people Israel. And wilt thou now have in possession his land? (And so the Lord God of Israel destroyed the Amorites, fighting against them for his people Israel. And now wilt thou take possession of their land?)
24 Whether not those things which Chemosh, thy god, had in possession, be due to thee by right? Soothly those things which the Lord our God (the) overcomer hath gotten, shall fall into our possession; (Be not those things which Chemosh, thy god, had in possession, by rights be due to thee? And likewise, those things which the Lord our God the Overcomer hath taken, they shall be ours;)
25 but in hap thou art better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, either thou mayest say, that Balak strived against Israel, and fought against him, (but perhaps thou art better than Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, or thou mayest say, that Balak contended against Israel, and fought against them,)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.