Main Verse: Judges 11:12 – 12:7

Good morning,

Before marching into war, Jeptha sent a letter to the Ammonite king to find out what the Ammonites were up in arms about. When the king responded by telling Jeptha they wanted the land back that Israel stole from them, Jeptha wisely set the record straight in the hope that war could be avoided. When Israel came out of Egypt, the Lord stated “I have given this land to Lot’s descendants forever” (Deuteronomy 2:9). The reason the Moabites and the Ammonites lost their land was that Balak, the king of Moab, wanted to cause problems for Israel because of “Needless worry” (Numbers 22:1-6). When Balak offered the Israelites to come to sample the wares of Moab and find out about Baal of Peore, the Lord ordered Moses to clean Israel’s house by putting to death the offenders. After cleaning the house, the Lord sent the Israelites to war against the Moabite and Ammonite kingdoms (Numbers 25:10-15). When diplomacy did not work, Jeptha went to war and defeated the Ammonites.

It is said, “In war, truth is the first casualty” (Aeschylus). Unfortunately, there will always be those people who do not want peace (Mike Krier). The Ammonites were set on going to war and it cost them dearly (Proverbs 14:16). Today in our world we have people whose sole ambition is to cause problems between nations to stir up trouble. Today, as it has been for several centuries, peace is sought by taking something away from one group and giving it to another thinking, “That will satiate the aggressor and they will be happy” but the peace is always tenuous. Jeptha found out what the problem was and set the record straight. When the Ammonites persisted, Jeptha fought them without giving away something that belonged to the Israelites. My encouragement for you today is, to take a page out of Jeptha’s playbook for the situations that you are being confronted with.

Father,

Peace is better than war because when the truth is established our problems can be resolved. The death of your children is not something you take pleasure in how much worse is it when they die in needless wars? When troubles come my way, help me to approach the problems as Jeptha did. I pray that you will empower me in the writing ministry so that I may encourage people in their lives. I pray for my family, my city, my state, and the Republic of the USA.

In Jesus’ Name