Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 11:23
So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
Verse 23. The Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites] Jephthah shows that the Israelites did not take the land of the Moabites or Ammonites, but that of the Amorites, which they had conquered from Sihon their king, who had, without cause or provocation, attacked them; and although the Amorites had taken the lands in question from the Ammonites, yet the title by which Israel held them was good, because they took them not from the Ammonites, but conquered them from the Amorites.
So now the Lord – hath dispossessed the Amorites. – The circumstances in which the Israelites were when they were attacked by the Amorites, plainly proved, that, unless Jehovah had helped them, they must have been overcome. God defeated the Amorites, and made a grant of their lands to the Israelites; and they had, in consequence, possessed them for three hundred years, Jdg 11:26.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God, the sovereign Lord of all lands, hath given us this land: this he adds, as a further and a convincing reason; because otherwise it might have been alleged against the former argument, that they could gain no more right to that land from Sihon than Sihon himself had, and he had but an unjust claim to it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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?
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(23) Shouldest thou possess it?Is it likely that Israel would fight battles solely to benefit Ammon and Moab?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. Shouldest thou possess it Is it right for thee to seize upon possessions which our God has so signally given to us?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jdg 11:23 So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
Ver. 23. So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed. ] He argueth that the land in question is Israel’s out of all question, by a threefold right: (1.) Of conquest; (2.) Of divine donation; (3.) Of prescription. Jdg 11:25
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
shouldest thou . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis.
it = him: i.e. Israel. Being masculine (in Hebrew), cannot refer to the land of Jdg 11:21; and singular, so that it cannot refer to coasts of Jdg 11:22.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jephthah shews that the Israelites did not take the land of the Moabites or Ammonites, but that of the Amorites, which they had conquered from Sihon their king; and although the Amorites had taken the lands in question from the Ammonites, yet the title by which Israel held them was good, because they took them, not from the Ammonites, but from the Amorites.
Reciprocal: Gen 48:22 – Amorite Jos 5:1 – all the kings 2Ch 20:11 – to cast us
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 11:23. So now the Lord, &c. God, the sovereign Lord of all lands, hath given us this land; this he adds, as a further and convincing reason; because otherwise it might have been alleged against the former argument, that they could gain no more right to that land from Sihon, than Sihon himself had. And shouldest thou possess it? It was absurd to think that they should take pains to conquer it, and God should give it to them, only that they might reinstate the Moabites or Ammonites in the possession of it, with whom they had no alliance.