March 12, 2008

Breadcrumb: We had it first!

Judges 11:13-28 gives us a dialogue about possession of the Middle East so modern in theme that might have been written in the last few years. The Ammonites have come to claim their ancestral homeland of Gilead. Jephthah counters by saying that the Israelites didn't "take" the Ammonites' land, but that God gave it to them, so it's rightly theirs. Besides, the Israelites have been living in Gilead for 300 years; why had the Ammonites waited so long? The Ammonites don't counter this, but they may very well have said that the Israelites gave up their rights to the land during their 400-year sojourn into Egypt, so it's really theirs. Change the name from "Ammonite" to "Muslim," and you could practically read this exchange in the papers.

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