136 BATTLES OF THE BIBLE.

had taken away his lands, and he wished them peaceably
restored. To this Jephthah replied that Israel had
taken away no land from the children of Ammon.
Sihon, the Amorite, had dispossessed the Ammonites of
their country, that part of it at least that lay between
the rivers Arnon and Jabbok. This was no concern of
the Israelites ; they were not to be expected to reconquer
the land that they might bestow it on the children of
Ammon.

Marianne. But had they not the land that the
Ammonites asked for ?

George. Yes. They took it from Sihon and made it
their own.

Grandfather. They did. But you will remember that
it was Sihon who began the war. The children of
Israel sent to ask him to allow them to pass through
his land; he not only refused, but marched with an
army out into the wilderness to attack them. The
Lord gave Sihon, king of Heshbon, with his army, into
the hands of the children of Israel, and commanded
them to take possession of his land. God can give
nothing that is not his own, for to him all things belong.
What he bestows, it is good that we thankfully receive.
Thus Jephthah pleaded; and, besides, he had this to say
against the Ammonites’ claim, that the children of Israel
had now been in possession of the land for three hundred
years ; and the sons of Ammon had not hitherto attempted
to dispossess them of it, and had made no pretension
of having a right to it. It shewed that the Israelites