Text: Judges 11:15-27
OT Text Referred to: Numbers 21:10-26
Subject: Jephthah's appeal to Numbers itinerary and Sihon's defeat
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Jephthah's comprehensive defense in Judges 11:15-27 draws extensively on Numbers 21:10-26, which details Israel's itinerary from Oboth through the Arnon Valley and their subsequent victory over Sihon king of Heshbon. The Numbers account demonstrates that the territory Israel occupied had already been taken from Moab by the Amorites (Num 21:26: "Heshbon was the city of Sihon"), so Israel took it from the Amorites, not from Moab or Ammon. Jephthah's use of this passage shows sophisticated legal reasoning: the Ammonites cannot claim land that was Amorite, not Ammonite, at the time of Israel's conquest.