THE BIBLE AGAINST WAR
by Rev. Amos Dresser
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Section 3 |
The constant liability of the
Jews to fall into idolatry
and sin was one reason why
God appointed them to the
work of destruction.
God evidently selected the Jews to fulfill his purposes of wrath upon the idolaters because of their constant tendency to fall into the same sin. For the same reason all his judgments were performed “before their face.” But for this, their actual transgressions, and their own choice, God would have been his own avenger of blood. Their whole history is replete with evidence on this point. Had it not been for the “hardness of their hearts,” had they not refused to “hearken to that prophet,” they would not have been called to act even as executioners. He inflicted his judgments upon Egypt without their agency. When hotly pursued by their oppressors, the mountains on either side and the Red sea before them, and thus apparently shut up to certain and utter destruction, they cried to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?” Moses said to the people, “Fear ye not: stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show you this day… The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace… And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh.”
►► This is the mode of procedure he had designed. All along He reminded them of what he did to Egypt – of the “wonders their eyes saw,” and promises to do to all the inhabitants of Canaan as He had done to Pharaoh and his host – if they would obey his voice.
The promise is, “The Lord your God which goeth before you, He shall fight for you according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes.” – Deuteronomy 1:30. “Ye shall not fear them, for the Lord your God, He shall fight for you.” – Deuteronomy 3:22. “If thou shalt say in thine heart, ‘These nations are more than I,’ how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them, but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt, the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out. So shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.” – Deuteronomy 7:17-19. “If ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them – to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him – then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you… Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse – a blessing if ye will obey the commandments of the Lord your God … and a curse if ye will not obey.” – Deuteronomy 11:22-28. “Behold I send an angel before thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared: beware of him and obey his voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary to thine adversaries. For my angel shall go before thee and bring thee unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will cut them off… I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee, and I will send hornets before thee,” etc. – Exodus 23:20-30. (See also Joshua 3:10 and Deuteronomy 31:6-8.)
He promised to do to Canaan as he had done to Egypt. God was his own executioner in Egypt, and He would have been in Canaan if it were not for their own choice and lack of faith in God.
The Canaanites expected God
would fulfill His promises.
Such was God’s promise, and even the heathen expected this promise would be fulfilled. “Rahab said unto the men, ‘I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.” – Joshua 2:9-11. “And it came to pass when all the kings of the Amorites which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites which were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their hearts melted; neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.” – Joshua 5:1. The heathen knew well enough of Jehovah to believe He would do as He had said.
God was true to his
promise whenever the
condition was fulfilled.
“God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man that He should repent. Hath he said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” – Numbers 23:19. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” – Psalm 118:8-9. “And they that believe on Him shall not be confounded.”
The history of Hezekiah furnishes an illustration in point. When “Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered into Judah and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to break them up … Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven. And the Lord sent an angel which cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leader, and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come to the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword. Thus THE LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria.” – 2 Chronicles 32:1,20-22.
… furnishes another striking example of the power of faith, and the safety of trusting God. “The children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other besides the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, ‘There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea, on this side Syria; and behold they be Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi.’ And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, ‘O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, if, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house and in thy presence (for thy name is in this house), and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And now behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and destroyed them not; behold, they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O, our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon thee.’ And all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. Then upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Bennaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation; and he said, ‘Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord unto you, be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go ye down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. ►► Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you. O Judah and Jerusalem, fear not nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you.’ And Jehoshaphat bowed his head, with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites of the children of Hohathites, and of the children of the Korbites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high. And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, ‘Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God; so shall ye be established. Believe his prophets; so shall ye prosper.’ And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army, and to say, ‘Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever.’ And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch-tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and behold they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels (which they stripped off for themselves), more than they could carry away; and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much. And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the lord; therefore the name of the same place was called the valley of Berachah, unto this day. Then they returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets, unto the house of the Lord. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.” – 2 Chronicles 20:1-30.
He is now at no loss for an answer to the question, “What would you do in extreme cases?” “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; he shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come; behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” – Psalm 46.[30]
This was the result of Jehoshaphat’s faith (I say “Jehoshaphat’s faith,” “for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.” – 2 Chronicles 20:33), as he did “that which was right in the sight of the Lord.”
The want of this faith was
the cause of their war
and bloodshed.
At the commencement of their journeyings, it was promised, “The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” God’s reason for leading them through the wilderness was to keep them out of the sight of war. “God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said, lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.” – Exodus 13:17. And even after their repeated transgressions in the wilderness (by which they had once again provoked war), as they are about to pass over Jordan, God said, “Know this day that Jehovah is thy God. He going before thee is a consuming fire. He shall destroy them, or He shall humble them before thy face, and thou shalt dispossess them, and cause them to wander, hastening.” – Deuteronomy 9:3, Hebrew, and again, “The Lord your God, He shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight, and ye shall possess their land as the Lord your God hath promised you. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left.” – Joshua 23:2,6. ►► It needs more courage to obey God than it does to fight. “The Lord your God which goeth before you, He shall fight for you according to all that He did for you in Egypt, before your eyes… Yet in this thing ye did not believe in the Lord your God, who went in the way before you to search you out a place to pitch your tents; in fire by night to show you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.” – Deuteronomy 1:30,32.
Again and again the complaint was made against them that “they would not confide in God’s going before them to guide and direct as he had planned.” (See Exodus 13:21-22; Numbers 9:15-23, 10:34; Nehemiah 9:12-19.) But, distrustful of God, they sent spies to see whether it would be safe or expedient to obey Him. “We will send MEN before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up and into what cities we must come … and the Lord heard the voice of your words and was wroth, and sware, saying, ‘There shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land,’” etc. – Deuteronomy 1:22-36. “But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked … he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods and with abominations, provoked they Him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God… And when the Lord saw it, He abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and daughters. And He said, ‘I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very froward generation – children in whom is no faith… The sword without and the terror within shall destroy both the young man and the virgin; the suckling with the man of gray hairs… O, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. How shall one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up. For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.’” – Deuteronomy 32:15-31. “O, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” – Isaiah 48:18.
“But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me, so I gave them up unto their own heart’s lusts, they walked in their own counsels.[31] O that my people had hearkened unto Me, and Israel had walked in My way, I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him. But their time should have endured forever.” – Psalm 81:11-15.
Their murmuring commenced immediately upon their leaving Egypt, and continued almost unceasingly till they were finally destroyed. Again and again had they rebelled against Jehovah and provoked him to anger by distrust, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” before they were made to taste the bitter dregs of war (and then their success was made to depend on Moses’ intercessions).
From Genesis to Revelation God proffers himself as the “REFUGE,” the “DEFENSE,” the “HIDING PLACE,” the “HIGH TOWER,” the “SALVATION” of his people; and never are thy obliged to fight in self-defense when willing to trust Him. “Avenging is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord; therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him.” – Romans 12:19-20, etc. “He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.” – Psalm 72:4. “For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight.” – Psalm 72:12-14. “Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. I, even I, am He that avengeth you. Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass? And (who art thou that) forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?” – Isaiah 51:7-13, etc. See also Deuteronomy 32:35-43, Hebrews 10:30, etc.
It is God’s arrangement that
they who take the sword
shall perish by the sword.
“Surely your blood of your lives will I require. (Not, shall ye require.) Whoso sheddeth man’s blood by man shall his blood be shed.” – Genesis 9:5,9,6. “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.” - Revelation 13:10.
Proof from history of the
providential fulfillment
of these promises
Universal history testifies that this prediction has been verified to the letter. Hence, says President Mahan[32] in the Oberlin Evangelist of March 15, 1848, under the caption, “He that taketh the sword shall perish with the sword:”
“How strikingly verified that maxim is in the recent revolution in France. No monarch in Europe, probably, had taken the pains to throw around his throne, for self-protection, such a forest of glittering bayonets, as had Louis Philippe. Yet, by the very means by which he purposed to hold the populace in subjection was his own throne overturned. When will oppressors, civil and ecclesiastical, learn wisdom from the providence of God?”
Safety is found in the exercise
of patience and faith.
And I would add, when will the people of God learn that they do not need the sword for protection? When will they realize that their safety is in their patience and their faith? Their strength is to sit still. “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning (that is, repenting) and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be your strength – and ye would not.”
Here was the difficulty with the Jews. They “would not” trust God.
They chose to defend
themselves, and God, in
anticipation of their
rebellion, gave them
laws in view of it.
“The Lord said unto Moses, Behold thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people will rise up and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant, which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured.” – Deuteronomy 31:16-18. And so it was. “Thus saith the Lord God. In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God, in the day I lifted up my hand unto them to bring them forth of the land of Egypt, into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and hone, which is the glory of all lands, then said I unto them, ‘Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me. I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man do he shall even live in them… But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do he shall live in them… Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live.” - Ezekiel 20:1-25.
Thus we can account for the commands to go and fight – for his command to appoint a king, etc. “All the elders of Israel gathered themselves and came unto Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, ‘Behold thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.’ But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said ‘give us a king to judge us.’ And Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord said unto Samuel, ‘Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice. Howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.’ Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, ‘Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.’”
Here is the secret: “That he may fight our battles.” They wished to defend their “national honor,” and “stand up for their rights.”
Hence, they despised the God of peace, and “their heart went after their idols” of war. They took up the tabernacle of Moloch,[33] and the star of their god Remphan.[34] – Acts 7:43, Amos 5:26. “They served their idols, which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils.” – Psalm 106:36-37. “How oft did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy.” – Psalm 78:40-42. “They provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, He was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel. So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men, and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy’s hand.” – Psalm 78:58-61. “He gave his people over unto the sword, and was wroth with his inheritance… When He slew them, then they sought Him, and they returned and inquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the high God their Redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues, for their heart was not right with Him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned He his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.” – Psalm 78:34,64.
God often prospered them
notwithstanding their sins
on account of his oath to
Abraham, and for his
“mercies’ sake.”
It was hard for Him to give them up. “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.” – Hosea 11:8. His heart yearned to bless them, and through them a dying world. Indeed, He had entered into a solemn covenant with Abraham to bless the world through him. (See Genesis 12:1-3 and 22:16.) To accomplish this purpose it was necessary to preserve the Hebrew nation distinct from all others. Here is one prominent reason for his often taking sides with them and saving them from the legitimate consequences of their own chosen way. Hence when they had openly apostatized and prostrated themselves before the golden calf, “and said, these by thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, the Lord said unto Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiff-necked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation.’ And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, ‘Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, for mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.’ And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” – Exodus 32:8-14. So for his own name’s sake, and for his oath’s sake, He often blessed them in their own chosen way.
[30] Psalms 46 and 115 are supposed by commentators to have been written by Jehoshaphat directly after this notable deliverance.
[31] Hebrew – They desired me not. So I sent them according to the stubbornness of their heart. They walked according to their own plan.
[32] Asa Mahan (1799-1889) came to Oberlin with the “Lane Rebels” was the first president of Oberlin College, serving from 1835-1850.
[33] A heathen deity, whose principal sacrifices were human victims. What better definition could you wish for a god of war?
[34] Possibly this may have been the insignia upon their flag, as now are borne “the lone star of Texas,” our sacred stars and stripes, our ravenous eagle, the British Lion, etc.