Old Testament Perspective

The idea that we as Christians have allowed something besides the word of God to direct our political opinions and worldview is truly alarming. The justness of a particular war or violence should not be based on an accepted culture in the church or a political party affiliation, but purely on the word of God. For years I unconsciously allowed my culture’s worldview to so permeate my thoughts regarding our role as Christians in American society that I allowed some of my personal opinion to overshadow Biblical truth. Thankfully, over this last year God has clarified some previous assumptions I had regarding topics such as violence and politics. Though my understanding is far from whole, I would say I have a clearer picture of our role today as Christians in America. And the reason for this is a renewed focus on what the Bible teaches, and a divorce from any reason or previous loyalty besides a pledge to my Savior Jesus Christ.
     

In the process of finding how God wants his people to respond to war, injustice, and evil we must start with a clear Old Testament perspective. We must understand the purpose of the war and killing seen in the Old Testament before we come to a Biblical conclusion regarding war and defense. Our understanding of the introduction of sin, the law, sacrifice, and mainly Israel’s role as God’s chosen nation will not only help us understand God’s view of killing in the Old Testament, but what parts of this view pertain to us today and which do not.

After creation and the fall of man in Genesis 3 we know sin was chosen by Adam and Eve, and ushered in death and killing. In Genesis 17 we see the beginning of the established nation of Israel when God established his everlasting covenant with Abraham and his descendants, and Abraham became the father of the Jewish people. The covenant was clarified after God rescued his people from Egypt and made a covenant with Moses and the nation of Israel, and introduced the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5, and the specification of the Old Testament law which included the directions pertaining to offering sacrifices for the forgiveness of sin. It is by this established nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, that we see God using killing (Deuteronomy 5-6, Leviticus 4:35, 5:10). The question is why did God allow and command his nation to kill and war?
     

One of the first commands or restrictions for killing that God gives is seen when God speaks to Noah after the flood. Genesis 9:6 says: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” God states that his reason for holding murders accountable is because man is made in the image of God, so from the first mention of wrongful killing God makes the sanctity of human life very clear. Yet we also see throughout the Old Testament God commanding His people to war, and even specifying who to kill (Deut 20:13-18, Joshua 8:22-24, Joshua 10:28, 10:35, Judges 21:10). For example, in I Samuel 15 Saul is dethroned for not completely annihilating all of the Amalekites, and not obeying I Samuel 15:3 when God says, “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”
     

How then do we balance these numerous accounts of God commanded killing with God’s clear command to the Israelites to love their neighbor as themselves, to not seek revenge as seen in Leviticus 19: 15-18, and the fact that Ezekiel 18:32 and Ezekiel 33:11 make it clear that God has no pleasure in the death of anyone? To answer this question we must understand the purpose of God allowing his people to war and kill, and the presence of direct revelation from God to his nation that uniquely justified what they did.
     

In the Old Testament God’s ultimate goal was to make Israel a great nation in order to glorify his name (Exodus 32:10, 2 Samuel 7:23, Isaiah 63:12-14), and he used war in order to achieve his promised plan for Israel (Deuteronomy 20:16-17, Numbers 21:34). Under this ultimate goal, there are three specific reasons for Israeli killing and war in the Old Testament that stand out above the rest; (1) to attain and defend the Promised Land (2) to punish evil nations (3) and to maintain purity. I will address these three specific reasons first, and close with the clarification of God’s ultimate goal of glory.
     

In the Old Testament, God's promises revolved around Israel occupying the land of Palestine, making war a necessity. The nations that stood in the way of the fulfillment of God’s plan and promise were annihilated. In Numbers 21 God commands the Israelites to wipe out the nations of Sihon and Og for not allowing them passage through their territory and for marching towards them in battle. Then in Deuteronomy 20:16-17 the Lord commands the Israelites to demolish “the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.”
     

The second reason war was justified was to punish those who perpetrated evil against God and the Israelites. A couple examples of this are seen first in Numbers 31:1-3 when God makes it clear that his reason for commanding the Israelites to go to war against the Midianites was to carry out his vengeance on them. And second, in I Samuel 15:2 when God declares his reason for commanding war against the Amalekites was to punish them for what they did to Israel.
     

Lastly, war was used as a tool to maintain purity of the Israelite nation. In Deuteronomy 20 God commands Israel to destroy six nations, and says in verse 18 “Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God." Preventing his people from falling into sin and worshipping other gods was a priority in the justifications the Lord gives for war. After returning from overtaking the Midianites, Moses said in Num 31:15-17, "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.”
     

God is clearly focused on maintaining the purity of his people, in an effort to not bring shame but holiness to his nation and therefore glory to his name. Which is why the three reasons listed for Old Testament warring can fall under this one theme: the glorification of God’s name. God’s desire to glorify his name is evident throughout the Old Testament as God is constantly recognized as the reason for Israelite victory in battle (Joshua 10:30). We also see God expressing his desire for the glorification of his name in Exodus 7:3, 9:16, 10:2 and 11:9; when the suffering and killing seen in the plagues was used to show his power. Then in II Kings 19 the angel of the Lord defeated the Assyrian army by putting to death 185,000 men. In verse 34 God states his reason; “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant."
     

The justified killing the Israelites did in the Old Testament was not done for human glory, but for God’s. This is evident not only in the verses listed above, but in the account of David seeking to kill to avenge his name, not the name of the Lord. In I Samuel 25:21 we see David being mistreated by Nabal and being paid back “evil for good”, because Nabal refused to answer his request to feed him and his men. This unfair treatment prompted David to march toward Nabal’s home with 400 to kill those who mistreated him. The Lord sent Abigail, Nabal’s wife to stop him from fighting and having “on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself,” 1 Sam 25:31. As a man of God David responded in praise. “David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands,” I Samuel 25:32-33.
     

As we bridge into the New Testament perspective and the shift in purpose, it is important to remember all of these purposes for Old Testament warfare. And also to understand that the warring commanded by God in the Old Covenant required an enormous amount of faith from the soldiers and kings who answered the call. They were trusting that God would protect them as they obeyed his prompting, and that through his power they would claim victory for the glory of his name, because they fought for him. In Deuteronomy 20:1 the Lord says: “When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.”

The Problem

  It is assumed within the American context that killing and fighting back is justified. The Revolutionary War, Civil War, and American Indian War all show the warring and killing tendencies of our nation. War is a intrinsic part of our past history and continues to be one way in which we sustain our greatness in the present. It is not something that we question or typically enter into a discussion over because it is commonly held that war can and is justified. To be fair, simply because something is a common belief doesn’t necessarily mean it is wrong, but I do believe that it is our American upbringing that makes it difficult to stand outside of our American worldview and test certain American “givens” with God’s Word. This has been a difficulty for the church throughout the ages. That is, it has been hard for the church to stand up to great social, political, and local evils because those very evils were so accepted within society.

    For example, churchgoers and the church leaders had a large hand in promoting the evils of the Apartheid system in South Africa from 1948-1990. A system that condoned the clearly murderous and racist tendencies of the state that left thousands of South African’s dead or impoverished. Large portions of the America church during the American civil rights movement didn’t support King Jr’s teaching or support his social action. Martin Luther King Jr. had to write a letter from prison to fellow ministers in order to justify his cause. Many pastors and Christians were fine with the segregation laws and preached against change. William Wilberforce was a Christian man standing up to the slave trade in the late 18^th and early 19^th century in Great Britain. Many British Christians didn’t see this as evil at the time. Richard Wurmbrand, a pastor of the underground church in Romania wrote about the church’s involvement in Communism during Russian occupation. Many of the local pastors doubled as spies for Russia and commonly sold out their congregation when the people supported the underground church. The great majority of church leaders were in bed with the Communists, at the expense of hundreds of Christians. 

   With all of these examples in mind, it is clear in looking back over history that the church has either been involved in the promotion of evil or guilty of promoting evil through the sin of omission. The sobering question that every Christian has to ask themselves is—What are different blind spots the church suffers from today? What will the church in 50yrs say about how Christians are living now? It is easy to look back over history at these different problems in the church and be frustrated at the ways in which the church went down the wrong path. We are arrogant as Christians to think that we have so fully arrived in our understanding of God that we don’t have a hard time perfectly seeing what God wants us to do in light of such great evils around us. 

   It is my contention that very many Christians believe that America’s warring is just not because we have wrestled with the Biblical teachings but rather because it is what we are taught from our youth. Now, simply because it has been taught to us from youth doesn’t make it wrong but if it is in contradiction with what God’s will is for His people—then it is fully wrong. This is my belief, still yet to be defended. This leads me to what must become a priority within the discussion for everyone involved.

    When discussing war, violence, justice, injustice, and the nature of evil the arguments can quickly turn practical, philosophical, experience based, or even emotionally based. Although there is a place for our emotional response, our experience, and philosophy in the discussion—if this is what guides this discussion then we fall victim to the enlightenment mentality. This mentality teaches that if we just think about it enough and search in the depths of man’s reason long enough, we can find the solution to the issue or problem at hand. This mentality has never worked and never will. Although we are a quickly developing world with enough food to feed every person on the planet, thousands die every week of starvation, the world is absolutely full of discord (both at home and abroad), and war is ever present. One of the main reasons all of these unwanted effects remain with us in the 21^st century is because humanity bought into the lie of the enlightenment, thinking we can answer life’s greatest questions apart from God. We must look for God in all areas of study and are called to look to God in His Word. The Bible is the compass by which we are able to construct a proper worldview. There are many types of arguments one can use in any discussion but Biblical arguments and the proper interpretation of His Word will lead us into truth. After all, we are trying to get at what God wants his people to do in light of war, injustice, and evil. So regardless of what I or anyone else thinks, we must look to God’s Word first, and let the proper interpretation of the scriptures persuade us.

Beginnings

I have been in a conversation with a friend about violence, justice, and the church's responsibility in the midst of a broken world. We thought it was time to publish parts of our discussion in order to think through these things with a wider audience. We will be hitting topics such such as war, the ethic of Jesus, Paul's intent in Romans 13, self-defense, the church fathers, the nature of the New Covenant and the Old, and what being a Christian looks like in a warring America. Although I am currently convinced that the church's vocation doesn't include supporting the vanity of American local and foreign killing, I am always open to discussing these things.