Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

WAR

War (Heb. milḥāmâ; Gk. pólemos) was a very common feature of life in the periods of both the OT and NT. Generally regarded as something to be feared and avoided if possible (Jer. 4:29; 6:1; Mark 13:14-19), it also provides a most fruitful source of metaphors for the life of the people of God. By no stretch of the imagination can one say that the Bible presents a “pacifist” point of view on violence and war; that would be anachronistic, and a distortion of the text. Like most people, ancient Israelites and Judeans, and the adherents to Jesus and his group in primitive Christianity did not like the effects of war, but for most it was taken for granted as a fact of life. During periods of ancient Israel’s history the experience and effect of war was not far from Israelites and Judeans.

Modern conventions of warfare, such as having an internationally recognized cause for fighting and a legally declared state of hostilities, often as a last resort, do not apply in the world of the Bible. There violence was often a first resort. The practice of warfare in the biblical period is limited not so much by international convention, as by the ability of people to wage war. To do so would require large numbers of men to be trained to fight and large amounts of resources, which were not always available during ancient Israel’s history, and certainly not available to the early followers of Jesus. Favorable conditions for protracted warfare did not prevail in ancient Israel and Judah until the time of the Monarchy, but even then the resources and manpower were limited.

In the NT period war was a practice of great empires who had the economic and human resources to wage it. The average follower of Jesus in Judea, or even Rome, was not likely to be an active participant in war unless as a victim, or unless he or she was incidentally a member of some part of the army, such as the royal guard (Acts 10; ; cf. Phil. 4:22). But even then, the likelihood of active participation in acts of warfare was extremely low.

In the OT violent resolution of conflict was common between groups, and such confrontations would fall into the category of “primitive warfare,” or skirmish, when compared to later conflicts. Abraham gathered together sufficient men to chase, overtake, and defeat the alliance of kings who had taken his nephew Lot hostage (Gen. 14). During the period of the judges, the period of Israel’s early settlement in the hill country of Palestine, armed conflict was common, and defeat in armed conflict became a sign of the displeasure of God at the behavior of his people (Judg. 2:11-15). By the end of the book of Judges, such common resort to armed conflict resulted in a bloody war between tribal groups that almost annihilated one of the tribes, Benjamin (Judg. 19–21).

It is during the time of the Monarchy that we can truly speak of war, in the sense of a regulated, well-equipped force who carried out the political will of a central authority, the king. According to 2 Sam. 11:1 spring was regularly “a time when kings went forth to war.” The great deeds of warfare of kings of Israel and Judah are praised as much as is their piety (1 Sam. 18:7). However, neither Israel nor Judah were strong enough to compete for long on the stage of ancient Near Eastern history in such conflicts. Local squabbles, such as those between Israel and her neighbors in the 11th to 9th centuries, and in which Israel and Judah were often, though not always, successful, eventually gave way to the massive imperial campaigns of the Assyrians and Babylonians and their West Semitic allies. Against such power few could stand, as the records inside and outside of the Bible show.

In the period after the Exile (5th century and later) conducting a war on the part of the renewed Israel was meaningless. The returnees were small in number and deficient in resources, and it was the Persians and later the Greeks who dominated the region. Nevertheless, surprisingly, war imagery does find a place in the literature of this later period, and Israel is even likened to the army of God once more, reviving perhaps the older traditions of holy war (Zech. 9; 10:6-7; 14:1-15).

The conduct of war is generally divided between elements of grand strategy and more confined tactics. To speak of grand strategy of the armies of Israel and Judah is difficult. One can assume that gaining “rest from one’s enemies round about” involved a certain amount of conflict in which Israel and Judah were successful. But whether this was a planned strategy, a necessary and perpetually defensive attitude against foreigners, or opportunistic expansion is never clear. The record states that David’s territory extended from the border of Egypt to the river Euphrates (1 Kgs. 4:24), an accomplishment repeated during the reign of Jeroboam II (Amos 6:14). This was undoubtedly achieved by the subjugation of enemies along the borders with Israel and Judah, and beyond (2 Sam. 10; 21:15-22).

Tactics on the battlefield were limited. Cavalry was not often used by the armies of ancient Israel and Judah, and chariotry was expensive and limited, so the bulk of the fighting was left to the foot soldier armed with minimal body protection, a shield, spear, possibly a sword, a sling. References to “slingers” (Judg. 20:15-16; 2 Kgs. 3:25) and “archers” (1 Sam 31:3) suggest that such troops were divided into special units on the field of battle. However, once infantry battle was joined it was a matter of forcing the other side to break and turn its back. Then the killing times began (Ps. 18:37-39[38-40]), and estimates of casualty rates in such times of flight are extremely high.

OT “teaching” on warfare is limited. Numerous metaphors from the institution are used as favorable descriptions of both God and the people of God (Zech. 9:13). One of the earliest designations of the Israelite God, Yahweh, is “Man of War” (Exod. 15:3). Victory in warfare is prized as a blessing from God (Ps. 18). As to the conduct of war, the ancient Israelites were often encouraged to destroy without quarter the people and livestock of captured cities, especially if those cities were within their own territory (Deut. 20:10-18). This practice of ḥērem was not always applied, but it was a means of maintaining the sacred and social boundaries of the community. Much of the specific teaching on the conduct of war in Deut. 20–21 is concerned more with efficiency than high moral ideals. In the NT period war was never far from the consciousness of most Judeans, including the followers of Jesus, but its practice was now confined mostly to professional soldiers who had their own codes of conduct. The Gospels mention soldiers and war only in passing (Luke 7:8; 23:11; 14:31), but in such a way as to indicate that it was taken for granted. One of the surprising features of the NT is that it contains no overt references to the war which ravaged Judea and Galilee between 66 and 70 c.e., and which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Roman army (Josephus Jewish War).

It is in the imagery of the letters that war becomes once again a source of metaphors for the self-understanding of the people of God. Suffering, once a sign of identity with Christ in his shameful death (Mark 8:34-38), now becomes a badge of honor for the “good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:3). As with the use of athletic metaphor in Philippians, Paul uses the metaphor of the soldier and his life as fitting for the faithful Christian.

The nature of the Christian life is thereby changed. Images of the family and household are replaced with the army as means of informing the Christian of his (not often her) duties. Much of the language of advice to the Christian “soldier” takes on the tone of the soldier’s oath, the sacramentum, which every Roman soldier had to take. Such an oath meant a radical change of life and a binding dedication to the service of the emperor. Anything short of this was shameful, often punishable by death, and unworthy of an imperial soldier. It is this which finds its way into the NT as an illustration of the way of life for the Christian servant.

Bibliography. P. C. Craigie, The Problem of War in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, 1978); H. Frankenmölle, “Peace and the Sword in the New Testament,” in The Meaning of Peace: Biblical Studies, ed. P. B. Yoder and W. M. Swartley (Louisville, 1992), 213-33; T. R. Hobbs, “Aspects of Warfare in the First Testament World,” BTB 25 (1995): 79-90; “The Language of Warfare in the New Testament,” in Modelling Early Christianity, ed. P. F. Esler (London, 1995), 259-73; A Time for War: A Study of Warfare in the Old Testament (Wilmington, 1989); S.-M. Kang, Divine War in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East. BZAW 177 (Berlin, 1989); S. Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford, 1993).

T. R. Hobbs

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

WAR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)