I don't plan to post systematically on God Is a Man of War, but as I find interesting things I may put them here. The beginning of the book refers to the following victory song, which is quite striking.
Exodus 15:1-18
Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a man of war;
the Lord is his name.
“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea;
and his picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods cover them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
Thy right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,
thy right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
In the greatness of thy majesty thou overthrowest thy adversaries;
thou sendest forth thy fury, it consumes them like stubble.
At the blast of thy nostrils the waters piled up,
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’
Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them;
they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
“Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like thee, majestic in holiness,
terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Thou didst stretch out thy right hand,
the earth swallowed them.
“Thou hast led in thy steadfast love the people whom thou hast redeemed,
thou hast guided them by thy strength to thy holy abode.
The peoples have heard, they tremble;
pangs have seized on the inhabitants of Philistia.
Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;
the leaders of Moab, trembling seizes them;
all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Terror and dread fall upon them;
because of the greatness of thy arm, they are as still as a stone,
till thy people, O Lord, pass by,
till the people pass by whom thou hast purchased.
Thou wilt bring them in, and plant them on thy own mountain,
the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thy abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.
The Lord will reign for ever and ever.”
The themes of salvation of the slave and destruction of the army of the enslavers echo down the millennia, along with the theme of steadfast love for His people.
It is interesting here that God Himself destroys the Egyptian army. This sort of violence in the Old Testament never really bothered me. I feel sorry for Charioteer First Class Snuffy who was just trying to pay off his new personal hot rod chariot at the low low rate of 20% APR and have a few brews on the weekend with his army pay, but wiping out an army set on re-enslaving a people doesn't seem terribly unjust. I'm sure, though, my specific concerns will be addressed further on in the book.
3 comments:
I think the places that tend to make people queasy are the killings of the innocent firstborn during Passover, and the genocidal war command in Joshua.
Yes, those definitely do.
Something interesting in the book is that De Young brings up groups and theologians who have been bothered by the violence in general and not just those events which seem unjust. Some have gone so far as to claim the Old Testament and New Testament describe two different gods, a bad old violent God and a good new loving God. I wasn't aware of these people before.
Part of his answer to the OT/NT (besides pointing out the illogic of it) is to point out NT verses like Revelation 14:14+ where Jesus is depicted coming with a scythe to judge and cutting down the nations. This is the 'grapes of wrath' passage, with blood flowing as high as horses' bridles for 200 stadia.
I have to wonder how much of this is that we are living in the Pax Americana, a peace unlike any the world has ever seen. We are (most of us anyway) so insulated from the violence, death, and gore so common in most of history, that perhaps it's we that are abnormal, and not scripture.
Post a Comment