war and the Bible

I remember when I was a junior in college and sitting in a small group with some young adults from my local church.  While I forget the central text of the lesson, I do remember us reading a passage from the Old Testament that made me feel a little uncomfortable.  In the passage God had instructed the Israelites to kill their enemies and to show them no mercy... And not just the opposing soldiers... God also instructed them to kill women, and children too.  That's when a hand went up and a lady asked the group, "Does this strike anyone as odd?  Why in the world would God call the Israelites to kill other people when the Bible tells us not to murder?  Jesus talks about forgiveness and loving our enemies... How does this fit in?"  And while I am sure there were not crickets in the room, I could have sworn I heard them in the silence that followed.

To make matters worse, after not receiving any sort of coherent answer, she turned to me and said, "Jay, you're a religion major, right?  What is your take on this?"  My guess is that some combination of words came out of my mouth, but I know my response didn't satisfy her and it surely didn't satisfy me either.

Since this episode, I have asked this same question to a few other adults who are five times more intelligent than myself, yet, I am still not sure I have ever been able to find 'rest' with the whole issue.  I eventually got to a point where I was embarrassed to ask the question because I was nearing the completion of seminary and I figured I would sound dumb for not having found reconciliation with the issue.

What I have come to believe and witness is that a vast majority of educated Christians do not know how to address and respond to the issue of war in the Old Testament.  Most people and teachers within the local church try to leapfrog these difficult passages and conversations and skip to other passages that are much more 'postcard friendly.'  Many times these stories of violence and massacre are quickly skimmed over so we can quickly arrive to a 'listener-friendly' conclusion, like: "God helps us in life's 'battles,' or, "God will never leave us..."  The issue of God and war throughout scripture has become one of the 'elephant in the room' topics that many people avoid and pretend that it is not there.

For thousands of years, many Jewish and Christian traditions have shielded their children from reading the Songs of Solomon due to the sexual imagery in it's pages.  Parents are encouraged to only allow their children to read this section of scripture once they are ready to have the difficult, yet necessary, conversations that are soon to follow... But what about the war narratives in scripture? What are they supposed to conclude when they come across graphic texts like the slaughter of the Canannites in Joshua?  If we are not ready to have intelligent and informed conversations about the topic, we must be OK if our students conclude:

1. God has no problem with war and the loss of human life.
2. Our God is an aggressive God who is ready and eager to punish and kill those who do wrong.
3. God does not care about killing innocent children.
And so on...

And while there is still a part of me that may always struggle holding together a God who would call his chosen people to 'show no mercy' on a foreign people and a God who was willing to die for my sins, I have come to a few conclusions regarding the topic of war in the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, we read of an immanent God who actively participated in normal human history.  The unfortunate truth is that war was a constant reality for most nations in the time of the Exodus and following.  Going to war was not something 'new' that God thought up. Warefare is a human institution and is evil in nature.  Throughout the Old Testament scriptures, we read about a God who worked and acted amongst a society and world that was all too familiar with war, territorial battles, etc, to achieve the ends of both judgment and redemption.

It is also important to note that God never rejoiced in the act of war.  While God used the human institution of war to achieve certain ends, we must also remember that throughout the Old Testament we read about a God who envisions a time when "swords will be beaten into ploughshares" (Isaiah 2, Micah 4).  Isaiah 53 also speaks of the suffering servant who will willingly lay down his life for the sins and iniquities of many.  In the New Testament, we see the fullness of God's face in the one who taught people to love their enemies, to turn the other cheek, who came to serve and not to be served, who washed the feet of his betrayer,and who didn't lift a hand at his own crucifixion.