God and Guns: The Bible's Perspective on Personal Ownership and Use of Weapons, and Related Matters

God's sword (the Word) and ours (the rifle), superimposed over the Bible.(c) 1996, 1997 David C. Treibs, sirdavid@ktc.com

This page contains verse by verse commentary for II Samuel - II Chronicles 25 detailing what the Bible says about owning and using guns.

2 Samuel 1:6
His spear.

2 Samuel 1:18
The children of Judah, not just the military. Probably all the able bodied men
were introduced to the use of it so they could be called upon quickly to
defend the nation from invasion, insurrection, and so on.

He might have provided them bows or taught them how to make them.

2 Samuel 1:22
They are praised for their warring and fighting and killing.
They defended Israel and/by slaughtered/ing the enemy.

2 Samuel 1:27
It is very sad that the weapons of war were not powerful enough to vanquish
the enemy and protect the good and the innocent.

2 Samuel 2:16
His sword.

2 Samuel 5:19
God would deliver them in David's hand and if David did
nothing, the enemy would be free to escape and to attack them later,
like the king smiting the arrows at the prophet's command.

God did't say he would do it and David would have to do nothing. God did
it, but what he did was make it possible for David to kill the enemy--if
David had done nothing, or not enough, the enemy would have been
untouched, and David probably would have been responsible for whatever
evil and harm the enemy would have done, like Israel was responsible
when they did not wipe out the nations God told them to. This is an
important point because so many Christians think certain actions and
realms of action are God's business, and it is, but often God does his
work using people.

2 Samuel 5:24-25
God said he would do the smiting, and yet it was still David's hand that
did the killing, compare to 2sa 5:19.

2 Samuel 8:6
The Lord preserved David and gave him victory where ever he went, but
David had to do the doing.

2 Samuel 10:12
War philosophy--fight for your people and cities and for God, and let
him do what he deems best--see Nehemiah's "fight for your children,
lands, etc."

To fight they had to be trained, armed, organized, etc--just like David
was prepared to kill Goliath--trained with bear and lion, armed with
sling and carefully chosen stones, etc.

2 Samuel 15:34
David prayed God would defeat Ahithophel's counsel, but he also did what
he could by sending in a man to accomplish it.

2 Samuel 21:16
Thought he was Rambo with his new toy, but one of God's men showed him
otherwise, and maybe killed the turkey. No comment is made that the enemy
should have been disarmed, the man of God just took care of him.

2 Samuel 21:19
Another enemy with powerful, personal weapons. Nobody squawked about Goliath's
bros being armed, although they would have disarmed them given an opportunity,
but they did not disarm themselves so that in some inscrutable way the
enemy would become disarmed or turn in their weapons for the benefit of
the brotherhood of mankind. They killed the enemy.

2 Samuel 22:30
God gives us the strength to run through the troop and leap over the
wall--we do the running and leaping.

2 Samuel 22:35
God teaches him to war and fight, so he can do a good job at it.

2 Samuel 22:35
God himself teaches David to use weapons skilfully and to give him physical
strength to physically struggle and defeat the enemy. He doesn't say God is
great for zapping them all with lightening while he sits around praying, and
doing nothing else. He kills. He fights. He uses the weapons.

2 Samuel 22:37-39
God enlarged his steps (so while?) pursuing his enemies he doesn't slip.
He destroyed his enemies with God's help.
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Also like Christian Coalition prays and trusts God but also works.
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title: (Use NT principle) Faith without works is dead.
1. Faith without works is dead.
2. Trust God does not equal doing nothing.
3. We are God's body, his hands, we do his work.
4. God works through us to accomplish his work.
5. We do our best and commit ourselves to him who is faithful, and leave
the results and consequences to God.
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If we end up hurt, that's OK. If we fail, that's OK. We do what we are
commanded, and then say we are unprofitable servants. We don't have the
right to demand safety or victory. We trust God to work it together for
good.

_This_ is where trusting God comes in. When we have done God's/our work,
we should say, we are unprofitable servants, we have done what we were
commanded, instead of, now God owes me safety or victory or happiness or
rewards, etc.
6. Sometimes God uses us for part of the work.
7. Sometimes he does all the work. Yet we still do not do nothing. While
we are doing all we can, God is accomplishing the success by using
someone else or by doing it directly himself.
8. Usually we will end up only doing a small part, and others will also
be used.
9. Frequently God leaves the outcome in our hands, whether we have total
victory (David), a partial victory (Joshua, the king who smote the
arrows), or no victory, or a short-lived victory that we later loose.
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God is not under any obligation whatsoever to give us victory if our
efforts are not sufficient to bring it about. Just because we try, even
try with all our might and all our heart, God is not obligated to give
us victory. For instance, even if lots of Christians become involved in
the Republican party, if we don't take the positions of power, rewrite
the rules, have enough votes at each meeting and each level of the
party, and consistently at every meeting have enough votes and the
proper strategy, retain the chairmanship, etc etc, God is not under any
obligation to help us win, and we won't if we don't do all the above and
more, because as we sow, we will reap: if we don't sow enough, we won't
reap enough.
10. We don't know if God will leave it up to us or do part or all of it
himself. We simply must do with all our might all we can do and leave it
up to him. _That_ is faith and trust.
11. David rewarded his men and gave them positions based on their
accomplishments. God also rewards his people similarly (the parable of
the workers who were made rulers and/or given rewards based on what they
accomplished, how much they made, etc. That indicates that God expects
us to accomplish much--he bases rewards on how much we do--he has given
us the _talents_ (parables) to do so (some have more than others--all
are to do the best and the most they can)--he has given us the _wisdom_
(Proverbs) to do so.
God would not reward us for something he was not 100% pleased with,
although he would probably allow us to enjoy the partially positive
consequences of the good parts, as well as allow us to suffer the
partially negative consequences.
12.a. Eph 6 standing is about standing in faith against the devil and
sin. But that is not where it stops.
b. The next step is in 11 where bigger rewards are for the hardest
workers and the most productive (like the farmer with the biggest crop
is the one who is smartest and works hardest and longest) (even if it's
the widow's mite type--give 100% of 1 cent is more than 10% of
$1,000,000, however, God will have to be the rewarder of this kind,
because the physical reaping of 1 cent isn't much, and the rewards for
this kind will be in heaven, or it could be here on earth if God does
it. Obviously the 1 cent will not do it.)
c. See Heb 11 to bring in OT and link to faith of those who fought
battles, etc, then give #1-10.
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Always try (since it is mostly to uninformed Christians) to start with
NT and with the spiritual, non-action except against sin or the devil,
and work back ot the OT and end up with weapons and fighting, etc.

2 Samuel 22:40
God has given him strength for the battle--David has to do the
fighting. God have him the strength to win.

2 Samuel 22:41
God have him the enemies--David had to destroy them (like the king who
Elijah smote the arrows with).

2 Samuel 22:43
With God's help David annihilated his enemies. David did the fighting,
God gave him the victory in what he did. If he had done nothing, he
would have won nothing.

2 Samuel 23:10,12
The men did the fighting and had previously done the training and such,
but it was God's victory and he doesn't mind using warriors and weapons
to protect his people and their property and goods.

"stood in the midst of the ground" having done all, to stand (Eph 6),
and stand fully armed and fully prepared, against the devil, the
physical enemy, or whatever--Lexington and Concord, Gonzales, Texas,
uncompromising politicians, etc.

"until his hand was weary" work till you drop, but don't drop, or you'll
be killed! (sorry bud, no free ride, do it right or die).

"defended" the "ground": To some extent we are protecting God's property
because we are stewards of what he gives us.

2 Samuel 23:18
These men were praised for how many of the enemy they killed. The more they
killed, the more they were revered. And notice not all these were in the role
of a soldier, some were as private individuals who on their own did acts of
valor and bravery.

2 Samuel 23:21
The Egyptian's spear. I bet the Egyptians weren't going around saying they
should all disarm because a personal weapon is 10 times more likely to be used
against its owner than on the enemy.

2 Samuel 24:9
This was the census, not the army roster, although they were pretty much the
same. And note how they are referred to, as those able to fight. These were
the common folk who could fight and many of whom were armed with their own
private weapons.

They were already trained and armed and David obviously didn't train
them because he didn't even know how many existed, or where they were.
Obviously he didn't train or arm them or organize them.

This says "drew the sword" which might be different from "able to go to
war" as it says in other places. Perhaps one refers to armed and ready
and the other may be only physically fit enough to fight, but not
necessarily armed and/or trained. Perhaps the descriptions are not that
specific, perhaps they are.

This could also mean that anyone who was able to fight WAS armed and
trained and organized, because that's how it had to be if they were to
survive as a community, a tribe, and a nation. I suspect there was no
room for sitting idly by. Everyone had to be ready at a moment's
notice.

1 Kings 5:3
God put David's enemies under his feet: God assisted him and enabled him
to slaughter the enemy and protect himself and his family and his
nation.

1 Kings 8:44-46
Asking God to help (Solomon) him defeat his enemies.

46 Defeat in battle is a sign that God is angry--because he doesn't help
you win. When your weapons and strategies fail, it could be because
there is sin in the camp.

2 Kings 6:22
Thy sword probably refers to the king taking POWs with his army, not to him
personally capturing with his personal weapons, although that is equally a
valid way to read it, and wouldn't be taking the statement out of context.
The king often fought in battles, like David did until he was almost
killed.

2 Kings 11:2,4,8,10,11
God's priest commanded them to brandish weapons in God's house and use
them if necessary; and God's priest organized an army of armed men to
accomplish the task.
The priest of God passed out weapons to protect someone from an evil
woman (she wanted to kill that someone, guess it's OK to use weapons to
protect a person from someone who a woman wants to kill, eh?), and the
weapons were housed in God's temple. Since Athaliah was king she could
make any law she wanted, so whatever she said was legal, and whatever
contradicted her was illegal. But, he did have to wait 7 years
before he could do anything, while the king matured a little, and during
the 7 years I suppose this woman did evil. This is a good example of
having to wait to strike until the time is right, but when you strike,
prepare for the uttermost contingency, and in the plan's execution, be
ruthlessly persistant.
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Also they broke the law in hiding the child king.

2 Kings 13:15
God commanded the king to make use of weapons. It couldn't be all that
immoral to use weapons if God commanded him to use them, and then chided him
for not being violent and vigorous enough. It is not a sin to be
forceful and violent and use weapons against the right enemies. It is a
sin NOT to.

His personal weapons.

2 Kings 13:17-19
God used the king to smith the evil and cruel oppressors of his people,
and God was angry at the king for not being zealous enough to slaughter
the evil oppressors and annihilate them. God is not only condoning force
and violence, he is condemning whoever keeps back his hand from blood,
and whoever doesn't completely destroy the enemy, when that's God's
will. He is clearly sanctioning weapons and fighting and destruction,
although he is using the king in this case.

2 Kings 17:20
They were delivered into the hand of spoilers until they were out of his
sight--they were unable to resist, or to resist successfully--perhaps
they were disarmed, as the Philistines did to them, or perhaps their
resistance failed--either way, and either one is God's judgment--both
are evil and are used to destroy people. The way to solve spoiling is to
return to God, not to build more prisons or whatever--that's on the
national scale. Of course, you have to build prisons, arm yourselves,
etc or you will be breaking other scriptural principles of punishing the
evil, protecting the good, etc. It's just that you can't lose sight of
any aspect or you are likely to fail.

He sounds like the perfect socialist--we'll take care of all your
needs--it's just that all the fruit of your labor will be diverted to
us (which, of course, we will use in part to take care of you).
Everybody will have plenty, you won't have to worry about healthcare or
unemployment or starving children or whatever else Clinton uses for his
excuses.

And, of course, like every other nut case and Bible-toting pagan
President, he claims he's doing God's will (crime bill, says BC, is
God's will).

2 Kings 18:32
Better to be a live slave than a dead freedom fighter, said the evil
captain of Assyria--especially since they would give them food, drink,
and shelter--meet all of their needs--what's such a big deal about
freedom, anyway? Isn't it better to be taken care of then to be free?

2 Kings 18:25
Then again, the Assyrians were a judgment from God to punish them for
their sin, and so what right did they have to fight God's judgment?
Perhaps they were standing in the gap and making up the hedge, and
prayed for mercy and help, and so had God's blessings in resisting, even
unsuccessfully. God heard Hezekiah's prayers because he was righteous
and Godly, and for that reason, God let him succeed. An evil king would
have been destroyed. Perhaps only the righteous have God's help in
resisting evil sent against a nation for sin. Note, the judgment was
against a nation--not against Hezekiah.
Since the nation was punished for sin--righteous people had God's
blessings and commandment to stand in the gap for the nation to protect
the innocent (who always suffer from other's sins) and God is angry at
his people when they don't stand up to protect the innocent and loose
the chains of oppression. If it is not God's will for our resistance to
succeed, we will die or be captured like those godly king who died
fighting (Josiah?) evil, and after their death the judgment hit the
nation.
We are commanded to protect the innocent even if they are part of an
evil nation and are being destroyed as a result of God's judgment--God
doesn't say if the nation is evil, don't defend the innocent or the
nation, he says defend, period! And stand in the gap. After all, no one
or nation is ever perfectly sinless, and perfectly deserving of God's
protection. It's just God's mercy, and it's our duty.

2 Kings 18:12
Israel was attacked by Assyria because they were evil--the evil king
could not stand--then the same king of Assyria came against the wicked
nation of Judah, but because Hezekiah was a righteous man (the nation
wasn't righteous by any means) God helped him defeat His own judgment!
What kind of king would he have been if he had said to the Assyrian
king, hey, this nation is full of sin so come on over and kill all these
ungodly scum bags, but, then he would have been guilty of the watchman
thing, of killing the innocent by standing by, etc. Likewise, what kind
of people would we be if we stood by while our nation is attacked,
either from without or within, while the innocent, etc are destroyed,
while the evil are given free reign and are allowed to take positions of
power, etc?

2 Kings 19:6,20,25-26,34,20:6
19:6 God did it to protect his name.
19:20 God heard Hezekiah's prayer (ie he prayed!)
God created Sennacherib specifically to destroy--ie as punishment for
evil v. 25, 26. (yet God also gave the victory over him).
v. 34 God defended it for David's sake and his own. Just remember there
were many times God did not defend it for David's sake, but let them
have it. It also took the prayer and work of a righteous man to bring in
God's help.
20:6 Perhaps because he prayed and was righteous, God heard and decided
to save the city for David's and His name's sake.
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It's an example of 1 man standing in the gap BOTH spiritually and
physically (with weapons).

2 Kings 21:10-15
God protected his people and remembered his covenant when the nation was
righteous--or at least when a righteous man of authority was standing in
the gap as a leader in the nation, but when an evil man lead the nation,
God forgot his covenant with the nation and worked to destroy them.
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Part of protecting our nation and the innocent is to make sure we have
godly leaders so God will bless us and also for us to stand in the gap
for our country.
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...
Faith is knowing God's word (they can't believe unless they hear the
word, and so knowing it is part of faith. Your unscriptural feelings
have nothing to do with faith.) and acting on it and leaving the results
to God, carrying through what it says and demonstrates.
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c. See Heb 11 to bring in OT and link to faith of those who fought
battles, etc, then give #1-10.
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Always try (since it is mostly to uninformed Christians) to start with
NT and with the spiritual, non-action except against sin or the devil,
and work back ot the OT and end up with weapons and fighting, etc.

2 Kings 21:14
Now instead of helping them for his name's and David's sake, he's going
to forsake them. Also, they will be delivered into the hand of the
enemy, meaning their resistance will be useless, because God won't help
them, and their use of weaponry and strategy will be defeated.

2 Kings 23:15-20
God's judgment against the nation remained, but he made it peaceful
while Josiah reigned, because he humbled himself and prayed and heard
and honored God's word--even when wrath is inevitable, good men can
stand up and at the least delay God's wrath. And while they are at it,
work to bring about repentence.

2 Kings 23:1-25
Josiah did absolutely everything within his power and within his reach
to root out and destroy evil--he did what no king since Solomon had
done, he destroyed what other righteous kings had left alone--just as we
should do==seek out and eliminate evil to the fullest extent that we are
able, and destroy that which enables people to do evil, and put down
those who enable and incite the people to do evil.

Evil Objects.
Destroying objects--this is one of the few times when God approved
destroying objects--because all of these were used in idolatry and devil
worship and human sacrifice and such.

2 Kings 23:26-27
Even though God's wrath was incredible, he put it on hold because of
Josiah's standing in the gap for his nation. Perhaps it was only because
he was the leader of the nation, or perhaps it was because he led many
in the nation to repent of their sin and covenant to follow the Lord
v.3.
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Don't forget, Manasseh repented, but he shed so much innocent blood that
God wouldn't pardon the nation, even though he pardoned the individual
who did it--all those who he corrupted didn't repent, although some
probably did.
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This tells us a couple things--we should do all in our power to stop the
shedding of innocent blood--we should lead our nation to repentence--we
should lead those who have shed blood either to repent or to the
gallows--we should stand in the gap for our nation--maybe if we cover
every base God will turn his wrath--if we don't try--we are the
watchman--when God sends his judgment to justly destroy our nation--we
will be to blame and will be judged, because we did not warn and protect
our nation from the judgment--and the innocent will be destroyed with
the wicked and along with us because of us (see Lamentations, last
chapter if you don't believe that).
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1. The innocent are destroyed when the wicked are unchecked;
2. The innocent are destroyed when God's judgment falls for #1
We are responsible and commanded to stop both 1 and 2.

2 Kings 23:29
One of the greatest kings who served God with all his might was killed
in battle.
Does that mean he was wrong or he sinned? No, it's just that God allowed
him to die when it was his time.

2 Kings 24:2-3
Instead of protecting his name and remembering David, God remembered
their sins, and heard their prayers to Baal, and sent the enemy to
destroy them. No amount of weapons or strategies could have saved them,
because God was judging them for their sin.
Weapons will not protect an evil nation that God is judging, and the
same for an individual.
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This might be the time when the righteous die in battle like Josiah
did--because they try to stand up for their country and for the
innocent, but God won't give them full scale victory. maybe they will
stay alive, but then, maybe not even that.
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The destruction of the righteous is also a judgment against the
nation--the good people are removed. I think there are verses specific
to this.

2 Kings 24:20
Part of God's judgment was to cause the king to do things that would
bring more suffering on the nation--like rebelling against a strong
enemy so he would attack them, or like today, provoking the rulers to
disarm the people so they become prey to criminals and become helpless
in the face of an evil government.
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Or, maybe he just allows them to follow their natural course of action,
which, because they will choose sin and reject God's truth, will end up
bringing the wages of sin and the devil, which include death, loss,
destruction, harm, sadness, darkness, enslavement, etc etc etc etc.
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Then it may be that whatever any efforts anyone makes to be free will
fail and succeed only in bringing more suffering, or God will all or
provoke it specifically to increase suffering.

2 Kings 25:3
There was a famine (the people were suffering) because the king did a
stupid thing (rebelled) which brought man's wrath (Babylon attacked)
which stupidity God allowed or provoked, to bring judgment on a land.
The only thing God did was allow or provoke the king to do something that
would bring suffering on the people--man did the rest of making them
suffer.
Again, just like today, God allows or provokes our rulers to do evil to
punish the nation--not necessarily individuals--such as disarm us so we
are defenseless, and screw up the economy and our health care, and put us
under the authority of evil rulers (compromising our sovereignty and
putting us under foreigners)
Also remember that sin brings suffering and destruction on the innocent
and whoever it touches--righteous and evil alike. When a nation is full
of sin, it will also be full of the harm and the destruction of the
righteous, the innocent, the evil, and the guilty. God allows sin the
exist, and he allows it to destroy at least to an extent "he now
letteth" and he also restrains it somewhat. When a nation is full of
sin, it is increasingly difficult to be safe and to protect the
innocent, as we see today.
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"no bread...for the people"
The people, including the innocent and the righteous, suffer because of
the evil rulers and preachers.
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If God had been on his side, he might have succeeded, or if he had been
very wise and crafty, he might have been able to accomplish what he
wanted. However, having rejected God and his wisdom and his principles
for dealing with problems, the king did not behave himself wisely.
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When God's wrath was a famine, he didn't expect people to starve to
death, he expected them to survive the best they could, and to take care
of those who needed help the best they could (widows, children, the
hungry, etc), and sometimes he provided them with protection, as with
Elijah, the 100 prophets of God hid in the cave from Jezebel, the widow
with the oil and flour.
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The coming of the evil one, the coming of the just one.
Ever since God told of the coming of the just one back in Genesis,
people have been waiting for the coming of the redeemer to save them
from sins. People have been expectantly waiting.
Likewise, for some time the devil has been working to bring on the evil
one to rule the world and control it and resist and fight God. He
probably started with Cain, then hoped Nimrod would be the guy, then had
all sorts of evil kings and such in line for the title, then brought
along Hitler, Stalin, and so on, but each time God shot them down,
because it wasn't his time to allow the evil one to be on the scene. Not
that the devil didn't have his man picked out, it's just that God shot
him down.
Today, it looks very much like it will be more and more likely for an
evil one to come on the scene, the world is moving into the position so
that everyone can have a number, all the economy can be controlled,
people's lives can be monitored and regulated like never before, people
can be brainwashed in large numbers and can be convinced to turn in
anyone not going with the program, but maybe it's not God's time. If
it's not, then it doesn't matter if the devil has his man ready, or if
he has his system ready, if it isn't God's time, it won't be.
The point is, don't be too concerned with the signs (except to make sure
your heart is right and to make sure you are doing your Father's
business and to redouble your efforts to save the lost) because they
have always been there, and always will be, and so will the devil's man,
whomever he is at the time. Serve God, do what's right, and don't sit
down and quit and think it's almost over because of the signs. Jesus
said blessed is the servant whom he finds working when he comes.

1 Chronicles 5:18 MILITIA
They took a census to see who was able to fight and war. That means they
didn't keep tabs on who could fight or who was trained or who was armed,
suggesting that the trained and armed themselves to a great extent, and the
king augmented their training and weaponry when there was a need. When
the king needed help in a war, he called up those who were already
prepared.

1 Chronicles 5:20-22
God knew what they were doing: God didn't throw down rocks out of the
sky--he helped the men to be victorious working through them and against
the enemy (although one time he did throw down rocks and hail and so
on).
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God works through people...
even in warfare and killing
God blesses use of weapons and killing
God directly participates in weapons, killings and wars,
therefore,
God approves of them in certain cases.
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also list the times when God directly participated and helped people
kill, etc. These demonstrate God's approval of humans using weapons,
training with them, etc and killing-- and then show the principles of
when he allows it: self defense, capital punishment, war, etc.

1 Chronicles 10:8-10
Apparently it was common for good guys (David of Goliath) and bad guys
to strip the slain of all their valuables and weaponry and armor. It
seems common, accepted, and widely practiced. Song of Solomon (SoS ??),
whoever had the opportunity could be heavily armed with the best
military equipment available.

1 Chronicles 11:6
Apparently they were little private armies or bands or militias
all over the place, and David said whoever wipes out the enemy first
would be chief in his gov't army

1 Chronicles 11:10
These "strengthened themselves," perhaps increasing their numbers,
training, weaponry, or resolve to secure the kingdom for David. It has
the flavor of a private army more than a gov't one--or at least they
worked for the gov't, and were supported and helped by it, but it wasn't
as gov't as Saul's military seemed to be.

1 Chronicles 11:11-23 MILITIA
It's not clear if this was a gov't military action or a militia action,
perhaps is less of gov't action. or at least in line with what the gov't
(king) wanted.
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Probably they did these things before they joined David and because
of their deeds were given high positions. They probably didn't, or at
least not all of them, do their valorous deeds after coming to David, as
if to say they were part of a gov't approved army. Besides, David was an
outlaw until Saul was killed and the people made him king.
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13 Pasdammim--was this before David was king?
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11 MILITIA
Maybe him or maybe some of these other mighty men killed the
enemy on their own time, without being part of the king's official army.
They were self-employed freedom fighters who attacked the enemy whenever
the enemy showed their heads, and if the king came along with his army,
good for him. But if he didn't, it was no big deal for them to fight
without the official army.
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20 his spear. maybe his personal weapon, maybe just the one on loan from
the king while in the army
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23 the Egyptian had his own spear. He didn't run squeeling
weeee-weeee-weee all the way to the government, he didn't anonymously
report him to ATF or to the police, he just killed the guy.

1 Chronicles 12:1-2 MILITIA
These guys obviously were NOT part of the gov't army, and yet "they were
armed," and highly skilled fighters, and highly skilled in using their
weapons. To be highly skilled in that, first they had to have the
weapons. 3rd they had to practice a great deal. 2nd they had to have
training by others already skilled in the use of the weapons (meaning
they also had previously had 1,2, &3). Apparently they had to prove
themselves in battle or as a leader before being given a position in
gov't military.
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2 Highly skilled, heavily armed.
%
Could be the king's weaponry, but they were good and could do their stuff
well, probably they practiced at home on their own initiative or perhaps
because they knew their strength would be required sooner or later in battle,
and maybe they were encouraged to become warriors. The king needed as
much help as possible--he wanted lots of warriors to help him.
%
They had a militia like in the SOF article--bands of looters and robbers
and criminals and invading armies and insurrections were always going
around doing their thing to the weak and defenseless--and these guys
maintained continual readiness to fight them off, to spread word to
others (like Paul Revere), and perhaps to give intelligence reports to
the king and let him know if the invading force was too big for them to
handle alone, or if they needed re-inforcements from nearby tribes, or
if the whole nation needed to be called out.

1 Chronicles 12:8 MILITIA
These men were warriors who joined up with David's militia, opposing the
king's official military.

1 Chronicles 12:14
These may have been leaders in the military/militia of Gad.

1 Chronicles 12:20-22
These apparently also were leaders in the military and/or militia.

21 "bands of the rovers" roving bands of predators, like Nehemiah and
Ezra feared, and that made the highways unsafe in Sampson's time,
etc.

David fought these bands before he ever came close to being king, as was
hinted at when he watched Nabal's flocks and heardsmen, and those who
helped him, it seemed a routine thing for them to fight those types of
bands because they were good at it, as if they had already done it
enough to be highly skilled.

1 Chronicles 12:24
Sounds like a militia army. Probably composed of many smaller groups.
The army of the tribe is likely all these groups organized by ability
and or region and or strength and or commanding (leading) ability.

Ready trained to fight, ready with their own weapons.

1 Chronicles 12:34
They were already organized into groups with leaders, etc. It also
sounds like they were also already armed, with shields and spears.

1 Chronicles 13:5
I think all these came to David to make him king after Saul died

1 Chronicles 14:11
God hath broken in upon mine enemies by mine hand.

Another example of God's personal, direct involvement in bloodshed and
violence using people and giving them and their deeds explicit opproval,
blessing, and help.

Some would say, yes, the Lord is a man of war, but that doesn't mean we
should be--but this and other verses indicate not only that God is
militant, but also that it is entirely proper for us to be militant at
the proper time in the proper way and that God can and does express his
militancy through us and using us.

1 Chronicles 14:10,14-16
God helped David plan the best strategy for killing the enemy, he was
intimately involved in the war. God's character is not always opposed to
war, violence, etc.

10 "I will deliver them into thine hand."
Whatever it was God did, it was God and the people together who
destroyed the enemy. Not always was it that way, but plenty of
times.

Then God leaves it up to him what he will do with them--if he let them
escape, they would return to continue their mischief.

1 Chronicles 15:13
God's people suffer and even die needlessly when they don't do things
according to his word. That would apply to anything, including being
wise in the matter of self-protection (locking your door, avoid dark
alleys, etc) and self-defense (such as the people in Fox's Book who
could have protected themselves).

Just because you are a Christian doesn't mean you are safe from crime,
sickness, natural disasters, etc. It doesn't mean we didn't pray enough
or don't have enough faith--it might mean that time and chance (Eccles.)
happens to us all, and yes, God directs our lives, but also he works
through the time and chance to accomplish his will; or, he is not
limited to good circumstances. Christians who go through life unscathed
do so because many went before them to make it possible--secured liberty
from foreign government and from ours, set up the capitalistic system,
worked hard and used originality to build the technical and
manufacturing and information infrastructure that gives us such comfort
and health and sanitation and public morality so we are safe, etc.
However we must realize this, in part so we can add our contribution so
that it keeps growing and remains positive, lest we lose it from neglect
and the evil take over and those who don't know Christ. If they do take
over, they could use all the potential built up within the society for
evil, instead of for good. Again, we live very much in a cause/effect
world--and it is cumulative and it is on every level at once (national,
global, state, local, personal) and through time--the cumulative effect
we are enjoying now is caused by our forefathers' input, godliness,
etc. We must live in and respond to the cause/effect universe (sow and
reap).

Christians can see it in some things--they work to have food and
clothing and shelter, they eat so they don't starve to death, they eat a
variety of good food so they are healthy, but somewhere they sometimes
lose it and begin thinking they can stop doing their part (sowing) and
yet they will still reap the rewards, or if they sow in part (oats) the
rest will automatically come (wheat).

When Christians in this country are safe from crime, perhaps God is
protecting them, or perhaps they are reaping the fruit of those who have
gone before them, or some combination of the two.

Christians in other countries suffer persecution, crime, depredations,
famine, tyrannies, etc. We aren't any better than them and God hasn't
singled us out for any special blessings or preferential treatment, it's
just that those who went before us an a large enough scale put enough of
God's principles to work and now we are reaping the rewards.

1 Chronicles 17:2-15
Here's an example of a prophet saying something that was not God's will,
which he did not say Thus saith the Lord--but it's interesting that God
corrected Nathan. I'm thinking about the woman prophet who praised Jael
for killing the king, and some say she wasn't speaking God's word--he
never came back and corrected her. Also Baalim wanted to prophecy evil
against Israel, but God wouldn't let him. There were several prophecies
that were not corrected, when the lying spirit was in the mouth of the
prophets, to deceive the king of Israel so he would fall, but Maciah (?)
told the truth. (are there any examples where God let a false prophecy
remain unchallenged?)

8 "cut off all thine enemies from before thee"
God the man of war helped David the man of war to fight and win.

9 "neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more"
The evil destroy God's people--sometimes he allows it, sometimes he
does not.

1 Chronicles 19:13
What a man! What a soldier! We fight and leave the results to God.

1 Chronicles 20:5
Obviously his personal weapon, but maybe only because he was in the army,
maybe not. Anyway, they don't gripe about the enemy being armed, they just
killed them.

1 Chronicles 21:5 MILITIA
The census was based on the number of able-bodied men who could
fight--the entire concept of their population was based on this--they
didn't count women--it shows that the entire nation was trained to fight
and armed in case they were needed. Sometimes the king trained and/or
armed the people, but not always.

1 Chronicles 21:27
Another armed angel. God couldn't be all that opposed to personal weaponry,
his angels use them against the enemy.

Unless they say God can use them but we can't--but (I Chr 14:11) they
could also say that about fighting, but God clearly approves of us
fighting also.

1 Chronicles 22:16
A good command in general--we do the doing, and God will help us,
including self-defense.
%
Proverbs: You must meet an earthly challenge at it's level with the
appropriate response, and with God's help, you will overcome it.

2 Chronicles 6:34
God sends people out to war.

2 Chronicles 6:35
God helps people win in battle.

2 Chronicles 13:14-16
God participated in the battle and helped Abijah to win and slaughter
the enemy.

15 "God smote Jereboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah."
16 "God delivered them into their hand."
God's direct personal involvement using people to war and fight and
kill--with his blessings on it and them 2 Chr 14:12.

God works with people even in the matter of wars and killing to
accomplish his work.

God helped them to successfully fight--each (could not in man's part and
would not on God's part) without the other.

Some might argue that God helped David and others because he and they
were kings. They would argue that God has said he would help nations,
(ie national armies) but not individuals. First, national armies are
composed of individuals acting in concert on behalf of the king,
Secondly and more importantly, God does not authorize only nations to
fight, be armed, use violence, kill, etc. David is the perfect example.
When he became king, he didn't suddenly become authorized to use force.
All throughout his life he used force and weapons and had varying
numbers of men helping him do the deeds, and enjoyed God's blessings the
entire time. There was no magical change when he became king.

2 Chronicles 14:11-15
God smote them in answer to his prayer because he was serving God.
%
11 "in thy name we go against this multitude"
For the saints of God and for the Lamb! Relying on God to give them good
success.
%
12 "the Lord smote the Ethopians"
But the people did the work. But it was God's work.
%
Presented to him and trusted God to give him success--meeting a
challenge on it's level doesn't always mean matching man for man and
spear for spear--it can mean employing wisdom--as the poor wise man in
Eccl or Prb who saved the city but no one remembered him.
%
13 "Asa...pursued...they could not recover themselves."
No mercy--there were the enemy who were harming God's people and who
would continue to do so as long as they existed--they had God's help to
wipe them out.
%
"they were destroyed before the Lord"
Again, God did it using his people. If that fragment were all you read,
you wouldn't have any idea that people had anything to do with it, and
yet from the physical perspective, all you could see is that they did it
all, they killed each one and did all the damage.

2 Chronicles 15:1-2
God will be with you in what you do while you seek him. God was with
Asa, helped him engage in self-defense of his people, nation, and
himself.

2 "The Lord is with you, while ye be with him"
1st he put God's blessing--again--on everything Asa did in battle, 2nd
he said God will bless what you do as long as you serve him.

2 Chronicles 15:3-6
The land was full of crime and enemies because the people were without
God.
%
It happened because when people reject God they turn to sin, which harms
everyone including the innocent, and also because God divinely sirred up
trouble.
%
All this because they forgot God--Alexander Soltzinenitzen.

2 Chronicles 15:7
He was commanded to be strong, which included arming and training the
people, attacking those who weren't serving God and who were causing
crime, and whatever he did would be rewarded.
Kinda like Israel at the beginning, they could have whatever they fought
for.

2 Chronicles 16:1-4,7-9
How do you tell the difference between trusting God to prosper what you
do, and trusting in what you do (paying the king) and leaving God out?
%
It doesn't say that he prayed, or that he sought God or inquired of
God--but it also doesn't say he didn't--although we can assume he didn't
because he didn't recieve an answer and a course of action that was
pleasing to God. Asa showed lack of faith by not confronting the problem
directly, but by sending someone else to face his problem, and to do it
in a way that may not have been pleasing to God, and definitely using
God's money in a way that he was displeased with.
%
9 "to shew himself strong" refers to fighting, warring, killing, use of
weapons at least as much as anything else--with the Ethopians is was
possible for Asa to have a perfect heart and still slaughter the enemy.
%
2 He met the physical threat on a level he thought would deal with it,
but he failed because he left God out of the process--also, he helped an
evil, heathen king by giving him not only money, but it was God's money
which was not to go for those things (evil kings) nor for killing
innocent people, especially not for killing God's on people
(Israelites), which the evil king did instead of taking on the army.

2 Chronicles 16:12
He didn't seek God, yet we know God can use doctors. Maybe it's who we
trust will do the healing.
%
"he sought not to the Lord"
More evidence of what mistake he made--he didn't seek after God as he
did with the Ethopians--he didn't exercise faith.

2 Chronicles 17:17
He might have been the general of the tribe--choosen by them because he
was the best, and then they sent him and the men to help the national
army and the king.

2 Chronicles 18:31
Even though he was where he was not supposed to be and he was with
someone he shouldn't have been with (Ahab) and he was doing something he
shouldn't have done (help Ahab), God still heard his prayer, and God
worked in the battle.
%
Another instance where God directly helps one of his children to fight a
good physical fight. God would not do it if it were wrong for people to
fight.

2 Chronicles 20:12,15-17,22-25,29
Sometimes God uses our hands, sometimes he uses others, sometimes he
does it all himself.
%
15 "the battle is not yours, but God's"
In this case they didn't have to fight at all, but other times, even
when "the battle was the Lord's" they still had to fight--God isn't
limited, and he works in different ways.
%
25 "spoil"
It was common practice to spoil the enemy of jewelry, armor, and
weapons, and it was whomever wanted to spoil who did it, meaning anyone
who bothered could have the most modern military weapons available at
the time.

2 Chronicles 23:7
Weapons in God's house, ready to kill, and on orders to do so for
self-defense. The _Levites_ had the weapons--the priests--preachers-
-holy men--who did God's work and who were supposed to depend on God for
everything. If David was too bloody to build the temple, apparently this
was not too bloody, and these weapons were not too bloody for God for
for his holy priests.
%
2 Chronicles 23:7
Levites were priests, and yet they were armed. They were men of God who
trusted God, and yet used weapons. And they were supposed to kill anyone who
was trespassing.
%
Was it the high priest who gave these orders? If so, the man who took
the blood into the very holy of holies to atone for the entire nation,
who had to keep himself pure, was a weapon handler, storer, commanded
men to be armed and to kill (and they killed someone on his orders) and
organized a group of armed men. They might just as well called
themselves the Levite Militia.

2 Chronicles 23:8
A priest commanded them to do the above.
%
"every man his men"
Groups of armed men with commanders.

2 Chronicles 23:9-10
The weapons were in church! And they brandished them in church. If they were
all that unholy or ungodly, there wouldn't have been a glint of metal in the
place. And the man of God was caring for them! And he passed them out! Maybe
you should go to church and the pastor would pass out AK-47s, eh?
%
Not only the above, but he organized and commanded and orchestrated
these armed men and did so illegally (Athaliah made the rules) and
basically planned the replacement and overthrow of the ruler/king.
%
He was obeying a higher law to have a righteous king; perhaps he was
breaking the law about touching the anointed one.
%
2 Chronicles 23:9
The head priest armed the soldiers with weapons stored in God's house
%
2 Chronicles 23:10
There were by the alter! A very holy place! It didn't desecrate the
alter to have weapons packed in there, nor soldiers brandishing them,
because weapons are not unholy, any more than the tongs and grates and
bowls and basins were unholy, because they were all used in serving God
in whatever capacity they had, the tongs to hold the sacrifice, etc, the
swords to defend God's people.

2 Chronicles 23:14
They didn't want to kill in God's house if it wasn't necessary.
%
A peaceful but somewhat bloody coup de etat. Revolution! Betrayal!
Bloodshed! Militias! Arms and armed men packed into God's holy house,
ALL WITH GOD'S BLESSINGS!!

2 Chronicles 23:17
More good things they did--because their hearts were right with God,
just like the priests being armed to protect the king.
%
Were the priests armed or were just the men the priests brought in?
Remember, the Levites were armed (2 Chr 23:7).

2 Chronicles 25:5
He found them. Had to check around to see who was trained to fight, and who
could use weapons. That means they didn't know who was trained, and didn't
know who could handle weapons, which means they didn't do the training, and
didn't provide weapons familiarization, which probably also means they didn't
provide the weapons, which probably means the people armed themselves; and the
king was very glad for all of the above, because that gave him trained
soldiers for his army, and all he had to do was call them up.
%
He found them, obviously he hadn't trained them, they had been trained
elsewhere, probably at least partly on their own, with their own weapons.
%
"according to the houses of their fathers"
Organized them by tribe.

2 Chronicles 25:8
God can help in war or he can hinder--it depends if you're on his side
or not--it's not a matter of violence being OK--that's a given--it's if
you're serving and obeying God. If God isn't on your side you better
make yourself very strong--and if he's against you, it doesn't matter
how strong you are, you will lose.

2 Chronicles 25:19-20
God doesn't mind looking for ways to destroy evil.
%
Sometimes he just lets people go their own way without helping them, and
that's generally enough to do them in.

2 Chronicles 25:27
God doesn't mind stirring up conspiracies to knock off evil rulers--and
he doesn't even have to use good people to do it.
%
In this case I don't know if God stirred it up or it just happened and
God didn't save the king.

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(c) November 4, 1995, May 31, 1996 David C. Treibs. All rights reserved.