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 Genesis - I Samuel, detailing what the Bible says about owning and using guns.

Genesis 27:3 MILITIA
His personal weapons; his father had no qualms with his son being
armed.

Genesis 27:40 MILITIA
Obviously there were no kings or official armies at this time, these were his
own personal weapons.

Genesis 34:25 MILITIA, MASS DESTRUCTION
2 armed men slaughtered all the males of an entire city (even though they were
sore from being circumcised), this is analagous to "assault weapons," capable
of killing large numbers of people. They _did_ have similarly potent weapons
back them. Both weapons require skill to use, guns require reloading, aiming,
cleaning, etc. They succeeded because they were unopposed (?) and no one else
was armed (?) or at least in a condition to fight (?). Then again, if my life
was threatened and I was sore, I'd put up a pretty good fight, sore or
not.

Deadly weapons of mass destruction, worse than machine guns, because they
never ran out of bullets. They killed all the men in the city, and presumable
at least some of them were armed.

Genesis 40:15
A low level of resistance to evil--asserting inocence and asking for
help from the butler.

Genesis 48:22 MILITIA
His weapons, and even his personal army.

Genesis 49:24 MILITIA
His weapons. And God strengthened him to fight. God didn't do the fighting,
they did it with God's help.

Exodus 12:23
God's people must utilize God's provisions--for self defense and safety, or
they will suffer.

Exodus 13:18 MILITIA
The children of Isreal went up out of Egypt armed. They were not an organized
military force, each individual brought weapons. Where they obtained
them? I don't know, maybe borrowed them from the Egyptians. These were
weapons they later used in warfare, good example of militia: using
personal weapons as part of national defense.

Exodus 15:9
The bad guys had weapons.

Exodus 20:4-5
? Don't remember why I marked this one, maybe because not supposed to let
weapons or guns become gods, to take the place of God, to wrongly trust them
instead of God.

Exodus 20:13,21:12,14-17,29,22:2
If a thief is caught and killed, that is quite ok. That means the person who
caught him had the means to kill him, probably a weapon. In any event, the
person may or may not have had his life threatened, and yet that doesn't have
to be proved, all that has to be proved is that someone was in aggressive
mode.

Exodus 20:13, 21:12, 21:14-17, 21:29, 22:2 Show God commanding them to not
kill, and then a few verses later telling them to kill. If you didn't
understand the Bible you would say God is contradicting himself, however, what
God forbids is murder: the killing of an innocent person. Criminals or the
wicked are not protected by "thou shalt not kill." In fact, not only are the
guilty and the wicked not protected, they are commanded to be killed, just the
same as the innocent are commanded to be not killed. That doesn't mean we
should go around killing evil people, but it does mean God hasn't forbidden us
from killing them if that is necessary to protect ourselves. We certainly
don't have license to kill except under limited conditions: defense, war,
capitol punishment.

Exodus 32:27 MILITIA
They were to use their own weapons. His refers both to weapon and brother.
Can't have a communal weapon and a personal brother (maybe).

Leviticus 20:2-4
See De 13.
We may NOT ignore evil that is done, in this case, it is the murdering
of innocent people, namely babies. We must acknowledge evil and stop it
in the most vehement and irreversible ways, unlike the king who smote
the arrows but not enough to annihilate the enemy.

Leviticus 26:7
WE shall chase the enemy, out feet, our weapons, our sweat. Maybe also we
shall chase the criminals and car jackers when God blesses us, with our
concealed weapons, and blow their slimey brains out.

Numbers 22:23
Even the angels have personal weaponry.

Numbers 22:29
Ah, the crime of passion! But God doesn't say, good thing you are unarmed, and
turn in your weapons while your at it, he told him to obey God and do
righteousness.

Numbers 25:17
God commanded Israel to smith the Midianites because they wiled Israel into
sinning.

Numbers 31:3 MILITIA
They were armed for war--where did they obtain the weapons? from the dead
Egyptians washed up on the sea, maybe they borrowed some from the Egyptians
when spoiling them (while exodusing), and from the other nations they fought
against, perhaps even they had a few hidden with them in Egypt. After all,
they did bring Joseph's bones, which they had kept for hundreds of
years.

Maybe Moses had to say "arm some of yourselves" because so few of them were
armed--but he said "arm...yourselves" as if it was up to them to come up with
the weapons, and if that was just another routine part of the work necessary
to claim the promised land.

Numbers 32:6-15 MILITIA
If they all didn't take up weapons and fight to protect their brethren and
secure their property, God was going to wipe them out.

1. These were armed individuals--militia.
God commanded them--they HAD to be armed and fight, no pacifism was
allowed.
(God OKs weapons ownership, use, and fighting)
They had to defend the innocent and help their brethren by violent
means.

Numbers 32:17 MILITIA
They HAD to be armed; armed individuals, probably with their personal
weapons.

Numbers 32:20 MILITIA
They HAD to be armed.

Numbers 32:21 MILITIA
ALL of them had to be armed and had to fight, for their brethren's sake--not
just their own, it wasn't purely self defense--we are responsible also to
fight, being armed, for our brethren, and if we don't (see verses 6-15) God
will punish the whole bunch because they will be discouraged that they aren't
being helped and have to fight by themselves and the 2 1/2 tribes can take
it easy without fighting and they will all sin and God will wipe them out.
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They had no choice but were required to band together and fight for
God's people.

Numbers 32:22 MILITIA
21 and 22 tells us they had to be armed and fight until the enemies were
driven out and the land subdued, which was never fully accomplished...this
tells us how long they and we should remain armed, as long as their is the
enemy, which is basically always.

Numbers 32:27 MILITIA
They HAD to be armed; they had to fight; probably with their own,
personal, personally acquired weapons--Moses certainly had no weapons to
arm them with, and he was all the gov't there was.

Numbers 32:29 MILITIA
They had to be armed--I assume they had to provide their own weapons. I don't
think the Egyptian army donated weapons, although I wouldn't be suprised if
some Egs who feared Isreal and/or God secretly gave them weapons, and probably
some of the Eg people did the same, but not to the extent that they had no
further needs for weapons.

They HAD to be armed.

Numbers 32:30 MILITIA
They HAD to be armed.

Numbers 32:32 MILITIA
They HAD to be armed.

Numbers 35:18
Doesn't say anything about weapon control, but punish the one who misuses it.
The crime is murder, not ownership of a deadly weapon.

The object is not evil.
The weapon is not evil.
The ownership of the weapon is not evil.
The easy accessibility of the weapon is not evil.
The use of the weapon is not evil.
The violence is not evil.
Therefore:
a. violence is not wrong if it is the right kind;
b. violence of the right kind is good, blessed of God, etc.

God commanded them to fight, and kill, and destroy. (in this case, they didn't
do it until it was too late) He didn't say, trust me to do it. They didn't
"wait upon the Lord" in the sense that they did nothing, nope, they did the
killing, and God blessed their efforts. And they all used their personal (?)
weapons of war.

This instance was after they had disobeyed and refused to go up and fight, and
when they finally decided to fight, they were out of God's will. Don't ever go
to war unless you are sure God is on your side, or you will be slaughtered
like these folks were.

Everyone girded his weapons of war. His personal weapons.

Deuteronomy 3:18 MILITIA
They HAD to be armed, apparently they also had to train for it to some
extent, because they had to be "meet", unless that refers only to
physical fitness, and this training they likely did on their own, Moses
never help gov't approved training: it was militia style.

Deuteronomy 8:3
If you are going to live, it must be by every word, including the using
weapons words, else you might not live, because you are not using the
resources or following the commandments God has given you to the
maximum.

Deuteronomy 11:25 MILITIA
No man shall be able to stand before you--warfare and use of weapons couldn't
be evil; and if God is on your side, you will or at least have a chance to
win.

Deuteronomy 13:6-9
We have in individual responsibility to deal with evil, although I
thought there was a verse somewhere that said if no one else would do
it, we should do it ourselves.
Also, see Leviticus 20:2-4.

Deuteronomy 17:5
Individual responsible for bringing forth and destroying the wicked, but first
must have trial and proof, and then publicly killed by everyone so everyone
can see and fear-- witness kills first. This is balancing to individual action
against the wicked. Actually this many-involved-with-trial is the usual, the
individual is not.

Deuteronomy 19:4 INDIVIDUAL
It was the responsibility of the individual, not the state to provide the
immediate, short-term protection of his life. If he failed, it was his tough
luck, and it was his expected duty to protect himself.

Deuteronomy 19:15 INDIVIDUAL
At least in certain matters 1 person isn't enough for capital action--1 person
can't just say they did it and then put them to death or have them put the
death.

Deuteronomy 21:1-8
We are responsible to stop the destruction of the innocent and to
protect them, even in those instances that we don't know about! One good
way to protect them is to put away those doing evil and harming people.
Another way is by ensuring they have a means to protect themselves.

Deuteronomy 23:13 MILITIA, INDIVIDUAL
This was to all of them, not just to the professional, governent trained and
armed soldiers. They were to use their personal weapons, and have them
adequately made for the tasks at hand.

Sounds like everyone carries a weapon, on routine travel or business, and so
this is the most convenient, since it is very universally used (?) item, to
attach an instant port-a-potty maker. God doesn't seem flabbergasted that they
would be carrying weapons. He seems to see it as an everyday, normal thing,
that was maybe even required for safety. Everyone has to poop, so
everyone has to carry a weapon.

Deuteronomy 23:14
God give the enemy to them so they can destroy and defeat them, but they have
to do the work of defeating and destroying.
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Weapons in the camp were not unclean. God is not opposed to them or
their use. This shows us 2 things.
1. God does not hate weapons, or think them evil or unclean.
1a. an extension is their personal ownership is not bad, because all or
most of the weapons were personally owned.
1b. Their use is not bad, because all those owning them also used them.
2. God required weapon ownership and use, which is way beyond making the
point that he doesn't hate them.

Deuteronomy 28:29
Can't save (defend) self, no one else will be able to and won't either--all
disarmed, apathetic, helpless, destroyed.

Deuteronomy 28:31
A judgment of God is to be defenseless, ie helpless, to be unable to
defend your capital ($), your property.

Deuteronomy 28:32
No might in thine hand. To be unable to successfully fight is a
judgment, meaning God has removed one of his blessings--the ability to
successfully fight--meaning the ability to fight is a blessing from God,
meaning (w/despreal ??) weapon ownership, training, and skilfull use is
also a blessing from God, meaning pacificism is not of God.
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No one to restore stolen goods if forsake God, weapons won't help if God isn't
in the picture.

Deuteronomy 28:33
33 Will be helpless.

Deuteronomy 28:34
34 Go nuts because unable to do anything to stop the wicked.

Deuteronomy 31:8
But if he doesn't go before you because he is not in what you're doing,
you better be fearful and dismayed to do whatever He's not in.

Deuteronomy 32:25
Judgment of God is war, death, violence, and so on, they cannot be eliminated
because they are from God. The innoncent are destroyed by violence, and yet
the means is not to eliminate the weapons, but to repent.

Joshua 5:13
Another armed angel.

The innocent always suffer for the sins of other, whether it's Achan or
AIDS or children suffering or whatever.

Joshua 8:18
His weapon.

Joshua 8:26
His weapon and he and the people themselves, not God, killed the
enemy.

Joshua 22:20
Why did I mark this verse? Why was this object evil? Because God told them to
destroy all of it, for one thing. He certainly hasn't told us that about
weapons. Maybe also because every object, or for all practical purposes, all
the objects in this place were associated with wickedness, and God didn't want
them picking up any of it so they would become corrupted. Maybe also God
cursed them and everything associated with them, so that literally everything
in their city had a curse on it and anyone obtaining their stuff would inherit
God's judgement and curse. Additionally, many of those nations that were
to be completely destroyed were heavily into child sacrifice and other
forms of demon worship, and probably much of their stuff was related
to it, or like the Egyptians, had many of the symbols of their demons
and stuff on it, and so much of their stuff was related to or tied to
demon worship or they used it or wore their clothes while doing it and
it's quite possible much of their things had demons attached to them, or
had blood of children on it, either figuratively or literally.

This is one of the few times that an object was considered evil. I don't
know of any instance where a weapon was considered evil.

Joshua 24:12
God can work beyond our means any time he chooses; he goes before us to make
the crooked ways plain--it's not ALL up to us, and he doesn't even have to use
us to accomplish the job if he chooses not to, he can act decisively
without human hands.

Judges 3:2 TEACH
To teach them war is why God left the heathen. Apparently, knowing how to
fight is important to God. Remember how they trained--on their own with
their own weapons.

Judges 3:16 INDIVIDUAL, GUN CONTROL
Concealed carry.
Assassination.
Law breaking.
Homemade weapons.
A .44 Mag knife. The sucker was about 18" long. That's practically a short
sword. Ehud must have had one heck of a thigh. And Eglon must have been one
heck of a fat dude. No wonder Ehud wanted an 18" long knife.

No way to misinterpret this one, this was his own personal weapon that he made
by himself for himself to kill someone, premeditatedly for the express purpose
of overthrowing an ungodly goverment by violence and force, and he also
assembled an army, again, not the kings troops, these were ordinary fellows
with whatever weapons they could find and did their stuff, kill and mayhem and
so on. He also carried it concealed. He broke the law in killing the king.
The evil king over them was part of God's judgment, but that did not stop Ehud
from going after him. It wasn't like he was defying God and trying to
escape God's judgment. Actually, he was God's deliverance from the
wicked, ie God's judgment, but I don't think he knew that, he just did
what he could to overthrow the evil dictator. Just like us, crime and an
evil government are judgments from God (maybe only in the sense that
they are a direct result of sin and we are reaping the results of what
we have done) but that doesn't mean we must accept them, but we can
reverse the sin and dampen the effects of the consequences by being
righteous, by stopping the sin, and by protecting the innocent from the
fruits of the sin.

Perhaps he had to make a weapon because the oppressors had outlawed ownership
of weapons. This would be the 4th instance of personal weapons banning, ie gun
control.

Each time Israel was disarmed, it was by a tyrant who wanted to oppress them
and wanted them to have no means of recourse or to throw off the
tyranny.

In each instance these oppressors were killed by those they disarmed, and in
some instances, the disarmed themselves in large numbers and fought against
the armies of the oppressors, and maybe, check it out first, they overthrew
their rule and or their government.

Of course, in each case God authorized overthrowing the wicked
tyrants.

Judges 3:21-22
Sounds like a quick, smooth, well-practised action--this wasn't the first time
he carried or used a weapon. He thrust that knife in with all the righteous
and just anger he could muster, so forcefully and violently that he couldn't
pull it back out. He wasn't polite or gentle--he delt with him as the tyrant
he was.

Judges 3:31
Shamgar: God delivered Isreal by using warriors, he caused the weapons of war
to prosper, he caused the tactics to be successful, Since he's in favor of it,
wars and fighting couldn't be all that bad.
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Warriors were a blessing from God.

Judges 4:1
The enemy was God's judgment.

Judges 4:2
Captivity was God's doing for their sin.

The enemy was God's judgment.

Judges 4:3-4
Deborah was a woman of God, all the things she was are from God, noted
below.

Judges 4:6
God commanded them to arm themselves and gather and prepare to fight.
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They were resisting and preparing to fight against God's judgment.

Judges 4:7
God himself would deliver the enemy into their hand, and they were supposed to
slaughter the enemy, with God's help.
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God himself will make the enemy available, but they had to do the slaughtering
with their weapons.

Judges 4:9
Jael's work was really God's work. God gave to a person the opportunity
to dispense with an evil ruler. If she had been a pacifist or a mushy
Christian, she probably would have let him go. God didn't make Jael kill
Sisera. She had no signs from heaven that she was allowed to touch the
king. She just knew it was the right thing to do, and she had the
opportunity, so she did it. She certainly didn't interpret Romans 13 as
John MacArthur does.
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It was God's way of undoing his judgment and having mercy. Jael didn't
know that. From her perspective, she was just doing the right thing.
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Because God delivered him into her hands and killed him using Jael, she
was God tent stake driver--his hands, just like today we are God's body
to do his work.

Judges 4:14 God's Work.
God did it, using people.

"[T]he LORD is gone up before thee," God prepared the slaughter, was
involved in the war.
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"the LORD hath delivered"

Judges 4:15 God's Work.
God caused them the slaughter the enemy.

Judges 4:16-17
God blessed (I think) Jael, even though there was a treaty of sorts between
the two houses. She broke the peace to root out the wickedness. Gosh,
doesn't the NT say something about covenant breakers? Guess covenants or
agreements with the wicked are void.

Judges 4:18
She used deceit. What would John MacArthur and the rest of the Romans 13 crowd
think? At least God gave his hearty approval, he planned it and blessed it
afterward.

Judges 4:19-20
She agreed to do what he said, or at least pretended to go along with it, but
all along knew what she was going to do. Like gun owners pretending to go
along with the UN troops at the door, lying to them saying they have no guns,
and then when their pants are down, wasting them all.

Judges 4:21
She did more than the minimum necessary to kill him, she nailed him to the
ground. She even enjoyed it, jubilantly telling the king what she did to the
turkey.

It was a homemade personal weapon. Adapted from what was available, like a zip
gun or homemade explosives. Other homemade personal weaponry: did Ehud make
the dagger? Saul's army against the Philistines was armed with homemade or
home adapted weaponry.

Judges 4:22-23
Jael's nailing and killing Sisera with a personal weapon was God's doing, even
though he used Jael. And God did the work against the armies of the enemy, it
was the people who did the work.
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God's work--but using us.
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"God subdued" the enemy bu using the weapons and warfare of his children--just
like he can do today.
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God being part of the war and weapons and fighting and killing brings up 2
important points:
--if God isn't involved, you'll be sorry, and will have to do what God told
(Ninevah (?) in Nahum 2 and 3 (?)) when they were going to fight without his
help--he said prepare your weapons and make them strong, because you'll have
to do it all by yourself, so you better be really strong. Can't remember if he
also told Isreal the same thing at some point.
--warfare, and all that accompanies it--weapons, killing, violence, etc are
not opposed to God's character.
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Weapons could not be evil, because God blessed the use and the user of
them--in this case a tent stake--a home made/adapted weapon.

Judges 4:24
They didn't stop at the point of ending the imminent threat to their lives,
they wiped out the whole army. Certainly they didn't have to kill all the
soldiers to render them harmless, they could have killed half of them, but
no, they killed all of them. It was an offensive defense, making sure no one
was left to oppress them.
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Fighting for liberty against tyranny and oppression: don't give
oppression a chance or tyrants a break (like Saul did for Agag).

Judges 5:1-2 COMPARE
Give God the thanks for Jael's nailing and that they successfully slaughtered
the enemy. And that we can slaughter criminals and others who attack the
innocent.
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The people willingly offered themselves to free Isreal from tyranny--they
offered their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors--they offered
themselves perhaps to God(?) to do the freedom fighting as God's servants, as
Joshua and the children of Israel had done when first entering the promised
land.
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"offered themselves:" to do God's work, comparing it to giving
sacrifices to God--a very holy act--tied to the coming and sacrifice of
Christ to take away the sins of the world; if slaughtering bad guys with
personally owned and/or made weapons, breaking the law, etc etc can be
compared to sacrificing to God for sin, which in turn in a picture of
Christ to come, if these were anything but most pleasing to God, it
would have been sacrilige to make the comparison--it is also God's work,
and maybe it could be compared to visiting the widows and fatherless,
etc ("pure religion and undefiled...").

Judges 5:3
Praise God for being able to kill, and for making their killing
successful.

Judges 5:4
Who came out of Seir? Is she referring to the armed people of Israel who
fought as if they were God coming forth? Not sure, need to check it
out.

Judges 5:6
Because the people didn't wipe them out. They were terrified by criminals.
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And because of 5:8 there was high crime with no defense
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Judges: God strengthened Sampson each time to kill the enemy and defend Israel,
from those who were being used by God to punish them for their sins: God was
making it possible for Israel to turn around his punishment and defend
themselves from his judgment, but that won't succeed until God is ready, so
you might could say if your efforts to stop God's judgment succeeds, it's
because God is ready to grant some respite, at least for his people.

Judges 5:7
There was horrible crime until I Deborah decided to do something and arose
against the enemy. Apparently her version of "trusting God" didn't
include doing nothing and praying and "let go and let
God."

Judges 5:8
Esther is another example of when the people suffered under gun control and
needed permission to arm themselves. Saul and the Philistines is
another.

The people disobeyed God, were disarmed.

They were wicked, God judged them by disarming them. And when they were
disarmed they were at the mercy of the wicked, and they suffered as a
punishment from God. The question to answer is, if it's God's judgment, is it
right to resist God's judgment, or should we take it on the chin? If crime is
one of God's punishment for sin, maybe we should not resist crime by fighting.
Well, so is abortion and other forms of destruction of the innocent, including
our families, which we are worse than infidels if we don't provide for them,
and I assume that includes safety and security.
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See Francis Schaeffer, "He is there and he is not Silent." He mentions
"resisting" God's judgment.

Judges 5:9
What did they do? Help arm the people? provide food and provisions? sound the
call for warriors? fight against the enemy?

Judges 5:11
"go down to the gates" is colloquial for being ready to defend themselves,
which is what the people will do after they reherse the righteous acts of God
towards the villages of Israel. When the people encourage themselves by
thinking of how wonderfully God behaves towards the villages of Israel, they
will be encouraged and brave enough to fight the enemy and free themselves.
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"people of the LORD"--God's people will go down to the gate--God's
people can and must fight--it will be an outgrowth of praising God--not
something contrary to his character, but a natural result of praising
God.
Weapons, their ownership and use, killing, defense, etc are not contrary
to God's character, on the contrary, they are God's will for his people
and his blessings for his people.

Judges 5:12
"lead thy captivity captive" is like "the spoiled shall come against the
fortress" which means break off the oppressor--which Deborah the prophetess
said in praising the man who (What did he do?) lead the armies against
Sisera

Judges 5:13 MILITIA
The Lord is his name that strengthenth the spoiled against the strong so that
the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

Call upon the little people, armed with Saturday Night Specials to kill them
all, and let God sort them out.

"the lord made me have dominion" she gives God credit (while prophesying, that
meaning this is God's word) for all that happened--Jael's work, the
assassination, the arming, the weapons, the military action, the deceit of
Sisera and his folks and his military intelligence, and so on, the
arming and assembling of the militia (God's people armed, trained,
assembled, and ready to fight).

Judges 5:15-16
God commanded them to watch their sheep and do the work necessary to live, so
they weren't doing wickedness, they were fulfilling God's command to work, but
## they failed to fight for God's people when the need for it was presented to
them ##. There weren't any pillars of smoke in the sky telling them it
was God's will that they fight, they just had to do it because it was
the right thing to do.

Judges 5:17-18
They risked their lives to fight for their country, and to protect the
innocent, and to defend those who refused to help them fight the enemy (we
have to do the same, arm and fight even if out bros won't help because they
are too busy doing "God's work.")

Zeb and Moph risked their lives and fought for others who didn't even lift a
finger for their own personal defense, or to help their brethren

Maybe they felt like it wasn't their calling (like those who don't
rescue), or God hadn't called them to fight, but to other things.

Judges 5:19
They fought for principles; they fought to stand against evil and for
righteousness; they fought to defend their country and their countrymen; they
didn't fight just for spoils or honor. What pure-blooded Freedom
Fighters!

Judges 5:20
Everything in the universe was aligned against these guys. They didn't have a
chance, because that's how it is when God fights against you: you might as
well fight against the universe.

Judges 5:23
Don't forget, she's a prophet of God speaking the word of God, and she curses
those who didn't fight when the need arose, and who didn't fight when the
innocent were being attacked. Yes, they would have had to inconvenienced
themselves and even risked their lives, and left the work that God had
commanded them to do (evangelizing, maybe?), yet God curses them for not
destroying those who were destroying and oppressing his people, for not
arming themselves and standing together in battle with God's people to
help God's people (which Moses said God would do if the 2 1/2 tribes had
stayed on the other side of Jordan and not gone over to help their
bethren fight against the enemies). Guess they didn't Need a special
calling, it was the right thing to do and they should have done it no
matter their feelings or the chances of success or God's
"calling."

Judges 5:24
Blessed Above Women !! She is more blessed than Mary, and all because she
used a home made weapon and slaughtered an evil tyrant, which I'm sure it was
illegal to do (what about lifting your hand to God's anointed, and what about
being subject to the higher powers, and Romans 13 and all that? Since God
blessed her above women, guess he heartily approved) which she did by breaking
the pact between the families, breaking the law in killing the king.

*** She and others broke laws against owning or using personal weapons, and
against killing tyrants, etc, and God praised them. This means they were
keeping a higher law, which means that owning and using personal weapons is a
God given right that supercedes any man made law to the contrary.

Judges 5:25
She played it to the hilt! She was going to be sure this guy trusted her, so
he would be butter in her hands, and then she could wipe him out!

Judges 5:26
Deborah sang a beautiful lyrical poetic song about using a personal weapon and
killing a king who God had allowed to come to power over Isreal. That
king was the powers that be. Bet John MacArthur doesn't give too many
sermons on this one.

Judges 5:27
Ah, how beautifully his slaughter is described by the woman of God! and how
beautifully it is that she armed herself with a deadly weapon to do the
deed!

Judges 5:31
Let all God's people arm themselves and be mighty, and slaughter the enemies,
and by that means God will cause all his enemies to perish, and will
give his people peace and safety and a quiet, peaceable life.

Judges 6:14
"this, which is thy might (?)" being God sent him? I think that could be it,
because then Gideon asks how can I, being such a nobody (v. 15) save Israel,
and God answers, because I (God) will be with you (v. 16). I think it's fair
to conclude that Gideon's might is God.

In this case, unlike Jael, God gave Gideon a specific calling to do what
he did. Sometimes God does and sometimes he doesn't.

Judges 6:15-16
God will be with Gideon, and Gideon will do the smiting. Actually, God did
most of it in this case, but he used Gideon.

Yes, God is the one who takes life and who sets up and puts down kings,
but many times he does it through his people. After all, we are his
body, we are his hands. He doesn't have to use us, but often he so
chooses.

Judges 6:34-35
This was not governmentally organized. It was more like Paul Revere calling
forth all the armed citizens to meet and fight for their country. Grass-roots
army, ie, militia.

They assembled the men who could fight and who could be gathered on a moment's
notice, armed, or at least trained to fight, and if they were trained, you can
bet the Midianites, the government they were under at the time, didn't provide
the training. They had their own private, illegal military training,
with their own, illegal weapons.

He also made sure he had God's help, with the sheep skin (v.17-33). He
wasn't as sure of himself as was Jael, even though the things God
commanded him to do were scriptural, ie cast down their alters (of the
pagans) and cut down their groves, etc.

Judges 7:2
We need to be sure to give God the credit for victory and not say our own
efforts, our own weapons have saved us.

Judges 7:16
Even though God promised to deliver the enemy, and even said he didn't want
the men to receive the glory, Gideon still strategized and planned and
worked and fought and killed.

They didn't just "leave it in God's hands" or "let go and let God" or
"trust God" or "have faith," ie, do nothing, they did the work with
their own hands and weapons and brains.

Judges 7:18
This is how it is: The sword of the LORD and our sword! Together!

Judges 7:22
I think these guys were mercenaries, or some group somewhere was, presumably
using their own weapons. The bad guys were armed. Nobody crapped that the
Israelites should disarm (disarm the innocent so the bad guys will somehow
also be disarmed), they just went and slaughtered them.

Judges 8:20
He was armed.
They weren't all blood thirsty savages and cold killers who lived to kill.
They were human people with feelings. They were just like people today, and
conversely, the people today are just like they were. But they seemed to have
a clearer view of self-defense and personal weaponry than we have
today.

Judges 15:11
Hey stupid, didn't you ever read Romans chapter 13 and hear John MacArthur
give his sermons about obeying the powers that be no matter how evil those
powers be or what they tell you to do?

Judges 15:11-12
hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto
me, so have I done unto them.
12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee,
that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines.
And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not
fall upon me yourselves.

Judges 15:11-12
If they would have tried to hurt him themselves, he would have been justified
in hurting them to defend himself, but since they didn't hurt him, and since
he wasn't afraid of being tied up in the camp of the enemy, he did nothing. If
he would have been killed by the enemy once delivered to them, then he might
could have justified harming his own brethren to save himself.

They turned in their own brother for their security. They were so concerned
about protecting themselves that they fought against those who were trying to
deliver them. Samson had to fight both the good guys and the bad guys. Of
course, he didn't want to harm the good guys, since they were the ones he was
working to save. These guys remind me of the Christians who fight rescuers
(that police chief in LA who was in Dobson who arrests pro-lifers and has them
beaten up brutally, Bill Price who champions pro-life doctors who collect
money for abortionists because pro-life activists are running them out of
business). They arrested him and were going to turn him in to the enemy and to
jail.

They are kissing up to evil and wrong to appease them to selfishly save
their hides (or so they hope, but can never be sure) instead of risking
themselves and their fortunes and their sacred honors to do what's right
and to stand against evil and tyranny whatever the cost.

These guys are also remeniscent of those who do things to appease the enemy,
to keep them from getting angry, so they don't come after us, or make things
harder on us, or exercise their power to make our lives more miserable,
(like the Israelites were mad at Moses because when he tried to free
Israel, Pharoah make life even harder on them) whether it's gun control
(go along with a few "harmless" restrictions to appease them) or
abortion (be nice to them so they don't take away our picketing zones),
etc.

This also reminds me of the "turn in others to the feds" programs (TV
shows) where everyone is conditioned to be a snitch against their
neighbors. The people are conditioned to think they do right by
anonymously turning in people, when the real enemy are the
unconstitutional laws and agencies they betray their neighbors to.

Judges 18:7
The quiet and secure people were not ready for war, and so were
destroyed.

Judges 18:11
This sounds like the gov't provided weapons. Or at least it's not as unclear
as the others.

They were choosen, probably because they could fight, had been well-trained,
probably by themselves or in small, locally organized groups, or by their
families, likely their fathers, brothers, and such, and armed by the
same.

Where those men chosen at the national level or did each tribe pick their
best warriors and send them up to national?

1 Samuel 2:4
God can defeat the superior weapons of the enemy and can reinforce the
inferior weapons of the just. But that does't mean the just sit around and
wait for God to do everything. They engage the enemy and use all the means at
their disposal to fight and win.

1 Samuel 3:13-14
If you don't stop evil when it's in your power to do so,
God will judge you.

It was in Eli's power to stop his sons, but he did not. Others suffered
because of his failure: the women of the congretation were slept with,
spreading immorality, God's sacrifices were demeaned, etc. The judgment
may have been so severe because they were corrupting God's people and
turning them away from serving him.

1 Samuel 7:11
The men of Israel smote the Philistines, but there was no king to run an
army or arm them, they were probably armed and trained on their own, and
went to fight on their own.

1 Samuel 8:12
At least some weapons were made by the king.

1 Samuel 12:11
God sent Gideon, Beden, Jephthah.

1 Samuel 13:17-19
You know who your enemies are by knowing who fears you being armed.

We can look at the other side of the coin and see, that, if God judges
by disarming and making you vulnerable to the enemy, then God's
blessings would be to be armed and invulnerable, which is pretty much
bourne out by places where God gives the lists of blessings they will
enjoy if they serve him.

1 Samuel 13:20-22
Israel was disarmed by their enemies, perhaps because they were oppressing
them and ruling them, also the spoilers didn't fear the people because they
were disarmed. Those who would plunder and harm never fear a defenseless,
disarmed people.

Who are our enemies.

1. Those who take away our ability to make weapons, or 1 step removed,
tightly control, monitor, and restrict it, are our enemies and do it out
of fear that their oppression will be challenged if they don't keep a
tight lid on it

2. Those who take away weapons--if the Israelites had none, they didn't
evaporate, they were confiscated and also attrition, wore out and broke
with no replacements.

Only tyrants do the above, and they do so to maintain their power over
the oppressed, and to keep the oppressed weak, defenseless (this is
intentional) and helpless--of course they also can't defend themselves
from criminals, but that is only a secondary effect.

1 Samuel 13:19
Gun control. These guys weren't just or even mainly weapon makers, they were
iron workers who had the potential for making weapons.

1 Samuel 13:22
As usual, the elite, those in power, the rich have weapons--the rest of us
have to make due. At least Saul wasn't depriving the people, he was just as
much a victim as the rest of them. It's just that he was powerful enough to
obtain weapons.

So each person procured for himself by whatever means some fashion of a
weapon.

1 Samuel 14:20
"the people" were plain everyday non-soldier folks, they were armed and
preparing to kill the enemy, each by whatever means they could come up
with.

1 Samuel 17:7
Specially made, personal weapon.

1 Samuel 17:39
Saul's personal weaponry.

1 Samuel 17:45
He came in the name of the Lord, but he used a weapon, same as Goliath did.
Both were using weapons to accomplish their deeds, even though Goliath was
more heavily armed. Both intended to physically kill the other. Both came in
the name of their gods or God. But the source of strength was the issue:
Goliath trusted in his weapons, David trusted in God. He said the Lord would
deliver him into his hands. Although David did not trust his weapons, he was
skilled and practiced in their use, and had used them successfully previously.
It wasn't just that he "came in the name of the Lord" with any ole' thing,
knowing God would do all the work. David knew he had the proper weaponry and
the necessary skill to do the job, but he trusted God to make his efforts
sucessful and his weapons. He certainly didn't come with nothing and
simply "trust God.j" If he had had the "faith" of today's Christians,
(ie, I will do nothing and therefore God will have to do it all) he
probably wouldn't have gone out at all, but if he had, he likely would
have been killed or run off.

1 Samuel 17:45
But that's not all he came with, he also brought his weapons, and he brought
the intention and the training and practice and previous experience to kill
the guy. (He also came with clothes and shoes and probably a staff and
food and a knap sack for the food and a bladder for water, unless he was
good enough to find or know where the water was.) He wasn't even going to
try to witness to him, just kill him. It's just that he focused on what
was his source of strength: God; he wasn't trusting in his weapons, but
was trusting God to use him and his weapons to accomplish God's
will.

David was defending God's name and God's people, also see I Sam 17:45,
he was armed with deadly, personal, perhaps even concealed weapons but
emphasized God as his strength.

1 Samuel 17:47
The Lord worked through sword and spear, even though he said he didn't save
with these, he used them. The salvation didn't come through the weapons,
nevertheless, they were used to accomplish the task. When the Israelites later
refused to take up their weapons and their armies to drive out the remnants of
the pagans, God was angry at them and punished them. And God didn't always
kill the enemy just because the Israelites waved a spear at them. God allowed
the enemy to be strong to when the (?) Danites were driven into the mountain,
they had to use resourses and strategy and reinforcements to do the job, and
they didn't win over the enemy until they did so.

1 Samuel 17:53-54
Israel spoiled the Phil tents, probably took weapons too, David put
Goliath's armor including weapons in his tent.

Now a good number of Isrealites were able to arm themselves (previously
the Philistines had disarmed Israel , but then the spoiled and robbed
Israelites robbed the robbers, and took their weapons off their dead
corpses, and then used those weapons to later kill them. Poetic justice,
eh?) with official military weapons, and they did it just like
David--took their loot for themselves--they didn't give the weapons to
the king and say, Oh king, you must take these and defend us, because we
don't have a right to defend ourselves, and besides, we might fly off
the handle in a fit of rage and abuse our wives if we have these weapons
nearby, since they give us such feelings of power and violence [wrist
goes limp].

1 Samuel 18:4
The weapons were his personal weapons as much as the clothes were his personal
ones, and he gave them away to a peasant dude without permission from the
king, who probably paid for them. It wasn't out of the ordinary for an
ordinary person--David--to have weaponry, not even to have the best available,
because Johnathan had nothing less than the best and most effective and most
dangerous weapons money could buy, being the king's son and the heir to the
throne.

1 Samuel 19:11-16
Self-defense by escape and deception.

1 Samuel 20:20
It was nothing at all, to Johnathan, to David, to Saul, to those people
nearby, or to the boy for someone to go out in the field and practice.
That's how they became expert marksman, and that's where all those
hundreds of thousands of people "ready armed for war" learned their
skills.

1 Samuel 21:8
The priest wasn't shocked that he owned personal weapons (even though he
didn't have them with him), it seems made out to be a common thing for a man
to carry weapons while doing ordinary things, and if a man didn't have any on
him, it's made to seem quite ordinary for for him to wish to acquire them,
even though he has no forseeable need, and no threats to his person, and no
war to go to, and the priest is happy to be able to help him out, and thinks
he has done a good deed, even telling Saul that he did the right
thing.

A holy and honorable man of God helps a man arm himself. He does so with
weapons stored under the ephod (what was that?)--a holy place that would
be desecrated and made unclean with something that was unclean, either
simply because it was a weapon, or because it had been used to shed
blood, both of good guys and bad guys (first it was Goliath's, then it
was David's). The honorable man of God would let an unclean thing pollute
God's house or his holy things (that assumes the ephod was in or near
the temple).

I Samuel 21:9
Even the most awesome and deadly weapons, nobody is shocked if a man has
possession of them, and it's no big deal either to own or carry
them.

Neither is it a big deal for the high priest, the man who must keep
himself spotless so he doesn't die in the holy of holies, to handle
them, pass them out, store them in or near the temple.

1 Samuel 22:6
His spear.

1 Samuel 25:13
All these men were not soldiers, they were common folk who were disenchanted
with their lives, who came after David, and brought their carry-along gear,
which included a weapon (assuming David didn't have hundreds of weapons on his
person).

1 Samuel 26:7
His spear.

1 Samuel 26:16
His spear, his pillow, his water cruse.

1 Samuel 26:22
His spear.

1 Samuel 31:4-5
Their weapons. could be military issued weapons for military action only, to
be returned when completed, but that's never stated.
doesn't say.

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

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