#7. Underlying Principles.


It is impossible to read the Old Testament Scriptures without becoming acquainted with war from a great variety of angles. We read of the conquest of Canaan, of civil war, and of war inflicted as a Divine scourge. Under the old dispensation God does not stand aloof from war. Indeed Moses, in Exod. xv. 3, speaks of Him as “a man of war”. We shall, therefore, expect to find that there will be some passages of Scripture, dealing with Israel, and with some particular conflict, that will nevertheless contain principles which can legitimately be applied by believers of all times and callings.

At the exodus from Egypt, Moses gave utterance to the first of these great principles:

“Fear ye not. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord . . . . . the Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Exod. xiv. 13, 14).

Long afterwards in the days of Jehoshaphat, we hear some of these words again:

“Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s . . . . . Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed: tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you” (II Chron. xx. 15-17).

Then again, in I Sam. xvii. 47, we have David’s words: “The battle is the Lord’s.”

Before, however, we go further with our application of these principles we must examine the contexts of the passages concerned.

In the first passage from Exodus, it might appear that Israel were perfectly passive, but this is not quite true. Immediately following the words: “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” comes the command: “Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod . . . . .” (Exod. xiv. 15, 16).

Similarly, the citation of II Chron. xx. 15-17, if it unduly stresses the words “stand still” or “not need to fight” to the exclusion of all else that is said, will not supply the true Scriptural principle. Those who would have “no need to fight” are nevertheless told to “set” themselves, and we must also remember that the words “with you” are included:

“Stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you . . . . . for the Lord will be with you” (II Chron. xx. 17).

Again, in I Sam. xvii., the youthful David, who declared that “the battle is the Lord’s”, was actually preparing at that very moment to go out and meet the champion of the Philistines in single combat.

It is evident, therefore, that, while the battle is indeed the Lord’s, and it is He alone Who gives victory and deliverance, it is equally true that He calls us into association with Himself. We must “go forward”. The salvation of the Lord is “with”, and not independent of, His believing people, and, as in David’s case, while we acknowledge at all times our utter dependence upon the Lord, there is also need for unflinching courage.

Another similar association of “faith” and “works” is found in the record of the battle with Amalek, in Exod. xvii. Joshua was bidden to “fight with Amalek” and Moses undertook to “stand” on the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand.

“And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed” (Exod. xvii. 11).

While re recognize the supreme importance given here to the place filled by Moses—a type of the glorious intercession of Christ on high—we must not shut our eyes to the fact that it does not say that “Moses prevailed” or that “Moses fought”. There is no suggestion that, had Joshua or Israel refused to fight, the extended rod of Moses would have prevailed by itself.

These examples will perhaps suffice to illustrate the nature of the principle that underlies the spiritual conflict—a conflict in which the redeemed of the Lord have a definite part to play, assigned to them by the Captain of their salvation.

(From The Berean Expositor Volume 33, page 230).

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