More on the Different Ways God deals with enemy armies

Warfare in Isaiah

Unnerving verse of the day: Isaiah 33:18 Your heart will meditate on terror: “Where is he who counts? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?”

33:22 For the Lord is our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king, He will save us—

34:4 …and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll…

Better minds than mine can explain the dire situation Jerusalem is in when Hezekiah prays for deliverance:

Isaiah 37:15- And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, “O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, Thou art the God, Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and hear, open Thine eyes, O Lord, and see, and listen to the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. And now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou alone, Lord, art God.”

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: “She has despised you and mocked you, the virgin daughter of Zion, she has shaken her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem! Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice, and haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel! Through your servants you hve reproached the Lord, and you have said, “With my chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, to the remotest parts of Lebanon, and I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest. I dug wells and drank water, and with the sole of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.’ “Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, from ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, they were dismayed and put to shame, they were as the begetation of the field and as the green herb, as the grass on the houstops is scorched before it is grown up. BUT I KNOW YOUR SITTING DOWN, AND YOUR GOING OUT AND YOUR COMING IN, AND YOUR RAGING AGAINST ME.” (emphasis mine) “Because of your raging against Me, and because your arrogance has come up to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose, and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came. Then this shall be the sign for you: you shall eat this year what grows of itself; in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. “And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.” Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, “He shall not come to this city, or shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with a shield, nor throw up a mount against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city,” declares the Lord. “For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.” THEN AN ANGEL OF THE LORD WENT OUT, AND STRUCK 185,000 IN THE CAMP OF THE ASSYRIANS, AND WHEN MEN AROSE EARLY IN THE MORNING, BEHOLD, ALL OF THESE WERE DEAD.

So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. (present day Iraq)

Neat, huh?? God warns, answers King Hezekiah’s prayer, and wipes out King Sennacherib’s army.

The difference in this story with the one I blogged about yesterday was that in this story we have dead bodies. How long did it take to bury 185,000??? The Bible says they were dead. Not just gone, as in left in haste when the lepers found tents full of food and clothing in 2 Kings 7:3. I had never pondered the difference in these two ways God dwelt with protecting Israel.

Our dear soldiers fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I want to repeat parts of this prayer for them:

Dear Heavenly Father, As Hezekiah prayed many years ago, You are the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, and You alone are THE GOD, and You alone, are enthroned above the cherubim, and You made heaven and earth. The Arab nations surrounding Israel still lob bombs into Israel, and send terrorists to murder people in Israel. You know and have known from eternity past what all the arabs are saying against Israel, and against the USA. Please deliver our soldiers from the terrorists so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God. Show the falseness of Islam, and reveal for all the world to see the evil in that religion. Destroy those who have hard hearts because they blaspheme You. And please destroy those in our country who would seek to undercut what our troops are trying to do in Iraq and Afghanistan. Please give our troops the equipment, funding, clarity, leadership, wisdom to bring peace to Iraq and Afghanistan by wiping out the terrorists. Please reveal where osoma is hiding and allow our troops to take him and his terrorists out. And what would You have our troops do about Iran? And Syria? Please keep us a friend and protector of Israel. Only You, Lord, can reveal to the arab peoples that Islam is a lie, and turn them from abusing their women and children. Your Will be done. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

Studying God's View of Warfare

The different ways God deals with enemy armies

2 Kings 6 The king Aram got tired of the prophet Elisha knowing what he spoke secretly, and tried to capture Elisha. The king of Aram sent his army to surround Dothan and when Elisha’s attendant got up early and saw an army with horses and chariots circling the city, he cried out to Elisha, “alas, my master! What shall we do?” So Elisha answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw, and behold, THE MOUNTAIN WAS FULL OF HORSES AND CHARIOTS OF FIRE ALL AROUND ELISHA. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Strike this people with blindness, I pray.” So He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city, follow me and I will bring you to the man you seek.” And he brought them to Samaria. And it came about when they had come into Smaria, that Elisha said, “O Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. Then the king of Israel when he saw them, said to Elisha, “Shall I kill them?? Shall I kill them?” Elisaha answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.” So he prepared a great feast for them, and when they had eaten and drunk he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel.

Now wouldn’t you like to see this depicted in a movie?? And throw in the floating ax in the special effects that comes in the story just one section before this narrative.

Another army came and besieged Samaria and caused a famine, and they had started eating their children, and the king got mad and sent a messenger to behead Elisha, but Elisha knew he was coming, and forewarned and then proclaimed what was going to happen. His followers probably thought he was talking in parables. Lets skip to 2 Kings 7:3 and meet four leprous men. Outcasts, unclean, living separately, we find them at the entrance of the gate of the city. They said to one another: “Why do we sit here until we die?” “If we say, ‘we will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we shall die there, and if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, and let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall but die.” And they arose at twilight to go to the camp and when they came to the outskirts of the camp, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.” Therefore, they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and donkeys, even the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives. So when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them, and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also, and hid them. Verse 9: Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent, if we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore, let us go and tell the king’s household.” When the lepers came to the gatekeepers of the city, and told of the empty camp, the king did not believe it. The king’s servants had to convince him to send a band to investigate. Then the people were able to go out and plunder the camp. Other prophecies came true that day. But I will let you read it for yourself. 2 Kings 7

Deut. 20: When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you…Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the One who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

Another chapter for soldiers—for very specific examples are given on how to deal with situations.

Joshua 24:6,7 Israel is never to forget how God dwelt with the army of chariots of Pharoah.

1 Samuel 13 tells the story of King Saul and consequences of not obeying God’s instructions.