Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.
So the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. With him they sent ten of the chief men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans.

• Joshua 22:11-14

They were glad to hear the report and praised God. And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.

• Joshua 22:33

Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David. But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.”

• Isaiah 21:15-17

“When the question for consideration is whether we ought to make war, and kill so many men-condemn so many Spaniards to death-only one man is judge, and he is an interested party.  There should be a third, who is disinterested.”

• Blaise Pascal, Thoughts (thought number 296)

Blaise Pascal, in his book, Thoughts (Pensées), often has rambling thoughts, but this has distinct merit.

The war in which Pascal (1623-1662) feared became the Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659).  The second half of the war, after an initial treaty, started and ended a few years before he passed away.  The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) was about the same time and many scholars link them together.  Part of the unrest that brought about the Thirty Years War was the Protestant Reformation of the previous century.  The Habsburgs, Spain, Bavaria, and a coalition of Catholic States known as the Catholic League fought against much of Europe, predominantly protestant, over those thirty years, and other distinct wars occurred roughly over the first half of the 1600s.  The Franco-Spanish War, being one of those offshoots, was fought in two campaigns, fighting over territories that are now parts of Belgium, Luxemburg, eastern France, and southwest Germany (the Rhineland), mostly controlled by Spain.

Pascal’s concern was that young men, many of them poor people, would die for someone who sits in a castle where it is safe, so that the king can tax more people and get richer.  He lamented that there was not an arbiter, who remains neutral, who could resolve the conflict without bloodshed.  Obviously, that did not happen.

But in the two stories in the Scripture, they both illustrated shifts in the way wars were fought.

In Joshua 22, the tribes east of the Jordan built an altar.  The tribes that settled into the Promised Land saw the altar and were afraid that God would be angry with all of Israel for this detestable thing that the eastern tribes had done.  And a generation or two later, it seemed every tribe had people worshipping false gods.

They gathered, and they declared that war was necessary, even though the people they would fight were their cousins.  But instead of simply starting the fight, they sent people to discuss the issue.  The eastern tribes, Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, said they built the altar to remind them that the one true altar was at Shiloh where the tabernacle was kept.  It had not been built to use, but to be a reminder of the greater family of which they were a part.  Thus, there was no bloodshed.

The Scripture from 2 Samuel 21 shows that when David was king, he fought with his warriors.  At this stage, he was getting old and slow in his reaction and the army commanders ordered him to stay back and not engage the enemy.

So, this means that before this time, King David was among his warriors in the fight.  If the decision was made to go to war, David was not in the rear echelons sipping wine while others risked their lives, until late in his reign.

This fact may have made no difference in whether Israel fought or did not fight, but David knew that if he went to war, he was risking his own life.  Could this have made a difference?  Probably not when David went to God for almost every big decision he ever made.  With knowing that God would protect the army was the major decision point.

There is the United Nations, the World Court, and arbiters who step forward, like the USA.  But are any of them truly neutral?  There have been skewed loyalties since the UN has been formed.

If Pascal’s idea was workable, it is definitely a good thought.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.