Does God ordain war?

Recently, in an email exchange with my son, Jon, a statement was made which raised the question : Does God ordain war? While not directly asked, it was raised nonetheless, and it intrigued me enough to spend some time considering this especially in light of what is happening in Afghanistan and other places throughout the world. And, of course, as with any question pertaining to God, rather than consult with man's opinion, I start with what the Bible itself says.

First, how does the Bible in its original language define war? Here's a basic word study from Strongs Concordance and Vines' Expository Dictionary on the word WAR:


Cross Reference: TWOT - 1104c
Part of Speech: n f
Vine's Words: Fight (To), War


Usage Notes:

English Words used in KJV:
war 158 battle 151 fight 5 warriors + 2 fighting + 1 war + 1 wars + 1 [Total Count: 319]

from (lacham) (in the sense of fighting); a battle (i.e. the engagement); generally war (i.e. warfare) :- battle, fight, (-ing), war ([-rior]).

—Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary

WAR Usage Number: 1
Part Of Speech: Noun
Strong's Number:
Original Word: ‏מִלְחָמָה‎, milḥāmâ
Usage Notes: "war; battle; skirmish; combat." This word has a cognate only in Ugaritic. Biblical Hebrew attests it 315 times and in all periods.
This word means "war," the over-all confrontation of two forces (Gen. 14:2). It can refer to the engagement in hostilities considered as a whole, the "battle": "…And they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim" (Gen. 14:8). This word is used not only of what is intended but of the hand-to-hand fighting which takes place: "And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp" (Exod. 32:17). Milḥāmâ sometimes represents the art of soldiering, or "combat": "The Lord is a man of war…" (Exod. 15:3).
There are several principles which were supposed to govern "war" in the Old Testament. Unjust violence was prohibited, but "war" as a part of ancient life was led (Judg. 4:13) and used by God (Num. 21:14). If it was preceded by sacrifices recognizing His leadership and sovereignty (1 Sam. 7:9) and if He was consulted and obeyed (Judg. 20:23), Israel was promised divine protection (Deut. 20:1-4). Not one life would be lost (Josh. 10:11). God's presence in "battle" was symbolized by the ark of the covenant (1 Sam. 4:3-11). His presence necessitated spiritual and ritualistic cleanliness (Deut. 23:9-14). Before and during "battle," trumpets were blown placing the cause before God in anticipation of the victory and gratitude for it (Num. 10:9-10), as well as to relay the orders of the commanders. A war cry accompanied the initiation of "battle" (Josh. 6:5). At the beginning Israel's army consisted of every man over twenty and under fifty (Num. 1:2-3). Sometimes only certain segments of this potential citizens' army were summoned (Num. 31:3-6).
There were several circumstances which could exempt one from "war" (Num. 1:48-49; Deut. 20:5-8). Under David and Solomon there grew a professional army. It was especially prominent under Solomon, whose army was renowned for its chariotry. Cities outside Palestine were to be offered terms of surrender before being attacked. Compliance meant subjugation to slavery (Deut. 20:10-11). Cities and peoples within the Promised Land were to be utterly wiped out. They were under the ban (Deut. 2:34; Deut. 3:6; Deut. 20:16-18). This made these battles uniquely holy battles (a holy war) where everything was especially devoted and sacrificed to God. Israel's kings were admonished to trust in God as their strength rather than in a great many horses and chariots (Deut. 17:16). Her armies were forbidden to cut down fruit trees in order to build siege equipment (Deut. 20:19-20). Soldiers were paid by keeping booty won in "battle" (Num. 31:21-31). The entire army divided the spoil, even those in the rear guard (Num. 31:26-47; Judg. 5:30). God, too, was appointed a share (Num. 31:28-30).
—Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words


So, as we see, God did not allow unjust violence, but He did lead and use war. That begs the question, what is 'unjust violence'? War as it occurred in the Bible seems so violent to us in our civilized view of life today. However, I supposed that 'unjust' might include things like the rape of women or children, which has occurred in war in more modern times, and may have occurred then as well. God did indeed instruct Israel to destroy entire nations and all they contained. This seems so cruel to us today. But, in Biblical times it was necessary to accomplish God's plan. And, when the battle followed the guidelines laid out by God, it was He who blessed the effort and rewarded Israel's faithfulness. But is war the same today as it was then? War has been used over time to expand empires, establish rulers, and governments. A healthy view of war, which seems like an oxymoron, was necessary, sometimes even for the survival of a people. But, over time as technology increased and the ravages of war broadened and the techniques of war began to be defined as an 'art', somehow, the view of war changed.

I wonder if some of that began with my generation? During the 60's and early 70's, we wanted to see our government revolutionized. With drugs came the euphoric sense that achieiving world peace was possible by a movement of idealistic, innocent young people who believed that love was the antidote for war and that love the entire world over at one time would establish the Utopian society we dreamt of. We were the 'hip' generation, consequently the label 'hippies'. We lived in communes with like-minded, ideological people, travelled to Woodstock; staged Viet Nam war protests and 'sit-ins' under banners of Love not War, and burned our bras. The Viet Nam 'conflict' maimed and killed our friends, sometimes physically, sometimes emotionally. It wasn't a declared war, so, why were we there? We couldn't make sense of it all and it caused us to mistrust our goverment.

Sometime, somehow during this period, sex and love became the same thing, and changed our views of tradional marriage and made the legalization of abortion possible. We became the 'me' generation and the generation that 'let it all hang out'. We didn't know; we didn't understand the basic sin nature of man. Our views were skewed by liberalism and psychedelic experiences, the embracing of other world religions and teachings of gurus like Timothy Leary that went on to spawn the New Age movement. They were fueled by the heartwrenching songs of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary and others, much of which had their roots in popularization of contemporary American folk music and people like Pete Seeger and Woodie Guthrie and others who were blacklisted during the paranoia of the McCarthy era. We thought that love would make us free, and put an end to all war. War became synonomous with evil. We viewed it as no longer necessary or able to protect our freedoms. People like Jane Fonda inspired us to be ashamed of our country instead of proud of it. The generations before us didn't know how to handle us. We were sure we had the answers, just like every generation before and after us, and we were certain that only if what we called 'The Establishment ' or 'the norm' was destroyed and replaced with our concept of the Utopian society would we as individuals and our country as a whole finally be able to live in absolute peace resulting in the end of all war. But, we were wrong. And, we didn't see that we were involved in a war of our own with invisible enemies in the form of traditions and the very principles this country was founded on. And, for most of us, God was just simply not part of that equation or our view of Him part the 'smorgasboard religion' we had adopted.

Somehow, through all of that, there was a noticeable change in our country's worldview on a number of issues. However, through the extremes of that movement, there were some positive changes. But, our country's view of war was changed. Rather than war being perceived as something necessary to protect our freedoms, it began to be perceived as evil, and the perception that our government couldn't be trusted grew along with it. And the feeling that world peace could be achieved by inner peace remained intertwined.

It is absolutely true that there is nothing fair about war. Death and destruction are the terrible and inevitable consequences of war. Man's inhumanity to man cannot be justified or reconciled by the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the bombing of Hiroshima. It can't be justified or reconciled by the death of Jews in gas chambers and the resulting physical and emotional destruction of Germany under Hitler. It can't be solved by Socialism or Marxism or Communism and I'm not thoroughly convinced it can be solved by Democracy. It isn't Democrat or Republican, Libertarian or Independent; liberal or conservative. God's Scriptural guidelines of government are successful only when a nation of people is obedient to God and we haven't seen that for a very long time.

War has changed. What could once be clearly defined is now cloudy and confusing. War isn't war any more. It's become a dirty word. We'd rather use terms like 'conflict' in an effort to make more palatable. And, Jon did have one good point: we sometimes become so excited about the victories of our troops that we forget to mourn for all those whose lives were lost, especially those who died outside of knowing Jesus Christ as Savior, no matter if they were 'one of ours' or 'one of theirs'. Hopefully, we can remember this when we pray for our troops.

So, does God ordain war? I believe He does WHEN it falls within the appropriate guidelines. History records the terrible atrocities committed when governments decided they could make that decision for God. So, when is that when? When our leaders pray for His direction and go forward feeling that they have received it. When they commit it to Him and to His leadership. When it seems evident that it is God's will to accomplish His higher purpose. But, the question remains...how often does this really happen? And the bigger question: have we gone so far from God in our nation that it is no longer possible that our leaders would truly seek and hear from Him? However, as we see by the Word Study definition, ordained by God or not, He can still use it. It's hard to imagine that God can be revealed to mankind through the seeming senselessness of war. However, I have to trust in God's total sovereignty and in the knowledge that His ways are not my own, even when I don't understand them.

The Bible does make it clear in Ezekiel and in Revelation that two very terrible wars are coming. There is no question that these wars will be ordained by God. It does not appear that they will happen on US soil. Will there be a war that will before those two? Only God knows. 911 exposed the fact that we are vulnerable. With the perceptions of so many about war, and the slant of our current government, I shudder to think what might happen if it did and pray for our leaders and especially for my grandchildren who may yet be faced with the darkest of times.

That's my take on it. What do you think?