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9 June 2007
2 Samuel 2 v 12-17
Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. Joab son of Zeruiah and David's men also went there and met Abner and Ish-Bosheth's men at the pool of Gibeon. Abner's group sat on one side of the pool; Joab's group sat on the other.
Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men have a contest here." Joab said, "Yes, let them have a contest."
Then the men got up and were counted - twelve from the people of Benjamin for Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from David's men. Each man grabbed the one opposite him by the head and stabbed him in the side with a knife. So the men fell down together. For that reason, that place in Gibeon is called the Field of Knives. That day there was a terrible battle, and David's men defeated Abner and the Israelites.
Well, here's some happy thoughts . . .
"Older men declare war. But it is the young who must fight and die!" Herbert Hoover.
"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." Ernest Hemingway.
Joab and Abner were war-hardened. They had spent their whole lives fighting for their lives, for their people. Abner was the head of Israel's (Saul's) army, and Joab was the head of David's men. Here they are, doing what Generals do - sending their young men to die.
You may have guessed I'm not a big fan of war. However my granddad was a soldier in World War 2, and I'm proud of him and what he did for our country. I guess sometimes you just have to fight. Our Old Testament doesn't seem to have a problem with it.
God says to the people of Israel that He would go before them and destroy everyone who lived in the Promised Land (see Deuteronomy 31). This is our God, the king of Love, who gives us the gospel of reconciliation, who will bring all nations together in love at the end of time to worship Him in Heaven. How do we reconcile that?
Who knows; maybe it's us that stand on strange moral ground, which is why we can't easily work it out.
With regards to war, right or wrong, your own opinion, meditate on this:
"The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
But the man who loves God is known by God." 1 Corinthians 8 v 2-3 NIV.
Written by Laurence Keith
2 Samuel 2 v 12-17
Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. Joab son of Zeruiah and David's men also went there and met Abner and Ish-Bosheth's men at the pool of Gibeon. Abner's group sat on one side of the pool; Joab's group sat on the other.
Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men have a contest here." Joab said, "Yes, let them have a contest."
Then the men got up and were counted - twelve from the people of Benjamin for Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from David's men. Each man grabbed the one opposite him by the head and stabbed him in the side with a knife. So the men fell down together. For that reason, that place in Gibeon is called the Field of Knives. That day there was a terrible battle, and David's men defeated Abner and the Israelites.
Well, here's some happy thoughts . . .
"Older men declare war. But it is the young who must fight and die!" Herbert Hoover.
"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." Ernest Hemingway.
Joab and Abner were war-hardened. They had spent their whole lives fighting for their lives, for their people. Abner was the head of Israel's (Saul's) army, and Joab was the head of David's men. Here they are, doing what Generals do - sending their young men to die.
You may have guessed I'm not a big fan of war. However my granddad was a soldier in World War 2, and I'm proud of him and what he did for our country. I guess sometimes you just have to fight. Our Old Testament doesn't seem to have a problem with it.
God says to the people of Israel that He would go before them and destroy everyone who lived in the Promised Land (see Deuteronomy 31). This is our God, the king of Love, who gives us the gospel of reconciliation, who will bring all nations together in love at the end of time to worship Him in Heaven. How do we reconcile that?
Who knows; maybe it's us that stand on strange moral ground, which is why we can't easily work it out.
With regards to war, right or wrong, your own opinion, meditate on this:
"The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
But the man who loves God is known by God." 1 Corinthians 8 v 2-3 NIV.
Written by Laurence Keith
