Firstly, I'd like to post this very tentatively, as I have an extremely rudimentary knowledge of Hebrew, and have not done a word study on this word. I'd like to talk with Pastor Hanaoka at Branch of Hope OPC before I'd be willing (or maybe comfortable is a better word) to preach this.
One of my favorite descriptions of soldiers in the Bible is the phrase used by the New American Standard / New King James and the KJV before them--"mighty men of valor." (My best British friend would approve that the King James renders it "valour," but that's beside the point.)
I don't often think of the Israelite men as being "mighty." Usually I see them how the men of 1950s America saw them-- as the weakling Monkey-in-the-Middle for the past few thousand years. This, however, is far from the truth. The media actually catches a glimpse of the truth when it portrays Israel as being a formidable country in the Near East. It wasn't by the strength of men or of horses that won Ancient Israel her battles, but by the guiding hand of the LORD who chooses to use means like epidemics, walls of water, walls that fall outward, curtains that tear downward, fires that burn (but do not consume!) flesh or branches, and stones that knock down giants.
Whose hand killed Goliath?
Nevertheless, the Christian is called to advance the kingdom through a different sort of bloodshed, following a different Joshua. The true Joshua. This Captain is the Author and Perfector of salvation. (Something interesting about the word author is that it is the root of authority. In order to have authority over something, you need to be its author... or at least have borrowed authority as the Author's steward. Like a teacher. Or a parent. Or a doctor or lawyer or pastor.)
This Joshua confronts Joshua, son of Nun, at his surveyance of Jericho, with His sword drawn and ready in His hand--clearly not a sign of timidity. Joshua, son of Nun, asks what any commander would: "Who goes there? Are you for us or against us?" The Lord's reply answers Joshua's question much in the same way that the Apostle Paul reasons in Romans 8:31-39.
If God be for us, who can be against us? ... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us (v.31,37).
The Lord answers Joshua, son of Nun, with these words: "Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come" (Joshua 5:14a). This Captain now leads us in His victory lap of history.
Yet the story isn't complete without a recollection of the past passion, the battles and casualties being honored. The greatest travesty of history was the holocaust of the Son of Man, yet Christians are called even today to lay down swords and cry with the martyrs at Jerusalem: "How long, O Lord?" The Revelation to the Apostle John records this bloodshed vividly:
I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (6:9b-10).
The author of Hebrews carries this point further, and exhorts the saints by reminding them that their leader, their captain, their Christ suffered much to be like them. As He was likewise tempted like us, so did He suffer like His disciples and brothers would suffer.
For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." And again, "I will put my trust in Him." And again, "Behold I and the children God hath given me" (Hebrews 2:10-13).
Who in the days of His [Jesus's] flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him (Hebrews 5:7-9).
This is how the Apostle John heard the word concerning the martyred saints of Jerusalem, fallen under Rome's spear. These Christians were powerful and brave men, spurred by the Spirit of God (Acts 4) in order to.... die. It's a new way to be human.
They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death ( Rev.12:11).
This brings me to the next point in a study of the "mighty men of valor" : men of war shed blood. This is the singular feature which God singles out of David which excludes him from building Him a temple that the face of God might be physically manifest among the children of Israel. The Israelites, following Joshua, son of Nun, were commanded to eradicate the 7 tribes of Canaan, whose sinnings had reached their brims. How do Christians today shed blood in the name of their King?
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin (Hebrews 12:1-4).
Part of the vows a Christian makes when he joins my church is the acknowledgement of his own sin and of the desire to "mortify the flesh." This is a fancy word for "put to death, kill, execute." The Christian does warfare not only against his own lingering sin nature, but also in the world, though not with swords. He springs into action at the Great Commission, and he longs to bring the world into full submission to the lordship of Christ. He follows the path of his Shepherd, who truly did resist unto "bloodshed, striving against sin." His mantra is "it is better to suffer than to sin."
Yet what do we do with the testosterone flowing through our veins, men? I believe the Apostle Paul has an answer for us, which he skillfully draws from the lips of a Philistine. In 1 Samuel 4, the Israelites decide to take the ark of the covenant into battle. Intimidation tactics, eh? Well, it worked... for about two verses. (1 verse ~ 30 minutes. True story.) The Philistines cried:
God is come into the camp...Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the and of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been unto you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. (1 Samuel 4:7-9)
The Apostle Paul uses these same words to encourage the Corinthians:
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit ye like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity. (1 Corinthians 16:13-14)
According to Mark Hamby of Lamplighter Publishing, the word changes in the New Testament to imply "the gathering of moral conviction with the exercise of manly valor" (http://lamplighterbooks.com/?p=473). He quotes from John Eldredge's Wild at Heart that "a man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family. He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death, for this is written into the fabric of his being. That is why God created you--to be His intimate ally, to join Him in the Great Battle."
So I leave you with this poem, men, to spur you onwards in your battle march of life. Walt Whitman wrote it in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, but O how much better does the Christian bear the sorrow of His Lord, who knows that He is living? Join the King of kings!
O Captain, My Captain. http://www.bartleby.com/142/193.html
Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring,
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
this arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Irrelevant and totally not-metaphorical resolutions:
Resolved: to take the stairs always, unless another party requests otherwise.
Resolved: to take the stairs two or more at a time going upwards.
Resolved: to take the stairs strictly one at a time going downwards.
One of my favorite descriptions of soldiers in the Bible is the phrase used by the New American Standard / New King James and the KJV before them--"mighty men of valor." (My best British friend would approve that the King James renders it "valour," but that's beside the point.)
I don't often think of the Israelite men as being "mighty." Usually I see them how the men of 1950s America saw them-- as the weakling Monkey-in-the-Middle for the past few thousand years. This, however, is far from the truth. The media actually catches a glimpse of the truth when it portrays Israel as being a formidable country in the Near East. It wasn't by the strength of men or of horses that won Ancient Israel her battles, but by the guiding hand of the LORD who chooses to use means like epidemics, walls of water, walls that fall outward, curtains that tear downward, fires that burn (but do not consume!) flesh or branches, and stones that knock down giants.
Whose hand killed Goliath?
Nevertheless, the Christian is called to advance the kingdom through a different sort of bloodshed, following a different Joshua. The true Joshua. This Captain is the Author and Perfector of salvation. (Something interesting about the word author is that it is the root of authority. In order to have authority over something, you need to be its author... or at least have borrowed authority as the Author's steward. Like a teacher. Or a parent. Or a doctor or lawyer or pastor.)
This Joshua confronts Joshua, son of Nun, at his surveyance of Jericho, with His sword drawn and ready in His hand--clearly not a sign of timidity. Joshua, son of Nun, asks what any commander would: "Who goes there? Are you for us or against us?" The Lord's reply answers Joshua's question much in the same way that the Apostle Paul reasons in Romans 8:31-39.
If God be for us, who can be against us? ... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us (v.31,37).
The Lord answers Joshua, son of Nun, with these words: "Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come" (Joshua 5:14a). This Captain now leads us in His victory lap of history.
Yet the story isn't complete without a recollection of the past passion, the battles and casualties being honored. The greatest travesty of history was the holocaust of the Son of Man, yet Christians are called even today to lay down swords and cry with the martyrs at Jerusalem: "How long, O Lord?" The Revelation to the Apostle John records this bloodshed vividly:
I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (6:9b-10).
The author of Hebrews carries this point further, and exhorts the saints by reminding them that their leader, their captain, their Christ suffered much to be like them. As He was likewise tempted like us, so did He suffer like His disciples and brothers would suffer.
For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." And again, "I will put my trust in Him." And again, "Behold I and the children God hath given me" (Hebrews 2:10-13).
Who in the days of His [Jesus's] flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him (Hebrews 5:7-9).
This is how the Apostle John heard the word concerning the martyred saints of Jerusalem, fallen under Rome's spear. These Christians were powerful and brave men, spurred by the Spirit of God (Acts 4) in order to.... die. It's a new way to be human.
They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death ( Rev.12:11).
This brings me to the next point in a study of the "mighty men of valor" : men of war shed blood. This is the singular feature which God singles out of David which excludes him from building Him a temple that the face of God might be physically manifest among the children of Israel. The Israelites, following Joshua, son of Nun, were commanded to eradicate the 7 tribes of Canaan, whose sinnings had reached their brims. How do Christians today shed blood in the name of their King?
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin (Hebrews 12:1-4).
Part of the vows a Christian makes when he joins my church is the acknowledgement of his own sin and of the desire to "mortify the flesh." This is a fancy word for "put to death, kill, execute." The Christian does warfare not only against his own lingering sin nature, but also in the world, though not with swords. He springs into action at the Great Commission, and he longs to bring the world into full submission to the lordship of Christ. He follows the path of his Shepherd, who truly did resist unto "bloodshed, striving against sin." His mantra is "it is better to suffer than to sin."
Yet what do we do with the testosterone flowing through our veins, men? I believe the Apostle Paul has an answer for us, which he skillfully draws from the lips of a Philistine. In 1 Samuel 4, the Israelites decide to take the ark of the covenant into battle. Intimidation tactics, eh? Well, it worked... for about two verses. (1 verse ~ 30 minutes. True story.) The Philistines cried:
God is come into the camp...Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the and of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been unto you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. (1 Samuel 4:7-9)
The Apostle Paul uses these same words to encourage the Corinthians:
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit ye like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity. (1 Corinthians 16:13-14)
According to Mark Hamby of Lamplighter Publishing, the word changes in the New Testament to imply "the gathering of moral conviction with the exercise of manly valor" (http://lamplighterbooks.com/?p=473). He quotes from John Eldredge's Wild at Heart that "a man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family. He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death, for this is written into the fabric of his being. That is why God created you--to be His intimate ally, to join Him in the Great Battle."
So I leave you with this poem, men, to spur you onwards in your battle march of life. Walt Whitman wrote it in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, but O how much better does the Christian bear the sorrow of His Lord, who knows that He is living? Join the King of kings!
O Captain, My Captain. http://www.bartleby.com/142/193.html
Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring,
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
this arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Irrelevant and totally not-metaphorical resolutions:
Resolved: to take the stairs always, unless another party requests otherwise.
Resolved: to take the stairs two or more at a time going upwards.
Resolved: to take the stairs strictly one at a time going downwards.
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