The Lord Is a Warrior

Read Exodus 2:23-25; Exodus 12:12-13; and Exodus 15:3-11. What does it mean that God is a warrior?

During their long sojourn in Egypt, the Israelites have forgotten the true God of their ancestors. As many episodes of their travels through the wilderness demonstrated, their knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob faded, and they had mixed pagan elements into their religious practices (compare with Exod. 32:1-4). Under the oppression of the Egyptians, they cried to the Lord (Exod. 2:23-25), and at the right time, the Lord intervened on their behalf.

However, the conflict described in the first 12 chapters of Exodus was greater than a simple power struggle between Moses and the pharaoh. According to ancient Near Eastern war ideology, conflicts between peoples were ultimately considered as being conflicts between the respective god or gods. Exodus 12:12 declares that the Lord inflicted judgment, not only on the pharaoh, but also on the gods of Egypt, those powerful demons (Lev. 17:7, Deut. 32:17) that stood behind the oppressive power and unjust social system of Egypt.

Ultimately, God is at war with sin and will not tolerate this conflict forever (Ps. 24:8; Rev. 19:11; Rev. 20:1-4, 14). All the fallen angels, as well as the human beings who have definitely and irrecoverably identified themselves with sin, will be destroyed. In light of this, the battles against the inhabitants of the land have to be perceived as an earlier stage of this conflict, which will reach its apex on the cross, and its consummation at the final judgment, when God’s justice and character of love will be vindicated.

The concept of the total destruction of the Canaanites must be understood on the basis of the biblical worldview, in which God is involved in a cosmic conflict with the exponents of evil in the universe. What is ultimately at stake are God’s reputation and His character (Rom. 3:4, Rev. 15:3).

Since sin has entered human existence, nobody can stand on neutral ground. One must be either on God’s side or on the side of evil. Hence, with this background in mind, the eradication of the Canaanites should be viewed as a preview of the final judgment.

The reality of the great controversy allows for only one of two sides. How do you know which side you are really on?