In the Spring of the Year

In the spring, when the kings normally went out to war, David sent out Joab, his servants and all of the Israelites.

(2 Samuel 11:1 New Century Version)

This line always cracks me up. It’s as if baseball season just started. “Ok, all you kings, it’s war season, get out there and lead your troops”.

I was talking to someone this week about this verse. We had to ask ourselves why there was so much war in the Old Testament. Didn’t men have better things to do? Shouldn’t they stay at home and make a living, provide for their wives and children? Most of these men were probably single, but from this chapter in Samuel, we know that some of them were married.

Also, if you ever look at the numbers, thousands upon thousands of people (men, women and children) were killed in these wars. The Earth’s population couldn’t have been that great four thousand years ago. All this fighting could have wiped out the human race. And without our modern conveniences, day to day living was hard enough, but then add constantly fighting to it? How did anyone survive?

For me, it is the difference between the Old and New Testaments, the time before Jesus and the time after. Before Jesus Christ walked the Earth, life was about death. After He died for our sins, life was about life. And life should continue that way. It’s not okay to kill other people in war or for any other reason. It’s not okay to kill unborn babies. Maybe in the Old Testament, killing was okay, but today, God is the one who calls the shots on who lives and who doesn’t. And that’s all just my simple, uneducated opinion.

But there’s more. I have an assignment for you. 2 Samuel 11 not only starts with this crazy verse, it ends with one too. So if you are not familiar with this story, drag out your Bibles or go to Bible Gateway or another on-line Bible and read what David does instead of going to war. I’ll be back next week to discuss it with you.