Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 32:17-18

17 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.

18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.

Back when Moses had ascended the mountain, we were told that his minister, Joshua, accompanied him. So now Joshua met Moses along the way down the mountain, reporting that he had already heard a tumult coming up from the valley down below. Joshua assumed that it was the noise of a battle, Moses, however, heard the notes of a song.

These verses are describing the noises of two types of trouble. In fact, it is the two fundamental types of trouble that are the source of all of our problems, both individually and collectively. There is the trouble of a foreign attack, outside sources seeking our destruction and causing us harm. Then there is the trouble of deliberate disobedience, the idolatry and revelry that we inflict upon ourselves. One sounds like discordant chaos, the other like patterned notes of blasphemy.

No wonder Joshua thought he heard the sounds of the first, for persecution inflicted upon the Israelites had been the pattern for many years. But now the nature of Israel’s trouble was changing. It was shifting from an external enemy to an internal one, and Moses was perceiving that change already.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Loving Your Enemy vs Renouncing Evil- God’s Judgment

The Old Testament gives accounts of the people of Israel being an extension of the Lord to bring judgment and condemnation upon the pagan nations of Canaan. It also gives accounts of them going to war when not as an extension of the Lord, and suffering disastrous results.

As an example of the first we have God instructing the Israelites to circle the city of Jericho, following a very precise ritual that resulted in the walls of the city collapsing to the ground. The Israelites charged in and won a tremendous victory that day. As an example of the second we have the Israelites going up to battle with the Philistines with the Ark of the Covenant in 1 Samuel 4. God had not commanded them to go up to this fight, and as a result Israel lost 30,000 footmen, were forced to retreat, and the Ark of the Covenant was lost to their enemies.

I think in these opposing examples there is a lesson for when we should battle with the enemies of the church, and when we should hold our peace. We must always remember that we are the foot-soldiers and God is the general. This is His fight to fight. It is up to Him to decide when the field is right for battle and when it isn’t. The choice is His, not ours. Our duty is simply to obey. In both of the stories, the Israelites were willing to fight the Lord’s enemies, the difference was that the time to do so was right in the first instance, and not in the second.

As you see the enemies of God’s kingdom throwing their insults and barbs at the walls of the church, claiming victories and taking souls as they go, you may feel a great desire to leap into the fray, tearing them down in similar manner. But it is imperative to ask yourself, has God actually called you to fight that fight? And has He called you to fight that fight right now?

Having the courage and the desire to fight for God’s kingdom is, in-and-of-itself, a good thing, but it must be bounded by God’s will for when and how. Wage the right war when the time is right to do so, and in the meantime hold the line and be faithful.