*This is the second post of twelve in my #12saints12days series. Support The ☧ost by becoming a subscriber today!
YHWH is a “warrior”
Researching God is a Grunt, I started looking into the fighting words of the Bible, those terms behind bold statements like Exodus 15:3, “The LORD is a warrior, the Lord is his name.” In Hebrew, God is called îš milḥāmâ, literally ‘a man of war.’ the same used for God in Isaiah 42:13. It is used very sparingly to describe humans, including Machir of Manasseh (see Joshua 17:1) and King David, but not always in a positive sense. “Warrior” can act as a compliment (as in 1 Samuel 16:18 or 2 Samuel 17:8) as well as a warning. (beware Goliath, 1 Sam 17:33) In 1 Chronicles 28:3, David is prohibited from building God’s Temple because the warrior-king has shed blood. As God’s only Son, Jesus is the son of a warrior, a military brat. But more than that, his namesake(s) made use of Israel’s history to remind people that their salvation comes from God through (divine) military intervention.
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