Psalm 144:1, 2 Blessed be the LORD my strength which teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:… The psalmist recounts glorious victories in the past; complains that the nation is now beset by strange, i.e. barbarous, enemies, so false and treacherous that no covenant can be kept with them; prays for deliverance from them by an interposition great and glorious as had been vouchsafed of old; and anticipates the return of a golden age of peace and plenty (Perowne). If it ever has been right, the manifest duty of the hour, for a man to engage in war, it must be right to associate God with that doing of duty. No man would venture to say that it never has been right to engage in war. Till human nature is wholly renewed and sanctified, war will probably continue to be one of the forces which help collective humanity to make right triumph over wrong. And God may be thought of as the Trainer of soldiers for the wars of righteousness. I. HE WHO TRAINS FOR WAR TRAINS ONLY FOR WARS OF WHICH HE CAN APPROVE. It is usual to say that defensive wars may be necessary, but offensive wars never are; but this is to take a very limited view of life, facts of history, and Divine dealings with men. God has commissioned nations to carry out his purposes of judgment and mercy by offensive wars. War as a scourge of organized societies, of nations, has been, and may still be, used by God in execution of his judgments, and even in the movement of the locations of men to different parts of the globe. Old Testament history distinctly associates God with aggressive war. Israel invaded Palestine for God. Assyria invaded Palestine as God's servant. Mere dynastic wars are selfish wars, and wholly wrong. Wars that are really race-movements may be right. There is a good end in all war of which God approves. II. HE WHO TRAINS FOR WAR PUNISHES THOSE WHO USE TRAINED POWERS FOR THEIR OWN ENDS. And this is the thing to which nations, and rulers of nations, are continually tempted. It is illustrated by God's dealing with Assyria, which was the rod to execute his anger against his people, but proceeded to serve its own ends, and so brought upon itself the judgments of God. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: {A Psalm of David.} Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:WEB: Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle: |
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