I’ve been reading and examining the book of Kings lately. I am currently in II Kings, and it’s been quite worth the read so far, to say the least. I find there’s a lot of lessons throughout the two books. It’s interesting the amount of detail that can be picked out of the lessons even though the underlying point of all of them are basically: obey God — period.<\/p>\n
This reading through Kings has led me to a question concerning modern-day wars. Because I have a small interest in military and strategic thinking, I also read or examine books like the Art of War<\/em> by Sun Tzu. I find some pretty comprehensive thoughts and ideas concerning warfare understanding, that can even be applied to personal life.\u00a0 For example, Sun Tzu says: ‘all warfare is based on deception.’ Though it may not be true, I think that is an interesting way to look at it considering even a Christian is at war, although spiritual.<\/p>\n I also remember reading something that says the outcome of battle ultimately is determined by the general of an army. That the army that loses is because of the general’s mistakes. This is interesting because reading throughout Kings it seems to me that if there ever is a single most valuable asset to an army, it isn’t a military general or strategist or the king in rule; rather, it would be a prophet of God toward whoever found favor in God’s sight since God mostly used the prophets to speak His word toward whatever end He pleased. For example, a small army could be going against the biggest army in the land at the time, but if God used a prophet to speak His word in favor of the smaller army, saying such and such King of the opposing bigger army was going to die in battle, instantly all bets are off for that side the Lord spoke against. The king would die just as God said, no matter how big the army, or how skillful the general, or military strategist. And it always happened like that. That’s amazing to me.<\/p>\n Is modern-day war still determined by God? Or is modern-day warfare determined according to secular or carnal wisdom, the kind found in military strategist books these days? Since I know God’s people don’t have prophets at hand for our use to tell about things of war that we otherwise wouldn’t know about, how would a man of God at war go about helping determine that he’s on the winning side? It’s impossible, right?<\/p>\n Please forgive me, \u00a0I don’t mean to\u00a0bother you with this question. Any biblical insight you have to offer on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.<\/p>\n\t “I returned and saw under the sun that — the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Military strategy does not deal with absolutes, but with probabilities. Odd things happen, even to the best military plans. The problem is that when things don’t go as you think they ought, how do you determine whether it was pure chance or God arranging a “coincidence” to occur to accomplish His ends? We might suspect at times, but in the end, we just don’t know.<\/p>\n We do know that God controls the nations. As Nebuchadnezzar noted: “I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, “What have You done?”<\/em>” (Daniel 4:34-35). Thus, if God wishes to change the outcome of a war, He will do so. None can stop Him, but it doesn’t mean we can detect Him either.<\/p>\n It is easy, after the fact, to blame the losing general for making mistakes that cost him the war. But we don’t know how often bad or incomplete information was feed to a general because of God’s intervention — though we do know that God has done such in the past. “Where are they? Where are your wise men? Let them tell you now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt. The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also deluded Egypt, those who are the mainstay of its tribes. The LORD has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst; and they have caused Egypt to err in all her work, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit<\/em>” (Isaiah 19:12-14).<\/p>\n One determines the right side to be one in a war by examining the morality of the dispute, keeping in mind there can be times that neither side is standing for the right. So when both sides are in the wrong, the winning side cannot necessarily conclude that it was in the right. In fact, from the wars in Israel, there were numerous times when Israel lost because God used enemy nations, who were not morally right, to punish Israel (a point that is brought out in Habakkuk). So looking back at battles, we can’t take the simplistic view that the winning side was the right side.<\/p>\n\t Excellent points — points that I overlooked, of course,\u00a0as usual<\/em>. Thanks so much. This truly settled some things in my mind.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I’ve been reading and examining the book of Kings lately. I am currently in II Kings, and it’s been quite worth the read so far, to say the least. I find there’s a lot of lessons throughout the two books. It’s interesting the amount of detail that can be picked out of the lessons…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[310,931],"class_list":["post-32241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-government","tag-war"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-books-would-you-recommend-reading-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":32241,"position":0},"title":"What books would you recommend reading in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What books would you recommend reading in the Old Testament? I read Genesis, Leviticus, and Numbers at the beginning of my turn to God and Jesus Christ. I was just haphazardly picking books at random then. Answer: What I would recommend first is reading are the books on practical,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89326,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/abstain-from-fleshly-lusts-the-war-within\/","url_meta":{"origin":32241,"position":1},"title":"Abstain From Fleshly Lusts: The War Within","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark White War is terrible. Casualties take so many forms, with some being innocent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The atrocities of war are nearly beyond belief. The old adage, \"all is fair in war,\" has been played out time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14883,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-makes-some-fantasy-stories-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":32241,"position":2},"title":"What makes some fantasy stories wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! I asked in the past if imagining ideas for a story was OK, and you said that you couldn't see anything biblically wrong with it. But I feel like I need some details. For example, I heard of some Christians (not that I judge their opinions or anything)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20830,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-wrote-ii-kings\/","url_meta":{"origin":32241,"position":3},"title":"Who wrote II Kings?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who wrote II Kings? Answer: I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, and II Kings are actually one long book that became divided into four parts. Scrolls can only hold so much before they become unwieldy. The books are thought to be the work of a series of prophets. Such\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7619,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-read-books-about-how-satan-operates-in-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":32241,"position":4},"title":"Is it wrong to read books about how Satan operates in the world?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for your website. I enjoy reading the articles as well as the questions and answers. You have helped me in several areas of research. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find Christians who speak from a biblical perspective. I appreciate your candor and adherence to Scripture. My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17960,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/have-you-heard-of-dr-leonard-horowitz\/","url_meta":{"origin":32241,"position":5},"title":"Have you heard of Dr. Leonard Horowitz?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have recently discovered a man by the name of Dr. Leonard Horowitz. I have seen his lectures and his DVD \"In Lies We Trust\" and I have been telling a lot of people about it. 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Response:<\/h2>\n