D31-3: God’s Role  As The Warrior Leader Of Israel Did NOT End With The Close Of The ‘Old’ Testament

“Adonai your God — he will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess them. Y’hoshua — he will cross over ahead of you, as Adonai has said.  Adonai will do to them what he did to Sichon and ‘Og, the kings of the Emori, and to their land — he destroyed them.  Adonai will defeat them ahead of you, and you are to do to them just as I have ordered you to do.”-Deuteronomy 31:3-4

In verses 3-5, we’re told that God is going to do to the current inhabitants of Canaan on the West Bank of the Jordan what He did to the nation states on the east side of the Jordan River (the Transjordan region where Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of the Tribe of Manasseh made their home).

In other words, the Lord is going to destroy them.

And Joshua is going to replace Moses as Israel’s new supreme military commander.

Let’s take a look at verse 6.

“Be strong, be bold, don’t be afraid or frightened of them, for Adonai your God is going with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”-Deuteronomy 31:6

This verse is a classic Holy War statement.

It portrays HASHEM as a Holy Warrior leading His People to a guaranteed victory.

Let me remind you if we’re going to properly understand much of the Torah, we need to keep in mind that front and center of what the Torah is all about is Holy War.

I know a lot of folks (especially the Christian church with their buttery and maple syrupy “love is everything” doctrines) don’t like to hear this but it’s true.

There are actually three phases to God’s Holy War.

The First Phase was Israel’s exodus from Egypt and the destruction of the two Amorite kings Og and Bashon.

The Second Phase was Israel’s conquering of the land of Canaan.

I’m not going to get into it now but the Book of Joshua is just jam-packed with a bunch of Holy War language that most pastors will never really understand throughout their entire faith lives.

However, this language is important to understand because Holy War in the Bible is run by very strict rules of engagement and protocol and if these rules are broken, there are very severe consequences.

And something else you’ve got to understand is that Hashem’s role as the warrior leader of His chosen people Israel absolutely did not end with the close of the so-called “Old” Testament.

This leads us to the Third Phase of Holy War which is famously known as the “Battle of Armageddon”.

So again, in a nutshell…

…in Holy War Phase 1 Israel took the Transjordan.

In Holy War Phase 2, Israel is now in the process of conquering the land of Canaan.

That’s right, we’re still in Phase Two right now.

And finally, Holy War Phase 3 is Israel taking over the whole world led by their Messiah who at the end times will establish a kingdom ruling over the entire planet with Jerusalem being at the center of it.