Old Testament Violence (16) - Faith Defeats Weapons

When the Israelites were at their best, they did not need to fight to defend themselves, because God threw their enemies into confusion or sent a trouble amongst them that caused them to flee.

The Philistines were defeated when God caused a flying stone to hit Goliath between the eyes.

The Arameans were defeated when they heard a strange sound and fled in fear.

The Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army…. so they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives (2 Kings 7:6,7).

A huge Assyrian army was defeated by sickness.

That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there (2 Kings 19:35-36).

When King Amaziah hired a hundred thousand troops for 1000 talents of silver to defend his nation, God said he was wasting him money (2 Chron 25:7-9).

When Jehoshaphat was attacked by three armies, God won the victory.

The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped (2 Chron 20:23-24).

When the people of Israel trusted in God, he protected them from invading armies. They did not need to use the weapons of war.