They Had No Swords

A topic of perpetual interest to any nation is the state of preparedness of its armed forces. The cost of maintaining equipment and training soldiers is often a sore point between political factions (as it is today in Canada). People rightly say that when a nation’s young men and women are willing to put themselves into harm’s way for the good of the country, they should have the best equipment available.

Among the nations of the earth today, Israel stands out with its impressive array of armaments, a motivated and effective force, drilled and trained to respond with lightning swiftness and deadly accuracy. The political situation in the Middle East is such that without large quantities of the most sophisticated weaponry, it is certain that Israel would again face concerted military campaigns to wipe her from the face of the earth. Israel has not always possessed weapons in abundance. Her place in history has been assured by other factors more powerful but less subject to scientific measurement or tally.

There is an interesting story told in the Bible of a time when Israel was under occupation and her people were all but disarmed. Only King Saul and his son had swords. Not only that, but there no smiths in Israel. Without a smith, they could not build or maintain new weapons. This was an impediment but it did not stop Israel from defeating her enemies when her heroes acted in faith.

1 Samuel 13:19 Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:

1 Samuel 13:20 But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.

1 Samuel 13:21 Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.

1 Samuel 13:22 So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found. 

In our eyes, that would be a predicament! How would you ever dare to go into battle without having your soldiers armed, at least with the rudimentary equipment deployed by every army in your neighbourhood? Scripture adjures us to---like Boy Scouts---be prepared. It also tells us that our security is not in our armaments but in the Lord Himself. So when Jonathan got up one morning he took a deep breath and decided to take his unarmed armourbearer with him and climb uphill to tangle with about 20 Philistine armed soldiers on their own ground. Of course God honoured his faith and commitment and Jonathan and his armourbearer had the victory. One assumes that their mighty act of faith put 20 swords and spears into the hands of the Israelites.

David, another great hero of Israel, had no spear, no sword and no shield when he took on mighty Goliath who was not only 9 ½ feet tall but armed to the hilt. David took away Goliath’s sword and cut off the giant’s head with it. Later on that sword would be a favoured weapon of his. He said: “Give me the sword of Goliath for there is none like it.”

We who are fighting a spiritual battle in these troubled times against spiritual forces of wickedness arrayed against us must learn a lesson from these heroes of the past. Often we feel we are fighting an “uphill battle”.  The national media often ignore our message. Government programs are often used to promote ungodly behaviours and the combined effect sometimes leaves us feeling vulnerable, disarmed.

For the Christian Heritage Party, we see the $30 million being distributed every year to the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, the Bloc and the Greens (money taken out of our pockets as taxpayers), being used against us in election campaigns. We don’t have that resource but we have a great provider who is more than able to give us everything we need at just the right time. We see incumbent MPs using their office to distribute partisan propaganda in the form of “householders”. If the CHP wants to inform the public about anything (issues, policies) we have to find our own money to do it. However, God is able to take our five loaves and two small fishes and multiply them in His time and in His way. We need to gratefully and prayerfully use what we have.

We need to be like Jonathan and like David. We need to use what we have in our hand, the tools God has given us. We need to pray and trust Almighty God to lead us in every battle and to perform mighty acts of deliverance through our simple acts of faith and obedience. Our warfare, of course, is not a physical battle but we need the same level of supernatural intervention that the heroes of old needed.

It’s easy to look at the situation and become demoralized. That’s what Goliath wants. Let’s exercise the faith we’ve been given. Those heroes of old had no swords. We have the sword of the Spirit and we’ve been given everything that pertains to life and godliness.