THE BIBLICAL DEFENSE OF BEARING ARMS

It is necessary to define the Biblical defense of bearing arms since today many politicians only quote the Bible to talk about peace, and often quote verses that only have to do with the millennium as if they were dealing with their political office. One such misuse of Scripture is quoting Isaiah 2:4 as if it were dealing with today, and as if the politician quoting it is the Messiah:

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

 

Everyone that looks forward to the glorious reign of Messiah treasures this verse, but he also knows that many tyrants in history have tried to use this verse for their own benefit. We must be careful that we properly interpret the Scriptures, and not just try to make the Bible fit into our already preconceived ideas.

Some of our greatest Bible heroes were men and women who resisted government edicts. Certainly Amram and Jochebed are tremendous examples of people who were denied their right to defense, and still obeyed God.

And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years (Exodus 6:20).

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment (Hebrews 11:23).

We could further observe that in these cases their civil disobedience was obedience to God's mandates. The real persecution was not against their rights, but against God since He was the One Who had commanded them.

An illustration that is probably more apropos to the question at hand is found in the book of Esther. Mordecai was Queen Esther's uncle. Haman was a mortal enemy of Mordecai and wanted him dead, along with every other Jew whose worship so antagonized him. He had Artaxerxes, the emperor, sign a decree putting every Jew in the kingdom to death. When the emperor was informed by Esther that this evil plot would cost her and her people their lives, the emperor signed another decree.

Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies (Esther 8:11-13).

Not only did the decree allow them to defend themselves, but to band together in a militia for their own self-defense. They were to arm themselves and protect their own lives and that of their families. They were to take a pre-emptive strike against those that were known to persecute them.

What kind of personal self-defense was permitted, or mandated in the Scriptures? There are actually too many passages in the Bible to properly treat all of them here. This will not prevent us from getting a proper definition from the Bible about personal self-defense, even though we treat only a representative number of verses.

The Bible talks about the use of an armed citizenry to defend the country. The size of the standing army was really rather small in Israel, but every able-bodied man was expected to be armed, and to defend his country in time of need. The major reason for the ill-advised national census that King David ordered was to find out exactly how many armed men there were in the country that could be counted on in the case of war or invasion.

And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men (II Samuel 24:9).

And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword (I Chronicles 21:5).

The first thing that we see in these two passages is that David's sin consisted of not trusting God to protect Israel. David wanted to know how many people he could call on to make up his army in the time of need. A census in and of itself could have a good purpose, but David's census was disobedience to God.

Some people get so tied up on the seeming contradictions of the verses that they fail to see the clear teaching. The verses counted the men who were able to defend the country in the time of an emergency. That is the primary focus.

There were one million, one hundred thousand men in the northern tribes that could be counted on in the time of war. They were the right age, being neither too young nor too old. Women, children, handicapped, and those too young or too old to fight were not counted. Those who were left were the able-bodied men. But of the million, one hundred thousand, how many of these were trained in warfare? There were eight hundred thousand valiant men. The Hebrew word which is translated "valiant" is the word chayil. The most frequent translation of chayil is "army."

David's army was a citizen army. They were men who knew that their country needed to be defended by all male citizens.

Even though David's census showed a lack of trust in God for their protection, David was right in believing that male citizens were expected to defend their country. How was a small country like Israel, with no large paid, professional, standing army going to protect itself against enemy countries which were all better equipped and greater numbers than Israel? Even this large citizen militia was unable to adequately protect the nation against the overwhelming odds that it had to face. That is why Israel needed to trust God. The country was to be like a hive of angry bees who could band together in a moment's notice to defend their hive. Their attack could rout a much greater size army of armed men. Moses wrote of that when he said:

And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword (Leviticus 26:6-8).

During the time of the Judges, God raised up men who would be the leaders of the citizen militia. During the interval of time between Joshua and King Saul, God named twelve men. Their job was to defend Israel.

And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim (Judges 10:1).

We must be careful to note that when a man defended his country, in Bible times, he was also defending his family and his own life. Nehemiah wrote of the danger to the nation. He said that the walls of Jerusalem needed to be rebuilt so that Israel could be a safer place to live. But the safety of the workers who were rebuilding the wall, as well as all the inhabitants of the city demanded that something be done immediately. In Nehemiah 4:17-21 he wrote:

They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us. So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.

Every man was expected to defend himself and defend his fellow workers. They were to work with one hand, and have their weapons in the other hand. They were to remain ever vigilant so they could remain ever free. The idea that a man was to always be prepared to defend his country, his family, his property and his life was further extended in that he was to defend his faith. Can you imagine how people would react today if you told people that while their mouths were filled with praise to God, their hands should be filled with weapons? Yet that is exactly what David wrote in Psalm 149:1-7

Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people.

The right to carry a weapon was considered a necessity at all times. There could be an attack on an individual at any time, but his attacker was more likely to come at night when there was no one around to help, or when visibility was reduced. Therefore Solomon wrote:

They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night (Song of Solomon 3:8).

Even the Levites and the Priests in Israel carried weapons in their worship of God. There was nothing considered incongruous about worshipping God and having weapons at the same time.

The Lord Jesus Christ told the apostles to buy arms. In Luke 22:36-38 He said:

Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

Jesus Christ not only recommended that the apostles have a right to bear arms, but further commanded them to buy arms. God stated very clearly that a man had a responsibility to defend his country, his family, his life, his faith, and his property. Since the beginning of time tyrants have first sought to control or rule a free man's country, family, life, faith or property by disarming him. Once disarmed, all of these things could be easily taken. Jesus warned of that in Luke 11:21-23 (KJV) ²¹ When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: ²² But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. ²³ He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.

Mark 3:27 (KJV) No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

Matthew 12:29 (KJV) Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

In the Matthew passage, it clearly links together a man's property and his right to bear arms.

In order for a government to take away a man's rights to life, liberty, property, speech, religion, or the sovereignty of his nation, it must first undermine his ability to defend these things. The "strong man" was an "armed" man who kept his home. If government was allowed to be "stronger than he" then it could come and "take from him all his" arms. This enemy could then "spoil his goods" and "bind the strong man." This man would then face that this stronger than he would "spoil his house." This mans life was in danger. He was bound. His wife could be raped. His children could be taken as slaves -- even sex slaves. These were considered the spoils of the house. His property could be confiscated. The only protection that Jesus said a man had for any of these other rights was his right to bear arms. Jesus considered that there would always be a "stronger" one who wanted to remove our rights and freedom from us. The existence of this today should not surprise us. It should not surprise us either that they have formed together into groups and associations, even political parties.

Can a Christian go to war?  If your government calls you, you are obligated to obey.  1 Peter 2:13-14 (KJV) ¹³ Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; ¹⁴ Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

The Constitution is the United States of America's ordinance!

In Romans 13, God gave the government the right to bear the sword,  so if the government is asking an individual to go to War for their country, Christians should bear arms.  Christians are to obey the government unless the government asks  them to do something that God strictly forbids.

There is little difference between an armed police force which is necessary and an armed military which is also necessary.