"The soldier's heart, the soldier's spirit, the soldier's soul, are everything. Unless the soldier's soul sustains him, he cannot be relied on and will fail himself and his commander and his country in the end." This was the conviction of the famed military man and Nobel Peace Prize winner, George C. Marshall. This book shares that heartbeat; the spiritual health of the warfighter is the life-blood of the profession of arms. The biblical authors understood this as they looked Godward in their thinking on warfare: "Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle" (Psalm 144:1). The goal of this book is to explore how God equips and trains the warrior to navigate the challenges of wearing the uniform.
One of the book's greatest strengths is the ability to bridge the gap between theological concepts and the real-life experiences of warriors. Drawing from extensive research and personal interactions with military personnel, the book presents a compelling case for the importance of addressing the spiritual dimension of military service. The book strives to weave together biblical insights, psychological perspectives, and firsthand accounts to create a nuanced and holistic understanding of spiritual health in the context of warfare.
The book addresses the complexities surrounding moral injury, post-traumatic stress, and the search for meaning in the midst of trauma. Further, the book offers a compassionate and biblically grounded approach to healing and restoration, emphasizing the transformative power of God's grace and the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation.
While the book primarily focuses on the experiences of warfighters, its insights extend beyond the military context. The exploration of spiritual health, resilience, and the pursuit of meaning in the face of adversity resonates with readers from all walks of life who are grappling with their own spiritual journeys.
One of David’s most significant contributions to warfighter theology is his complex understanding and relationship to his enemies, an issue that is ever relevant to warriors of all eras. Enemies are a pervasive theme throughout 1-2 Samuel, at times, they seem omnipresent as they dominate the landscape of David’s story.
The Psalms speak regularly to this theme as well, 104 of 150 Psalms reference enemies. This is a staggering and often overlooked data point from the book of Psalms. That 70 percent of Israel’s prayer book is concerned with enemies must change the way the book is read. The abundance of material on David’s engagement with his enemies is a rich resource for training the conscience and character of today’s warrior.
David’s posture toward his enemies is far from one-dimensional; rather, his approach is layered and multi-faceted. He models the complexity a godly warrior must embrace to navigate the enemy dynamic. David’s disposition toward his enemies has four anchor points: affirm dignity, execute justice, leave vengeance to God, and show mercy and forgiveness.
The first anchor is David’s affirmation of the inherent dignity of his enemies. David’s understanding of creation informed his view on human-beings, both friend and foe. The image of God undergirded David’s anthropology (Ps 8:5-8). This theological affirmation grounded his combat experiences. He modeled respect for his enemies, even when they sought his death (1 Sam 24:1-22, 26:1-25). He refused to gloat and celebrate over their deaths (2 Sam 1:1-15, 4:9-11). In fact, he dignified and grieved the deaths of his enemies (2 Sam 1:17-27, 3:31-34, 18:33).
Under the Mosaic Law, the image of God not only dignified engagement with one’s enemy, but it also grounded the necessity of taking life. David would have been familiar with the fourth reference in Genesis to the image of God: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image (Gen 9:6).” The image of God asserts the utter dignity of mankind, which includes accountability. Justice affirms value, it speaks to moral agency, and it refuses to treat human beings as anything other than image-bearers.
The image of God has two implications for enemy engagement. Both are essential for the well-being of the warfighter. Warriors need safeguards against the soul-wounding tendency of dehumanization. This doctrine provides this protection in two ways. First, it equips the uniform-wearer to affirm an enemy’s inherent value in life and death: to see him as someone’s son, husband, father and friend. In turn, it enables the warfighter to resist degrading his enemy’s humanity in thought, speech, or action. Second, it readies a warrior to hold image-bearers accountable for their actions. It ensures the vocational combatant that within certain boundaries taking life does not diminish human dignity but upholds it.
This dual-pronged paradigm informs every other area of thinking about enemies in the material regarding David. It rests in the background in the following discussions on executing justice, leaving vengeance to God, and forgiving one’s enemies. In contemporary practice, a warrior would do well to allow this framework to drive one’s philosophy and praxis of enemy engagement.
The execution of justice is the second anchor point informing David’s approach to his enemies. As discussed above, this principle builds on the inherent dignity and accountability of image-bearing enemies. As a leader and warrior, David saw protection for his people as paramount. He ruled a nation that was surrounded on all sides by enemies. Safety required combat.
In the stories of David, there is a moral boundary between protective/responsive combat and unwarranted/vengeful violence. David had no qualms about engaging in combat when his people were in danger (1 Sam 30:1-17). However, engagement in battle for unjust reasons resulted in guilt, judgment, and a damaged conscience (1 Sam 25:1-39).
The third anchor point for David’s posture toward his enemies is leaving vengeance to God. There are numerous examples of David’s refusal to take matters into his own hands when encountering his enemies (1 Sam 24:1-22, 26:1-25; 2 Sam 16:5-13). “May the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you” captures the sentiment of David in these scenarios (1 Sam 24:12, 25:39, 26:10).
The Psalms embody this dynamic in David’s life. As mentioned earlier, the language about enemies is pervasive in the Psalms. David did not leave his combat experiences, fear for his life, and desire for victory over his enemies out of worship. Instead, the reader finds vengeance psalms dominating his communication with God. Such prominence has merited the distinct category of the imprecatory psalm.
David does not restrain his emotions or harsh intentions toward his enemies. Instead, he gives full vent to them before the face of God. In a bold act of faith, David abdicates his own vengeance while entrusting himself to the just action of the Almighty. For David, the warrior must live naked before Yahweh. Soul wellness for the warfighter requires moral rigor within a covenant relationship with God.
The fourth and final anchor point for David’s engagement with his enemies is mercy and forgiveness. While David called down God’s vengeance on his enemies and executed justice with his own hands, he also extended love and forgiveness toward his enemies (1 Sam 24:1-22, 25:24-35, 26:1-25; 2 Sam 14:25-33, 19:18-23). At times, former enemies became reconciled friends (2 Sam 3:6-21). David’s love for his enemies was expressed in grief and honor at their deaths (2 Sam 1:17-27, 3:31-34, 18:33).
How loving one’s enemy and waging war against him can coincide has been debated throughout church history. In reality, conceptualizing such a coexistence is much cleaner than its actual expression. Nonetheless, Scripture is quite comfortable with theological tension. The imperative to love one’s enemy exists alongside the God-ordained work of bearing the sword. The call to love and protect one’s neighbor is held together with the demand to turn the other cheek. The peacemaking mission of the church is affirmed along with the call to pursue justice. After all, discipleship is about following behind one who is both lion and lamb.
Vocational excellence and spiritual health in the profession of arms are contingent on the proper posture toward the enemy. Combat stress, moral injury, shame, guilt, remorse, grief, and the inverse of these are inextricably related to how warriors relate to their enemies. David gives four anchor points that provide stability and safety for the vocational combatant. One-dimensional views of the enemy will not suffice; the warrior must have a layered view that includes the affirmation of dignity, the necessity of justice, the need to leave vengeance to God, and the call to mercy and forgiveness.