Why Did God Have To March On Tree Tops To Defeat The Philistines And Not Air?

Why Did God Have To March On Tree Tops To Defeat The Philistines And Not Air?

        The scene is found in 2 Samuel 5:22-25. Just before the Philistines found out that David was newly anointed the King of Israel so they went on a search and destroy mission. David hear about it and moved into his stronghold to wait. After inquiring of the Lord he set out in a full frontal assault and defeated them easily with God’s help. This did not stop the Philistines just yet. They came out for more a second time. This time God told David not to directly attack them, but to circle around behind them and attack them opposite of some balsam trees. The Lord told David to act decisively because He would be marching out before them ahead. God told David that it would be apparent the Lord is marching out ahead of his army t attack the camp of the Philistines because David and his men would actually hear the sounds of God’s marching in the tops of the balsam trees. David did what God said. So obviously he heard the sounds of marching in the tops of trees then attacked and slaughtered many Philistines for miles. He won.

The text:

 The Philistines came up again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. So David inquired of the Lord, and He answered, “Do not make a frontal assault. Circle around behind them and attack them opposite the balsam trees. When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, act decisively, for then the Lord will have marched out ahead of you to attack the camp of the Philistines.” So David did exactly as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.

        Why did God have to do it this way this time? Why circle around and why did he have to hear marching and why did God have to use the tree tops to make the sound of his marching known? These are questions I think about after watching documentaries on the History Channel or somewhere else about biblical things. Shows like Battles B.C. who created an episode on the battle of Jericho completely ignored all supernatural things or wrote them off and tried to explain them away with natural things. After reading the above passage it causes me to play the Devil’s advocate and pretend I am a secular scholar explaining away the supernatural occurrence with something natural. I will raise up skepticism with statements and then answer it from my own thoughts.

        David did not really talk to God or hear him. It was his own mind and his own confidence as a new king to defeat the Philistines. The first battle, he defeated them by pure will power and might. The second battle where he went to the trees was a new trick he used in order to confuse the Philistines who would expect another full frontal assault. When David went to the trees there must have been wind that blew the trees around making the branches hit together. David mistook that for God marching above him in the tree tops. With David’s confidence as a new King who felt destined to own all of Israel this empowered him even more to go into battle and with this energy he won a second time. He used military genius to defeat them again and it was not anything supernatural. 

No. It was supernatural and David may have bad prior battle experience in Saul’s army and was a new King but this does not mean he would be simply confident in himself. Obviously the Philistines scared him and he ran away into his stronghold to wait. He did not just go and fight them. He waited and was protected in his stronghold. That does not speak of military confidence or an assumption he will win in himself. He did wait and did inquire of the Lord. He did everything like that and only fought when the Lord told him he would win. The Philistine army was fierce and always scared the Israelites even int he days of Saul and they freshly defeated Saul and his men just a bit earlier which included the death of Jonathon. Obviously David was not confident in himself. David also just fought on the side of Judah in a small civil war with Israel and Benjamin. This would not build military confidence in a newly appointed King. God did talk to David and did fight for him and went out to attack before David so he would have victory.

Why would God have to use trees to make sounds? Couldn’t he do it in the air with nothing if He is God? If God is so powerful why would he need to use tree tops to make marching sounds? It was obviously wind or a storm that shook the tree tops which David superstitiously assumed was God.

There is no mention of wind or any kind of storm during this battle. If there was a storm or high winds it seems as though it would be important enough to mention. If there wa sa storm and high winds why would David assume the wind blowing the trees was God marching? It would be blatantly obviously it was just wind. No, this had to be something way different and unusual. Since there is no mention of a storm it is totally right to assume the day was clear and normal. There is also no mention of the trees physically moving. No mention of branches or trees swaying either. It is right to assume they di not move, the trees did no sway, and the trees were still and God marched over them and the sound was supernatural. Did God march alone as Himself or did God bring his army?  Would David have heard 1 pair of feet marching for God alone or would he have heard multitudes of feet marching from God bringing his angels into the battle? I believe God brought his heavenly army into the battle so David heard God heavenly army with his angels feet marching above the trees. The trees remained still and there was no wind and the only noise was God and His army marching towards the Philistines.

So why did God have to be above trees and not the air? Well if it was in the air with no trees it could be possibly mistaken for thunder. Thunder has been known to occur even on days it seems there is no storm. God also probably wanted to use a physical thing on earth as a reference point for David and his soldiers to have clearer hearing and sight. God probably wanted David to stay behind the Philistines so they could not flee backwards after God disrupts them for the second time. The first battle before this God burst out into them so they may he terrified to run backwards. This would enable David to kill them easier. Also, with the trees being perfectly still and God’s marching above them, David’s men would not be confused to assume it was just a windy day or thunder. With no movement of trees and just the sounds of an army above them would give them total faith in God that this is supernatural.

I find it silly when secular scholars explain away miracles or the supernatural history in the Bible as some natural thing. It would not be possible to win these biblical battles without the Lord. These were no win situations for the Israelites if they had to rely on their own tactics and fighting ability. The enemies of Israel were so powerful an scary. It was God who won the battles and was completely supernatural. God did physically march over the trees that day and did fight for David.

That day David listened to the Lord and he defeated the evil army of the Philistines and had rest. God moved and worked in very special ways in ancient times. God was actively and physically guiding Israel during the Old Testament times. We no long for this to happen again. We can be assured that on the Day of the Lord when Christ returns there will be en even bigger noise and terror in the world.

Bible Contradiction? Not So Fast! Slow Down And Read Further!

Bible Contradiction? not so fast! Slow Down And Read Further!

        A lot of times when people read the Bible they will see one thing and assume it is a Bible contradiction or be totally confused. It makes them stop to think hard about the passage at hand and about why is it written the way it is written, and how it all make sense logically. Atheists love to misrepresent and misinterpret types of things!

        When confronted with a confusing passage or one that seems to make no sense that comes off as a contradiction it is best to slow down, think it over, then read further for it to be explained. Often times people who have the intention to find a contradiction in the Bible will simply think they find one and stop and not read further. If they only read further it will be explained and found to not be a real contradiction.

        For this discussion Read Exodus 4-7.

        One example I will present is Exodus 4:30,

“Aaron repeated everything the LORD had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people.“

What makes this verse confusing is that prior in the story God had specifically told Moses he would perform such duties. But Moses complained and said he was not a good speaker so he needed help. God then told Moses that Aaron would be his spokes person. The main verses on this part of the story are Exodus 4:13-17,

“Moses said, ‘Please Lord, send someone else. 
Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses, and He said, ‘Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. When he sees you his heart will rejoice. You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both you and him to speak, and will teach you both what to do. He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and you will serve as God to him. And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.“

When reading this it seems confusing that in verse 30 Aaron is the one performing the signs with the staff and his hand. Before all of this Moses had met God at the burning Bush where God gave him directions on how to perform 2 sign miracles. One was throwing his staff onto the ground to make it turn into a snake, and the other was putting his hand inside his robe and pulling it out to become diseased and white and putting it back in and returning his hand to normal. In Exodus 4:30 it says that Aaron performed these signs. But if God gave Moses the direction to to them why is it said Aaron is doing them? When reading it, it feels very random. Is this a contradiction? It is not, and to find out why it is not you simply should read further into the story.

        In chapter 7 of Exodus God specifically tells Moses to tell Aaron to perform the miracles. Verses 8-9 state,

“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘When Pharaoh tells you: Perform a miracle, tell Aaron: Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.”  

So not only could Aaron perform the miracle God gave direction to Moses to do, he could do it with his own staff. This is most likely because Moses gave the staff to him to carry. It did not have to be Moses’s staff necessarily. God allowed Moses to be silent and not be the spokesperson for God since he was afraid, and instead allowed Moses to tell Aaron to do everything for him including the miracles. Aaron even did many of the plague miracles as well, but later Moses performed the plague miracles. So according to what is written in Exodus 4:30 it is plausible that Moses also told Aaron the directions on performing the miracles as well.

Aaron turning his staff into the snake while Moses stands silently behind

        It is plausible that God told Moses to tell Aaron to do the miracles even if it is not written down explicitly that he did in verses 4:14-17.” It was also not written down that Moses explained it to Aaron either in verses 27-28 where Moses and Aaron met and greeted. Verse 27 says “Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and about all the signs He had commanded him to do.” It can be understood that in this sentence it is implied Moses also explained that Aaron would be the one to do them. It is obvious later in chapter 7 that this is so. Since Moses told Aaron to do the miracles in front of the Egyptians it is apparent this understanding that Aaron would be doing the miracles was established before he met the Israelite elders as well beforehand.

In verse 4:17 God says directly to Moses, “And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.” This does not negate Aaron being the one to do them. Saying “you will perform” can be understood as a general statement. It does not necessarily mean only Moses can and will do it, but a general term that it will be done by Moses and Aaron together. It could also be understood as a plural “you” with the understanding of “you and Aaron.” People speak this way all of the time in every day language today. Someone gives orders to someone that they MUST do something, yet that person oversees other people who are the ones who are physically going to do it. Whereas the person who was commanded to do them actually does not do the work. This happens in the military or any profession with a hierarchy. No one would ever accuse a general of a contradiction when he commands someone under him who is in charge of other men to do something, when it is the other men he is in charge of who do the work the general asked him to do. Moses was given special authority that he would “serve as God” to Aaron in 4:16. In 7:1 God told Moses that He made him like God to Pharaoh and Aaron is his prophet.  So Moses could be told to do something by God, and then have Aaron do it for him instead of him doing it. There is absolutely no contradiction in this passage.

        Exodus 4:30 is simply one verse that could be thought of as a contradiction without further reading in the passage, story, chapter, or book. Remember for the next time when reading the Bible you find something that is confusing to stop, relax, think it over, then continue reading. It will be explained eventually further in the Bible. Also, it never hurts to ask your pastor or seek out a respected Bible teacher on the topic that concerns you. Don’t give up, God will reveal the answer to you in His Word.

Atheists’ Anger All Seem To Come From The Same Complex

Atheists’ Anger All Seem To Come From The Same Complex

        It seems that much of all atheists’ anger comes from the same complex. The “God does not exist so I hate him for it. Oh wait, God does exist but he does not exist the way I want him to exist!” complex. They hate God for “not existing” and then when evidence that points towards God existence, and His truth says contrary, they get even more upset because God does not exist the way they want him to exist. They elevate their own desires above God, and their own lowly opinions and feelings of what he should be or do for them, above God’s perfect standards of truth and morality. So they then have to pretend God does not exist, and delude themselves, in order to feel good and ignore the guilt of sin. Much of it of course has to do with wanting to commit sinful acts such as sexual immorality and other things, but a lot honestly comes from the fact life is hard. Pain happens. People put you down. The ego gets in the way of accepting objective truth. They have been hurt and there is no way anyone can tell them God is real otherwise he would have given them things, made people like them, and given them all the nice pleasures they want in life. Since life is painful and tough, and some people have hurt their feelings before, they will then yell at a non-existent god for it. This is their delusion and illogical nature. The Bible hurts their feelings because it tells them that they are wrong and need God to save them. It effects their ego that God does not exist in their own image.

Over 100 Articles On Ehud’s 18 Inch Dagger!

Over 100 Articles On Ehud’s 18 Inch Dagger!

        There are now over 100 articles posted on Ehud’s 18 Inch Dagger! Amazing! It has been over 4 years since this blog was started! I thank everyone of you who reads this blog and especially anyone who was here from the very beginning (when this blog was called Maranatha). I changed this blog’s name to Ehud’s 18 Inch Dagger not long ago last year because Maranatha is such an overused term for ministries. And Ehud’s 18 Inch Dagger is not only cool and really hardcore, which speaks of an awesome story in the Bible, but it is unique and I do not know of anyone else using it for a Christian ministry.

        This blog has always been about biblical theology, cultures— including ethnic cultural analyses and anthropological insights about the world, and the state of society. Everything has always had a Christian viewpoint and I hope that this blog over the years has touched people’s lives or at least made them think deeper about the Bible and learn things about Christian faith.

       No one is perfect and most certainly, I, the blogger of Ehud’s 18 Inch Dagger am not perfect either and most certainly a sinner. Even so, my hope is God has used, and will keep using, my blog for His purposes to express His glory and to benefit of God’s Kingdom. There are Christians all around the world in many different countries and ethnic groups and I have seen that I get hits from all over the world. I hope that many of you will keep reading my blog and will spread the word about it. If you have found an article that you want to use to show your church or Christian friends feel free to send them my link or print them out. Just give me credit that I, White Dragon (my online code name-also can use “whitedragonawa”), am the author.

        It has been a great experience writing my blog and getting past 100 blog articles posted online. I never thought I would have 100 posts that people would read, and I thank all of you for checking them out. Feel free to post in the comments on any article and create discussions on topics. I hope to continue coming up with good topics to write articles about. I only write when I feel inspired, confused, or passionate about an issue. Other times I just write a short thing here and there. So just bear with me. Maybe if you tell me about an issue and want me to write about it just leave me comments. I will see what I can do.

        For His glory!

For His glory and the future! – White Dragon

Who Was Cain Afraid Would Kill Him?

Who Was Cain Afraid Would Kill Him?

        Cain was cursed by God because he murdered his brother Abel. When God questioned him about the murder He condemned Cain to life as a wanderer in the wilderness. The ground would no longer yield its crops for Cain to survive with sustenance. His previous skills as an agriculturalist would no longer work for him as the ground would always fail his crops because of God’s supernatural punishment making it impossible for Cain to have any success growing food. Cain most likely had to rely on others growing food and also hunting animals, or foraging wild plants he did not plant himself. Cain was afraid of this punishment and claimed it was too harsh because anyone who found him wandering around the wilderness would want to kill him since he murdered his brother. This excuse seems illogical since if the sole reason people would want to kill Cain was that he murdered his brother, how would it be any different if he had a farm and grew crops and stayed in one place? Wouldn’t people still want to kill him, and to find him easier in order to kill him since he is not wandering around? Wandering around would keep him out of people’s way and make it harder for people to find him if he is evasive enough. But Cain mentions that he would be banished from God’s presence. So Cain understood that in God’s presence there is protection. People who are not in the presence of God do not have God’s protection. Cain was banished away from a relationship with God. Even so, Cain was just making an excuse about his punishment and was the world’s first murderer.

        With Cain’s grievance, he made the claim people would want to kill him. He understood that people would want vengeance, and since he had the ability to kill someone, other people had the ability to kill as well. Since Abel had the ability to die by violence, Cain understood he had the ability to die by violence from someone else since he was human just as his brother. Cain had fear that there were other people who would kill him. Who were these people that Cain was afraid would kill him? This section of Scripture can be found in Genesis 4:13-14 where Cain mentions his fear of being killed. After reading this passage one would wonder who Cain could possibly be talking about since all that the Bible mentions are Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel existing and does not mention other people. So who was he afraid would kill him? There are a few options of who they could be.

        The only people that this part of the Bible mentions being alive were Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel (until he was murdered). No other children are mentioned until the next chapter when it talks about the line of Cain, and also Adam through Seth. It is possible that Adam had some daughters during this time that were alive during Abel’s death. Genesis 4:3 says “In the course of time” when referring to the grievance that Cain had which enraged him to murder. This was the time when Cain and Abel both offered sacrifices and God rejected Cain’s offering of crops. So after Cain and Abel were born there was a passing of some time. Genesis is not clear on how long this time was, but it had to be enough for Cain and Abel to be grown up and mature. During the course of time it is possible Adam and Eve had daughters and Cain may have taken one to be his wife and had children by this time, and it is plausible, by the time he murdered Cain, these children were old enough to be able to understand what Cain did and also had the ability to kill him. It is also possible that Cain’s sisters (Adam and Eve’s daughters) would try to kill him as well. Women do have the ability to kill men, it is not impossible.

        When reading Scripture it shows that it was unlikely Abel had a wife and children, since there is no mention of his line. It is also apparent that Adam and Eve did not have any other sons until after Abel was murdered. So Abel could not have had any descendants who would want to kill Cain. Only after Abel’s death does it mention Adam knowing his wife intimately again and bearing a son who was named Seth. One would assume a husband and wife would have had plenty of time to have sex various times; so it seems odd it took so long for Adam to have sex with Eve again to birth Seth. No witnesses exist today who were there, so we cannot say Adam and Eve had sex or did not have sex until that length of time. But it is possible they did not. But what is more likely is that Adam and Eve did have abundant sex and most likely bore daughters or figured out some primitive method of birth control. If Adam and Eve did bear daughters, Cain could have had one as his wife, before he murdered Abel, and had children that would be upset he murdered their uncle.

        It is obviously though that Seth was born after the death of Abel and not before since it mentions in Genesis 4:25 that Seth replaced Abel. The passage of Seth’s birth was not isolated outside of chronological order. In some instances throughout the Bible passages are not in chronological order; but in the case of this story in Genesis it is obviously in chronological order that Seth was born after Abel died since it explicitly states that Seth replaced Abel who died previously.

        Another possibility is that Cain was thinking about the future that there will be more people born eventually who might grow up to kill him. He could have assumed Adam and Eve his, own parents, would kill him; or that they would have another son who would try and kill him eventually. Humans lived several hundred years during this time, and no one had died of natural causes or old age yet, so Cain probably did not think about dying himself except by a violent act, since the only death he knew about was the one he committed on his brother. So it is plausible Cain was preparing for the future that someone at some point would kill him.

       An even more plausible explanation of who would kill Cain is that Cain had had children before he murdered Abel, and for some reason Abel did not take a wife. Abel was younger than Cain. Some scholars claim Cain and Abel were twins, but there is no factual evidence to prove this. The only evidence would be that they are mentioned one after another without a mention of time passing. If Cain and Abel were twins they would be sexually mature at the same time and most likely both have wives around the same time. Why would Abel wait? But if Abel was much younger than Cain it makes more sense. It would be understandable how easy it would be for Cain to murder him without much of a fight if he was younger and smaller. Also it would explain why Abel did not take a wife yet. Cain was older and was sexually mature before Abel. Abel could have been too busy worshiping God instead of thinking about romance. Cain on the other hand had a very different personality and could have been preoccupied with romance and took a wife. To populate the earth Cain had to have one of his sisters as a wife. Incest did not exist and was not called sin yet since the genetic lines were so pure, and this was the only possible way to populate the earth. Only later was incest mentioned as a sin in the Old Testament by God, and for good reason, since it is a fact that incestual relationships cause many deformities and mental illnesses. Within a few generations the ability to marry more distant relatives was available until family ties were so far apart that it was easy to find someone not related in the sense of our idea of relatives today. This ability could have happened within a very few generations.

        The best explanation of why Cain feared people would kill him is that he had taken a wife, had children (since Genesis 4:17-22 does not state when exactly Cain had sexual relations with his wife, it could have been before he murdered Abel) who were old enough to understand he murdered his brother, and word would spread to everyone including future generations who would hunt Cain down and kill him eventually. He could have had sisters currently alive who would want to kill him, as well as fearing his own parents might want to kill him. Who knows what Cain’s irrational and selfish mind would assume. Also, no one was immune to sin especially his own parents who were the first sinners. He could have also been thinking that Adam and Eve would have more sons and daughters who would grow up and also possibly kill Cain. God prevented this from happening by declaring that if anyone would kill him, they would be punished seven times over. God then put a mark on Cain to signify that by God’s command Himself, no one is to harm Cain at all, or suffer that fate. This mark on Cain was some visible marking on his physical body. It could have been a special design somewhere people could see easily. Probably his face. Whatever that sign looked like the people of the time knew exactly what it meant. So Cain was not murdered and died eventually most likely by a natural cause. This was an act of God’s common mercy on all people, both wicked and righteous.

“Noah: The Movie” Released Today On YouTube

“Noah: The Movie” Released Today On YouTube

        Living Waters uploaded Noah: The Movie on YouTube today. It is about 30 minutes long and talks about what the Bible says about Noah and the Flood and gives some reasons to consider it as a fact, and explores some Bible prophecy for today, as well as a Gospel presentation. Hope all my readers will check it out.

Feel free to comment about this movie below!