Bible Wars & Weapons, Written By Rick Osborne, Marnie Wooding, and Ed Strauss, Illustrated by Michael Moore

This short and heavily illustrated book is part of a series called 2:52 Soul Gear, published by the children’s group within Zondervan, part of the Thomas Nelson publishing group. This particular book seeks to talk about a subject that many boys, and more than a few men, and at least a few girls and women, find to be of great personal interest, and that is military history. As might be expected, though, this book talks about military history with a twist, using the Bible as a source for insights on physical (and more importantly spiritual) warfare, written in a way that encourages its young readers to look to the biblical text if they are curious about details and also providing a summarized account of biblical military history in a chronological fashion that presents the subject as a major and interesting aspect of the Bible, something that young men might not automatically know.

In terms of its contents, the book is not an exhaustive look at the battles or weapons of the Bible by any means, although it is at least a somewhat representative sample, starting in Genesis 14 with the warfare in which Abraham armed his own servants to rescue his kidnapped nephew Lot [1], moving on to the warfare of Israel against Amalek [2] and also against Sihon and Og, the cities of Jericho and Ai, the treaty with Gibeon and its aftermath [3], Gibeon’s struggle against the Midianites, the fall of Shiloh and the temporary loss of the Ark of the Covenant [4], the death of Ahab in battle against Syria, the siege of Samaria by Syria, the fall of Israel to Assyria, the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians, the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, and a couple of chapters on spiritual warfare and Armageddon, which is a bit of misnomer. The chapters introduce where they come from in scripture, their combatants, location, and weapons, a summary of the battle or war, including its context, plenty of pictures, and maps, and a lesson for the young reader concerning proper behavior towards God or others, written in a dramatic and easy-to-understand way.

In terms of achieving its targets, this book should manage to whet the appetite of those interested in biblical military history for more substantial fare, including in-depth study of the Bible itself for military investigations and questions. Some of the maps are not very accurate, but overall the book should at least point its readers in the right direction about where to go for better understanding of the importance of military matters, both on a physical and spiritual level, in the Bible. This sort of understanding is likely to help readers recognize that those who are brave and courageous and willing to do battle against evil have a place among the people of God, even if we look forward to a time when there will no longer be any sort of conflict or suffering. Although this book is not something that should be a challenging read for many of its intended audience, there is at least a chance that some of the readers of this book may be inspired to think and write more seriously about the issue of biblical warfare in the future, with a correspondingly increased respect for the biblical text and its ability to speak to people with a wide variety of backgrounds and interests.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/genesis-14and-ancient-coalition-warfare-2/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/mysteries-of-the-bible-unknown-kings-and-regimes/

[2] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/exodus-178-16-blotting-amalek-from-under-heaven/

[3] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/joshua-9-and-the-biblical-standard-for-treaties/

[4] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/1-samuel-4-19-22-ichabod-no-weight-or-glory/