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Ecclesiastes, part 9, War and Peace

The final pair in the Time poem of Ecclesiastes 3:8 says, “a time for war and a time for peace,” bringing the love-hate paradigm to the international level.

This pair confronts the harshest reality “under the sun”: peace is not permanent, and war is not accidental. Just as hatred must be governed and motivated solely by the love-nature of God (that is, His law), so also must war be subjected to the constraints of the laws of war in Deuteronomy 20. God’s law recognizes the necessity of war, given the carnality of kings and nations. His laws of war presuppose this reality, just as it presupposes that the wars of His people were righteous and just. In other words, God does not condone an unjust war, even if they strictly obey the laws of war as written.

Two Swords

There are two ways to fight a war, because, biblically speaking, there are two types of weapons at our disposal. There is a physical sword and the sword of the Spirit. Those who have Old Covenant belief systems have available only a physical sword, bringing death and destruction. New Covenant believers are given the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17), which is far more powerful. Hebrews 4:12 describes it, saying,

¹² For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged [physical] sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Physical swords fight the bad behavior of flesh and blood; spiritual swords, on the other hand, are needed “to judge thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Physical swords divide one’s spirit from the body (in death); spiritual swords can divide one’s spirit from the soul (bringing life).

Ecclesiastes names the problem of the time-based world order; the Gospel promises its ultimate resolution when all things are subjected to the rule of the Prince of Peace.

Covenant Revelation

Before Israel entered the land of Canaan, God brought them to Mount Horeb to offer them a covenant. They were required to vow obedience as a condition of this covenant (Exodus 19:5). Being conditional upon their ability to keep their vow, they soon found it to be impossible to keep perfectly. Hence, it was broken, and they found themselves in need of a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31)—one based on God’s vow, not upon their own vow.

The Israelites under Moses were instructed to draw near to God, but they, being fearful, “stood at a distance” (Exodus 20:21), preferring to send Moses up the Mount. Thus Moses heard the rest of the law, and he then returned to tell the people what God had spoken. They all heard God speak the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 4:12), giving them the general outline of the principles of God’s nature; but the rest of the details in Exodus 20:22 through chapter 23 the people received from Moses.

Because “faith comes by hearing” (Romans 10:17), one’s faith is placed in the one speaking. So the Israelites had a little faith in God when they heard the Ten Commandments, but primarily, their faith was in Moses. Revelation comes from God; persuasion comes from men. Ideally, when men listen to revelation from preachers, they hear God through those preachers, thereby bypassing flesh and blood. Those who are able to discern on that level may receive revelation.

Pentecost Delayed

God spoke the Ten Commandments on the day that was later commemorated as the Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22), because it was seven weeks after the wave-sheaf offering waved by the high priest on the first Sunday after Passover. A thousand years later, this feast was called Pentecost (“50^th day”) in the Greek language.

If the Israelites had been able to hear God’s revelation for themselves on that day, they might have fulfilled the promise of Pentecost at that time. But this was not in the divine plan, nor were the people ready for this. So the fulfillment of Pentecost was delayed for 1,480 years (Acts 2:1). Under the New Covenant, ratified on the day of Pentecost, Jesus’ disciples received the word of God, “the sword of the Spirit,” which the Israelites under Moses had been too fearful to accept.

The Canaanite Wars

The Israelites, then, were limited to physical swords by which to conquer the Canaanites. The results are obvious. It was a time of physical warfare and bloodshed. If they had been capable of wielding the sword of the Spirit, they would have entered the land from Kadesh-barnea at the time of the feast of Tabernacles, and they would have conquered the Canaanites by the preaching of the gospel. How do we know? Because this was The Great Commission that Jesus gave to His disciples in Matthew 28:19, 20,

¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…

The disciples were commanded to “kill” by baptism, rather than by chopping off their heads. Baptism signifies death and resurrection (Romans 6:3, 4). Baptism is the result of wielding the sword of the Spirit. It brings life and justification. Romans 6:7 says (literally),

⁷ for he who has died is justified from sin.

The sword of the Spirit is in our mouth, even as it is in the mouth of Christ. Revelation 1:16 says of Him, “out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.” His tongue is pictured as the sword of the Spirit. So also our tongues, speaking the word of God, are powerful weapons of war against sin and death, typified by baptism. The result is the death of the “old man” (flesh) and the resurrection of the “new man” that is spiritual. Hence, it is positive, not negative, even though the “old man” disagrees and wages war to stay alive (Romans 7:23).

We are, then, engaged in a godly war between flesh and spirit. There is indeed “a time for war,” as Koheleth states.

Governments Wield a Physical Sword

Governments are instituted by God to enforce His laws and to protect the God-given rights of all men. Unfortunately, since the days of Nimrod, governments have rebelled against God and have set up their own competing forms of government which are self-serving and oppressive. All man-made, carnal governments are usurpers in that sense, yet they are nonetheless liable and accountable to God who remains sovereign over them.

Romans 13:3, 4 says,

³ For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; ⁴ for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

Paul was not condoning government injustice; he was telling us that all government is subject to God and is accountable to Him. Some governments are better than others, depending on the rulers and their laws. In view of human nature, even bad government is better than none at all. Christians ought to promote good government in whatever way they can, but they should not seek to overthrow it by the fleshly power of physical swords.

In the end, God Himself will work by the power of His own will to replace man-made governments with the government of His Kingdom. God’s laws (properly understood) will yet be the standard of measure of good and evil. Meanwhile, we are called to keep that hope alive and to use the sword of the Spirit to disciple all nations and teach everyone the nature of God as manifested in the life of Jesus Christ.

The Prince of Peace

Peace is coming. That is our hope (expectation). World peace is the desire of all nations, but until the Prince of Peace comes to rule, that desire remains unfulfilled. Isaiah 9:6, 7 prophesies,

⁶ For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

This will be accomplished, not by the zeal of men, but by “the zeal of the Lord of hosts.” Isaiah 2:2-4 prophesies further,

² Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain [kingdom] of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains [kingdoms], and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. ³ And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord [the sword of the Spirit] from [New] Jerusalem. ⁴ And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.

Meanwhile, however, Koheleth speaks of all these pairs as temporary things, subject to time on account of mortality. The final irony is that the poem ends with peace, but this peace is not permanent. So also with Solomon himself, the son of King David. Solomon’s name means “peaceful,” from shalom, “peace; wholeness.” Yet when Solomon died, the short era of peace ended, and wars resumed.

Koheleth leaves the reader asking: If peace comes and goes like every other season, where is permanence? That question drives the rest of the book.