WHY DIDN’T ISRAEL USE HORSES?

Deut. 17:16

Morning Meditation 7/6/16

Verse 16 says, “But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way..”

“Archeology has revealed that horses were commonly used in the armies and societies of all of the ancient nations of the Middle East, with the exception of Israel, until the reign of King Solomon approximately 970 B.C.”

“The primary reason of God’s prohibition of horses for Israel was the fact that Egypt was the world’s premier source of breeding farms to produce war-horses. God knew that Israel would be tempted to enter into alliances with Egypt to acquire horses for their army. Therefore, the Lord gave a prohibition against the use of horses to ensure that Israel would not depend on an alliance with Egypt to obtain war-horses.”

There is also another important reason. “Israel was a nation of valiant soldiers who won astonishing battles against the overwhelming armies of her pagan enemies through the supernatural power of God. When they won such battles against the more powerful armies of her pagan enemies they knew that it was only through the supernatural power of their God..”

“By forbidding the Jewish state to acquire horses, God assured that the Israelites would be forced to fight defensive battles to protect the territory of the Holy Land that the Lord had given to them.” (Quotations from The Signature of God by Grant R. Jeffrey).

God did not allow Israel to used horses in warfare when he first brought them out of Egypt. By this he removed the temptation to go back to Egypt to secure horses. Egypt was the place to go to get war-horses. He did not allow Israel to use horses because he intended to give victory to Israel thereby securing their praise and dependence on him. He did not allow Israel to use horses because his will for them was to fight defensively not offensively, i.e., they were not to become a world power by aggressive battle. This would come at the time of the Messiah.

This is a great lesson on separation from the world. We as Christians need to possess our possessions. God has given us the victory and we are allowed to defend it. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Cor.. 10:3-5). We are to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and put on the whole armor of God (Eph. 2:10-18). But the weapons of our warfare are defensive. And none are provided to be used against flesh. We are taught to turn the other cheek.

We are taught to trust the Lord for the victories and not use the world to accomplish his purposes. James 4:4 says, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James is speaking to the people of God. He is warning them against the “friendship of the world.” He tells them with graphic language that association with the world, in the areas he names, places them with the enemies of God.

We are not to use the world as a means to obtain peace of mind. Romans 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” Phil. 4:5-7 says, “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” This is the way of peace. The ministry is trained today to do everything except to preach the Word of God. The counseling is largely directed to Christian counselors. I can understand the burden of a pastor in counseling situations. It is easy to fall into the trap of upgrading your education in psychology so that you feel that you can help those who come to you. (There are some Christian counselors who use nothing but the Bible for solutions).

I don’t know how many times in frustration, and in a sincere desire to help people, I have grabbed “counseling books” off the shelves of my library in preparation for a counseling session. Then as I read the information, there was a “still small voice” that said to me, “you are reading the wrong book!” You see God says in 2 Tim. 3:16-17: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS.”(Caps mine). Do we believe this verse in a qualified sense or do we believe it literally? Incidentally, what were those books doing on my shelves to begin with? It looks like I may have gone back to Egypt after some war-horses.

Incidentally, I am just using the counseling situation as an illustration of all the other things we do. If the Bible doesn’t work, we always have the world to which we can go! Let me ask a question. Should the preacher ever offer any Christian who comes to him for counsel any alternatives to the Scripture? Let me put it another way. If a person comes to me for counsel and what I tell him from the Scripture does not seem to be working, am I to refer him to a “Christian counselor” as an alternative? After a lot of meditation on this subject, I believe what has happened is that we have it set up this way: if the Sword of the Spirit doesn’t work or is not enough, we have some mighty war-horses lined up in the background to bring into the battle. That is, if it is too hard for the Lord to manage! A classic situation is that we use the weapons of the world to obtain the so-called victory and give God the credit. Now that is really spiritual! I’m sure God appreciates that.

If the Bible doesn’t work, the problem is not with the Bible. We can count on what Isaiah said in Isaiah 34:16: “Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.” The problem is that we have another name for sin today. It is not sin any more. But it is still sin with God. There is only one place where sin is to be dealt with, i.e., THE CROSS. If you want supernatural victory, you need to do two things. First, get rid of the war-horses from Egypt. If they are there, you will be tempted to go back to Egypt for help.. Second, face sin with the Word of God and don’t offer anyone help beyond the Bible. If the Bible won’t work, it is because the person is rejecting God’s way to the solution. God cannot fail. That is not possible. Someone said to the great Methodist Evangelist Sam Jones, “Sam, you are rubbing the cat the wrong way,” to which he replied, “then turn the cat around.”

May the Lord bless each of you.

In Christ

Bro. White