Exodus 15:3: “Jehovah is a man of war, Jehovah is his name.”

“I come in peace, I didn’t bring artillery. But I am pleading with you
with tears in my eyes: If you f*** with me, I’ll kill you. USMC General Mad Dog Mattis.

This passage in Exodus is part of the song of Moses that was offered in praise over the crossing of the Red Sea after God destroyed the Egyptian army. This meaning is obvious, God will do battle for us. Some translations will render this as warrior which is more accurate. A warrior is one who is experienced in warfare.

Today I read where President Elect Trump has appointed as his Secretary of Defense General Mad Dog Mattis. It is amazing what you find in the power of words. Now just suppose our new Secretary of Defense was name General Milk Toast Mattis. I doubt that would send the chill up the spines of the Iranians like Mad Dog.

Some Christians have a problem with God being a man of war or a warrior. That is because when we hear the word man of war, we think of a maniac who gets his thrills killing people. No one would question that our new Secretary of Defense is a man of war but according to his own words, he does not want war unless it is provoked, he basically considers himself a man of peace but he is also a realist, there are times when war is necessary.

The literal translation of ish milechamah, is man of war, however, that term is misleading in our modern understanding and Hollywood’s portray of men of war as wild eyes crazies. This phrase means something different to the ancient mind than it does to us in the 21st century. We need to step into the mind of the ancient Hebrews and their understanding of war. Wars in ancient times were not necessarily fought to protect one’s country or homeland. Wars were fought for two basic reasons, to obtain food and the basic necessities of life and/or for their gods, a holy war.

Note that if you take the Hebrew word for war, milechamah and remove the first and last letter you have the word lecham which means bread. In fact the root word for war is lecham or bread. The ancient Hebrews recognized the basic reason for war and their word for war is bread with the preposition mem which literally means because of bread. It has a feminine ending (Hei) indicating the family. Wars were fought for food for one’s family.

Note the last phrase “Jehovah is his name” which literally reads “Jehovah name.” The verb is is not there, we put that in because we need a verb. Wars were also fought for the sake of one’s god, as we even see today in the Middle East. God was fighting this war in His name. God took the Hebrew people out of Egypt not only to take them to a land of bread or milk and honey but to also give them the freedom to worship Him.

Thus, Jehovah is a man who fights to bring His people bread and freedom to worship Him. But soft, we have the word ish or man. God is not an ish. Ish is a man. The preposition of is not there in the Hebrew, we put that in to create a phrase which is familiar to us, man of war, but that leads us into wrong conclusions. Literally the whole phrase in Hebrew reads: Jehovah man war. There is no verb. In English we must always have a verb to make a sentence, you don’t need a verb in Hebrew to make a sentence.

This means there is some deeper meaning here that we seem to be missing. What is “man war” or “man because of bread?” The ancient rabbis teach us the word ish is spelled Alpeh, Yod and Shin which also means there is. The Yod represents the right, the Shin represents the left. This show extremes. Even today in politics we talk about the right and the left. We have two extremes, the conservative and liberal. Maimonides once said: “Truth never lies in any extreme to the right or to the left.” The Alpeh or God is in the middle. God draws two extremes to Himself and creates peace.

So you see the ancients may have seen totally the opposite in the phrase man of war that we see today. For in the ancient’s eyes man of war means that God brings two extremes together in peace for bread. Even today in the Middle East, when one wants to make peace or reconcile with an enemy they will do this over a meal. In Psalms 23 where David said: “thou prepares a table in the presence of my enemies” he was speaking a Hebrew idiom for making peace and reconciliation.

Oh, and one other thing, the word Jehovah is used, not Elohim. Jehovah has a feminine ending. If man of war was meant to mean to create violence, punish and destroy, Moses would have said Elohim, not Jehovah. The name Jehovah represents the feminine nature of God, the loving, caring and nurturing part of God. Moses is calling Jehovah a man of war because he was saying that He is a God who provides food and brings peace with one’s enemy. Sometimes the destruction of that enemy is necessary to bring peace, but the primary purpose is peace, not to punish or destroy. The purpose of violence in self defense is not to punish or destroy but to protect. Man of war is an expression of self defense.

Are you fighting a spiritual war today? Remember God is the “man of war.” You have no peace, you are running to two extremes, and find it hard to worship God? Then allow the man of war to step in, He will be your defense. He will bring peace, either by bringing you into reconciliation with the enemy that you are fighting against or with the destruction of that enemy for the purpose of self defense so that He may provide your daily bread. Like our new Secretary of Defense, God is coming in peace, but if you mess with Him, well look out. But also, as Moses said: “Jehovah is His name.” He will do it in His name, His feminine side, as a mother protecting her young and also that you will be free to worship Him.

So like it or not we have an ish malechamah, a man of war as our Secretary of Defense. General Mad Dog Mattis and I believe he would be the first to admit that he would appreciate our prayers.