God’s Creative Battle Plans – Elisha and the Unseen Warriors
God’s Creative Battle Plans – Elisha and the Unseen Warriors.
Yahweh is a warrior! Yahweh is His Name! (Exodus 15:3).
Moses and Miriam in their famous Song at the Red Sea, were the first ones to describe the Lord as a warrior. And throughout Scripture, God was identified as a warrior ever since. The Hebrew word for warrior in this passage is “ish milhamah,” which means man of war, warrior, champion, hero, fighter, mighty man. God’s stature as a fighter was taken up by the prophets, like David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zephaniah.
The Fierce Warrior with a Vivid Imagination. Lord Yahweh, as we would expect, was not just any common fighter. He was a warrior with the divine imagination that created completely unpredictable battle plans for every conflict between an enemy of God and His Chosen People. In Scripture, the Warrior-King was the master of unconventional warfare, unexpected schemes that would leave people scratching their heads in surprise or shaking their heads in amazement. God’s strategies were so diverse that they might appear to be random, but of course they were divinely orchestrated. His battle strategies to victory were well outside the human imagination, in such a way that the faith of His fighters on the ground was tested. It became obvious to His fighting men, though, that God was going about this battle in a completely different way than they would, and they were wise when they trusted in Him.
“And when the servant of Elisha, the man of God, arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So Elisha answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed and said, ‘Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:15-17).
Elisha was handpicked by Yahweh to be the replacement for Elijah as a prophet to Israel. His ministry occurred around 800 BC, only 150 years after David. He was a prophet for 55 years, through four kings of Israel. Elijah was Elisha’s mentor for seven to eight years. After Elijah left this earth in a fiery whirlwind,, Elisha was left on his own to carry on the prophetic tradition. Fortunately, Elisha was more than up to the task. He had asked Elijah for a double-portion of Elijah’s spirit before Elijah was taken to heaven, and that proved to be the case. Elisha was involved with everything to do with Israel… religious reform, politics, military campaigns, palace intrigues, and performing remarkably practical and kindhearted miracles. Elisha ended up working twice the number of miracles of Elijah, a double-portion indeed, and so Elisha was one of the greatest miracle workers in the Hebrew Bible. Elisha was a man of great spiritual strength and integrity, and he seemed to have boundless energy. Everywhere one looked in Israel, there was Elisha, the prophet of Yahweh.
Kindness. Jesus and Elisha shared a dominant character quality: Kindness. The miracles of Jesus were dripping with loving-kindness, and Elisha demonstrated much the same in his prophetic ministry. Elisha was in this sense a forerunner to Jesus, for Elisha was the kindest miracle worker one could hope for. He cared for the practical needs of ordinary people in their daily lives. As he came upon needy people in his journeys, he was used of God to meet those needs. One Study Bible mentions that there were at least eighteen encounters between Elisha and people in some type of need, and Elisha each time demonstrated powerful and caring help to those people. Some of his ordinary miracles were… He purified the drinking water for the people of Jericho (2 Kings 2:19); He multiplied the amount of a widow’s supply of oil so she could pay her debts and keep her sons from being sold into debtor’s slavery (4:1-7); he purified a poisonous stew so a group of prophets could eat it safely (4:38-41); he found a group of 100 prophets who didn’t have enough food to eat, so he multiplied loaves of bread for them till all were satisfied (4:42-44); he raised a child to life (4:8-37); he healed a man of leprosy (5:14-15). Elisha’s kindness knew no bounds.
In Trouble? Not! At one point in his ministry, Elisha was in deep trouble. The Arameans, avowed enemies of Israel, were charged by their king to seize Elisha and imprison him. Elisha was a major thorn in the side of the king of Aram, because every time the Arameans planned an attack of Israel, Elisha supernaturally knew of the enemy’s strategy, and warned the king of Israel. After several incidents of thwarted attempts, the king of Aram had had enough. So he sent a huge army with soldiers, horses and chariots to surround Elisha and capture him. Early in the morning the servant of Elisha looked out and saw the Arameans ready to attack. The servant panicked and asked Elisha what they could do. Elisha calmly asked the Lord to open the spiritual eyes of the servant. Soon, the servant looked up, and he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with angels, and horses, and chariots of fire. The Lord had assured the servant that there was a mighty heavenly army to defend them. And the servant was no longer afraid. The unseen became the seen, and it turned out the enemy was outnumbered. The Lord, as Commander of the Angel Armies, vastly outnumbered the horde of Aramean soldiers. Yahweh-sabaoth, the Lord of the Angel Armies, has a superior heavenly force of warriors at His command, and they haven’t been defeated, and they never will.
Blindness. When the enemy then attacked Elisha’s home, he prayed once again to the Lord, asking Him to strike the entire army with blindness. So that’s what God did, and Elisha was able to guide the Aramean army to the King of Israel, who treated them kindly with food and drink and safe return to their homeland in Syria.
An Answer to Fear: When trouble surrounds you, with eyes of faith envision what surrounds the trouble. At a moment’s notice, God of the Angel Armies will come to the rescue amidst any spiritual warfare you may be facing. If only we had eyes to see into the spiritual realm, like Elisha’s servant. We would be astounded and our fears would disappear. Be not afraid. There are more of us than there are of them. It is a supreme virtue to trust in God’s protection without these spiritual eyes. For we walk by faith, not by sight.