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Judges 11:33 "And Jephthah smote the Ammonites from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abelkeramim, with a very great slaughter. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel."

 

As difficult as it is to hear and understand, sometimes a good smoting is just necessary. There are times when the earthly enemies of God and His people will not be subdued in any other way, and pose too much of a threat to just leave be. Modern Western sensibilities have a hard time accepting this, but it does us great harm not to acknowledge it.

 

Suicidal empathy seems to undergird much Western policy now, and it is being exploited by those who would overturn all that is true and beautiful and good. I don't know why the Ammonites were so set in their ways that they had to be slaughtered in order to be subdued, nor do I know why certain enemies of our time cannot be reasoned with nor appealed to in charity. But God knew when the Ammonites had to be smote to be subdued, and He knows if and when our enemies will have to be as well. It feels like that time is approaching, or may even be upon us, if there is to be anything left of Western Judeo-Christian values. Then again, those values no longer seem very valued by much of the West, so perhaps it is the West that God intends to smote through our enemies (as He did Jerusalem through Nebuchadnezzar).

 

In any event, we leave all to the will of God. If smoting is necessary, He will call up the people to do it. They may not be the "good guys", as we saw yesterday with Holofernes, or they may be pursuing the good, but still prone to great missteps, as Jephthah was. No matter what, God will be in charge, as He always is.