For the Sake of Ten

In the book of Genesis, the Lord sends men into the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to determine whether the stories of excessive sin and debauchery are true. He plans to destroy them both if, indeed, they are not conforming to His law. When the patriarch Abraham is told of this, he is troubled. He approaches the Lord and asks:

Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18:23-25 NIV)

And to this, the Lord responds:

If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake. (Genesis 18:26 NIV)

Abraham continues his line of questioning, lowering the number of the righteous each time. Forty-five? Thirty? Twenty? To all of these queries God responds that He would spare Sodom. Finally, Abraham asks:

May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there? (Genesis 18:32 NIV)

He answers:

For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it. (Genesis 18:32 NIV)

Despite having been written thousands of years ago, these words can be applied to modern military theory. During wartime, innocent civilians becoming casualties can be rather troubling; however, this passage gives us a good rule of thumb for the ethical Judeo-Christian military strategist. Any city, town or village you oppose may be obliterated if fewer than ten righteous souls dwell within its borders.

Now, one must first determine what “righteous” means and then survey the population before annihilating a city. Obviously, those who oppose your ideals of freedom and liberty do not fall into the category of the righteous. Anyone who takes up arms against you does not count, either, since Jesus taught that one should turn the other cheek (see Matthew 5:38-39, Luke 6:28-29). And, of course, non-believers do not fit the bill for righteous. Any sinner does not conform to this ideal, either. Remember that everyone who is not saved through faith alone by the Saviour is a sinner. Also, those who interpret the Bible incorrectly cannot be saved. God wrote the Bible in a simple, literal fashion for a reason.

Now that “righteousness” has been defined, a team of scouts must enter into the city in question in order to quantify the righteous. For larger cities, it is permissible to survey a small portion of the population and extrapolate the data to save time. Finally, if it is determined that less than than ten righteous people dwell within city limits, firebombing may commence. Being in accordance with the Word of God, it may be considered an ethical firebombing; a Godly firebombing. The strategist will be able to sleep soundly after doing God’s work.

Now, there are apologists out there that claim that either the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is figurative or that the few righteous people would be removed from the city along with Lot’s family before the rain of fire and brimstone. They are deceiving themselves. God is saying that there is a range of acceptable innocent non-combatant casualties when a city is annihilated during wartime. It is in clear and simple English. If only the US military consisted of good Christians, the war in Iraq would have been resolved long ago.

~ by norealname on April 22, 2008.