Defending South Korea

Defending South Korea

 The Koreas, North and South, have been making the headlines again lately. It has been sixty years since the big war there erupted along their DMZ. In the first Korean War the United States assumed it was our problem and fought ferociously to save South Korea. We had a belief that the Communists had to be stopped or other nations would fall like dominoes to the communist hordes. The United States had fought its way to the position of the ‘leader of the free world’ and we automatically believed we had to face down North Korea as a challenge to western supremacy. Communists had to be stopped in their efforts at world dominion. It was almost an expanded vision of Manifest Destiny. The mantle of leadership, as it was said, had fallen on us.

 Now, here we are six decades later watching the predations of North Korea, one South Korean warship sunk, artillery fired on South Korean positions, and we wonder if there is going to be a re-fight coming soon. Yet, in the midst of the prepping for war maybe we ought to consider what a Biblical thought pattern might be toward this whole situation. South Korea, after all, is not one of our fifty states. It is not even an American protectorate, nor is it geographically close to us. What then is our moral responsibility to defend South Korea? If we think there is a moral responsibility to defend South Korea, then how was that responsibility derived? What is the source? What, exactly is it that provides the moral impetus to fight?

 When I search through my Bible for wisdom about when nations should fight I really find only two reasons. One is to chase from the national boundaries people who are unlawfully settled there. The other is to defend the borders, the land, from invaders. Other than these two reasons there seems to be no warrant to fight. When we talk about a national policy, behavior if you will, such as this, our best source of wisdom is to review how the nation of Israel acted and how God blessed or cursed them for their actions. The Bible tells us that the Old Testament is given for our instruction. This is a perfect topic to drive us to use that Old Testament to search out the wisdom we need.

 In a short blog like this we cannot explore these questions in detail. However, I can say with some assurance that we do not find Israel ever gathering her armies to go and defend other countries at God’s command. In fact, if we read the story of King Josiah, one of Israel’s (Judah’s’ actually) best kings we see that he lost his life fighting a foolish war against the king of Egypt. Josiah resisted God’s direct word not to fight (2 Chronicles 35:20-24), and it cost him his life. There is a lesson, probably lessons, in that story, one of which is to stay out of wars not your own. This is not just because it is unwise to fight other people’s wars but because God Himself is giving us warning to pay attention to our own affairs not everyone else’s. When Israel went to war at God’s command they were typically called out to defend ‘your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses’ (Nehemiah 5:14) in that order. God told us in Acts 17 that concerning nations He ‘determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation’. So then, it is His choice not ours. Our duty is to defend our own nation, our own direct interests. It is God’s work to determine what is done with other nations. We need to start learning to stay home and let God do His perfect work. He is the Ruler of nations and of history. We need not try to usurp His throne.

For Christian Culture,

 Don Schanzenbach

Author – Advancing the Kingdom       MissionToRestoreAmerica.com/blog/