Psalm 149:6 –
Let the praises of God be in their mouths, and a sharp sword in their hands—
This Psalm stated so joyous, talking about a new song and dancing. I read that and thought about the movie from my younger years that’s about to be remade called Footloose. It’s about a small “religious” town that decided dancing was the work of the devil and outlawed it. Real silly when you look at this Psalm! Although I have not found it, there is probably a place where some churches could Biblically justify not dancing. Like not drinking, the Bible does not say do not drink, but do not be a drunkard.
In this verse this Psalm takes a sharp turn from dancing and praise to vengeance and justice. It’s turns here from praising to yielding a sword. For some reason I wonder if this is what God had in mind or if this is what the Psalmist wishes. Again here is one of those fine lines which you have to wonder where the Bible stands. I know Old Testament times there are many instances where the Israelites went into battle and God helped them to victory. Most appear to be defensive in nature, but some appeared to be offensive. Now one could argue they were suppressing their enemies before they attacked, but I wonder God’s feelings there.
Now we skip to the Christian crusades and that is a prime example many use for a forced expansion of Christian beliefs. There are many angles to look at this, but the main was to regain access to Jerusalem by Christians. The Muslims were at the time trying to form a unified Islamic nation or caliphate. So the two clashed in a series of wars that lasted centuries and one could argue continue today.
It’s always blow my mind how so many die in the name of religion. Nations feel threatened because of a belief in Jesus or Allah, and feel forcing their view at the point of a sword is the way to a person’s heart. Sure a defensive stance is justified, but that leads to the question “what would Jesus do?” He allowed himself to die on a cross instead of saving himself from the agony and calling on God to crush his accusers. Now we could go around for hours about how Jesus’ death was required for salvation, but our deaths would be a waste. If we do not defend our nation it will perish … and on and on we go. Just know this Psalm however powerful it may be to you is a man’s prayer to God, not God reveling His trough the Psalm.