Let’s talk about 2 Kings 3, and the implication some people get out of it, which is that God lost a battle. Is that possible? That doesn’t sound like God. He’s a winner. He’s a champion. He’s undefeated…isn’t He? Does the text say God lost a battle? First, let’s summarize 2 Kings 3. The whole chapter is important to this topic, so I’d encourage you to read it on your own, but to summarize it: We are in the days of the divided Kingdom. Jehoram rules over Israel and Jehoshaphat rules over Judah. The Moabites have attacked Israel (2 Kings 3:5), and King Jehoram asks Jehoshaphat (and the King of Edom) to help him defeat Moab. In the midst of their campaign, the armies face a water shortage, so they ask the prophet Elisha to help. In response, Elisha miraculously provides water to them (2 Kings 3:20) and assures them that God will deliver the Moabites to them (2 Kings 3:18).
So far, this is a pretty typical event. And it continues to be typical as the combined Israel/Judah/Edomite forces invade and defeat the Moabites with ease (2 Kings 3:24-25). But then we come to the last two verses of the chapter, which say this:
And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.
(2 Kings 3:26-27)
The phase in the King James is “there was great indignation against Israel.” Other translations render it as “great fury” or “great wrath” or “great anger.” They all mean the same thing. It’s what happened next that’s the head-scratcher. Israel left. The army that had driven into the heart of Moab, and had pinned in the Moabite King with nowhere to run, turned and left without finishing the job. They all returned to their own lands and that was that. That’s the end of the account; the next chapter moves on to a different event entirely.
So what gives?
It SOUNDS like what happened was, the Moabite King offered his son as a human sacrifice to his pagan god, after that the fight against Israel turned against Israel, and they retreated. Israel was fighting with God, and Elisha promised they would win… and then they didn’t. Did Moab’s god just defeat Israel’s God?
Let’s everybody just calm down for a second.
No. That’s not what happened. Moab’s god did not just one-shot the Lord God Almighty.
The answer to this challenge (which Bible critics will happily raise as proof that God is not all-powerful) is found in the details. First, Elisha did not say that the army of Israel/Judah/Edom would defeat the Moabite King. He said they would defeat “the Moabites” and defeat their cities (2 Kings 3:18-19), and that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately, the way the text is written leaves out a lot of the little details about what happened in the end, but there are a few things worth remembering.
First, this was always a fight between Moab and Israel (the Northern Kingdom), and Israel (the North) was not in good standing with God, a point which Elisha reminds Jehoram almost as soon as they meet. Elisha basically says “if it wasn’t for Jehoshaphat, I wouldn’t even be talking to you right now” (2 Kings 3:13-14). Second, once the invasion is underway, just before the big final push against the Moabite King, we stop reading about those three nations and those three Kings (the Kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom) and instead the writer just talks about “Israel.” The three Kings invaded and had great success. The next thing we read, however, is the Moabites charging for the “Israel” camp, thinking they had a numbers advantage. After that, the “Israel” army rose up and fought them off (2 Kings 3:24). We do get a mention of the Moabite King trying and failing to defeat “Edom” (2 Kings 3:26), but again, there’s no mention of Judah. The one nation of the three in good standing with God isn’t mentioned in the latter part of the text. Might that help us understand why “Israel” left without finishing the job vs Moab? Maybe.
Personally, I think the answer is explained by what happened at the end of the chapter. The Moabite King murdered his son in a last-ditch effort to preserve his Kingdom. I think it’s possible that, in response to that, the temporary alliance dissolved. I think Judah, being opposed to human sacrifice, would have decided it wasn’t worth continuing the fight anymore. It’s worth noting that the text does not say the army was defeated, only that they “withdrew and departed” (2 Kings 3:27). Also keep in mind that this was never supposed to be an invasion with the intent to conquer Moab. Rather, it was a forceful quelling of an attack by Moab against Israel. They didn’t need to kill the Moabite King or conquer the entire Moabite Kingdom to “win.” They had already won by toppling cities left and right en route to the Moabite capital.
In short, the arguments that this text proves that “God” lost a battle are spurious at best. All the text says is that Israel (a nation in no good standing with God) was allowed by the Lord to push back a rival that had attacked them, and then, when they came to the precipice of killing the rival ruler, they turned back. Maybe they were turned back by God’s providence. It wouldn’t be the first time God stepped in to directly decide who rules over a Kingdom. Nothing about this text is out of harmony with the rest of the Bible, and nothing about it implies that God is not in control, or that He lost this battle (or any other).
/end of rant
~Matthew