A deadly blast at a Gaza hospital this week killed 100 to 300 people. Some say the blast was from a rocket fired by Israel. Israel says the explosion was caused by an errant rocket launched by a militant Palestinian jihadist group. Despite evidence from crater analysis that showed the blast was from a ground explosion rather than an airstrike, protests swept the streets of the Arab world condemning Israel.
This is the fog of war. In a 24/7 news-oriented, algorithmically-driven environment, information travels at the speed of light—truth, not as fast. Before there is time for inquiry, analysis and review, there are biases, long-held beliefs and hasty reactions. People think what they want to think, do what they want to do. Truth is shrouded in assumptions. All too often, people are swept away by misinformation. They react from a place that will not bring them where they hope to be—right. The fog of war will do that.
It did for two Israelite brothers—Baanah and Rechab—who, in the midst of the fog of a civil war between the house of Saul and the house of David, got out of their lane. It led them to a ruinous end in 2 Samuel 4. Here’s the backstory.
King Saul is dead. He is survived by his son Ish-bosheth. King David, anointed by God to be king over all of Israel, is ruling over a portion of the kingdom. A power struggle sweeps the land. Enter Baanah and Rechab, brothers from the tribe of Benjamin. They take matters into their own hands. They ambush Ish-bosheth, kill him and present his head as a trophy to David, thinking they had done the right thing in avenging Saul’s attempts on David's life.
8Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, "Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; thus, the LORD has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and his descendants." 2 Sam. 4:8
This displeased David. These brothers reacted without taking into account the whole truth, that David loved Saul and made a covenant that he would not kill his sons (1 Sa. 24:21), that Saul was God’s anointed and no one should harm God’s anointed. Most of all, they disregarded the truth that God was David’s redeemer, thus his avenger, not them.
9David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother… "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, 10when one told me, saying, 'Behold, Saul is dead,' and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him… 11"How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed…, shall I not now require his blood from your hand and destroy."
David had the brothers killed for their “foggy”, rash assumptions and deadly actions without the whole truth. He then gave Ish-bosheth an honorable final resting place.
You may be in a war, a conflict, a disagreement with someone or something right now. Before you act in haste, jump to a wrong conclusion or assume you are doing the right thing on behalf of God only to harm His anointed, seek God’s truth. How?
One way is through revelation:
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Ps. 119:105
And relationship:
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32,32
Don’t be a victim or a victimizer of the fog of war. Let it lift before you leap.
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