National Defense
The primary defense of a people is to make the Lord the builder of the community. This means believing and obeying His law-word.
- R. J. Rushdoony
California Farmer 263:4 (Sept. 21, 1985), p. 21.
Psalm 127 is about national defense. We are three times told that human efforts without God are “vain” or futile. The primary defense of a people is to make the Lord the builder of the community. This means believing and obeying His law-word.
Then the Psalmist tells us that children are the best weapons system whereby we can command the future for the Lord. First, they are an inheritance from God, and a reward. Second, they are described as “arrows in the hand of a mighty man,” as weapons of war. We are called to serve God and to be His instruments in holy warfare so that the Kingdom of God might be established. A key weapon in this warfare is the child.
We are used to thinking of children in personal terms, in terms of our satisfaction, carrying on the family name and work, and being a joy to us in our old age. All that is good, but here God tells us that children are above all the means whereby God’s Kingdom is furthered. They are weapons of war for the Kingdom of God.
Third, we are told that men who rear godly children shall prosper. “[T]hey shall speak with [or shall subdue, give judgments to] the enemies in the gate.” The city gate was the location of the market in those days, and also the city council and court; all decisions and trials had to be open and public. When parents rear godly children, they dominate and govern both commerce and civil government in due time.
In brief, we are told that godly homes and children are the best form of national defense. How strong are we as a people?
- R. J. Rushdoony
Rev. R.J. Rushdoony (1916–2001), was a leading theologian, church/state expert, and author of numerous works on the application of Biblical law to society. He started the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965. His Institutes of Biblical Law (1973) began the contemporary theonomy movement which posits the validity of Biblical law as God’s standard of obedience for all. He therefore saw God’s law as the basis of the modern Christian response to the cultural decline, one he attributed to the church’s false view of God’s law being opposed to His grace. This broad Christian response he described as “Christian Reconstruction.” He is credited with igniting the modern Christian school and homeschooling movements in the mid to late 20th century. He also traveled extensively lecturing and serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases regarding religious liberty. Many ministry and educational efforts that continue today, took their philosophical and Biblical roots from his lectures and books.