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God Is a Warrior
The image of God as a divine warrior pervades Scripture. Tremper Longman and Daniel Reed demonstrate that the metaphor of God as warrior is one of the essential metaphors for understanding salvation in both the Old and New Testaments.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
56 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Tremper Longman III
198 books128 followersTremper Longman III (PhD, Yale University) is the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Before coming to Westmont, he taught at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia for eighteen years. He has authored or coauthored numerous books, including An Introduction to the Old Testament, How to Read Proverbs, and commentaries on Daniel, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Jeremiah and Lamentations, and Song of Songs.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 7, 2017
This is a really great and thorough BT of the Divine Warrior motif throughout the bible. I never grew up hearing or understanding the cosmic scope of Christ's triumph and so this was fantastic for me.
October 8, 2015
Excellent Biblical theology of the divine warrior theme from an evangelical/reformed perspective. One might have the felling that, sometimes, the authors goes beyond the evidences presented in the Biblical data. Nevertheless, very good book with great insights.
January 10, 2009
Very good overview of an important biblical theme
April 22, 2021
This is a a explanation of a Biblical theme, God as a warrior. There are points where it is weak. For instance he seems to be scraping the bottom of the barrel when talking about Christ being a warrior. Also, the book ends on an incomplete note saying that there is peace in the new heavens and earth but does not say anything about how God is a warrior in the new heavens and new earth - perhaps that is because scripture is silent on this point and that is a fair point.
November 13, 2019
A fun study!
I have been aware of a few motifs in the Bible including God as a warrior but had no idea just how prevalent this motif is. It is really pervasive! (Perhaps more than any other?) The authors skillfully brought it out in a compelling manner. I especially enjoyed Chapter 6 (The Pattern of Divine Warfare in the Bible and the Ancient Near East) and Chapter 7 (Jesus: New Exodus, New Conquest). I had never really viewed Christ's ministry of healing and deliverance through the lens of warfare. He truly is, like His Father, a Great Divine Warrior.
An interesting tidbit from the book -
"In 1st Thessalonians 4:16 -17, Paul employees spatial imagery to speak of the Lord himself coming 'down from heaven' and the saints who are alive being 'caught up together with the dead in Christ in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air' (cf. 2 Ki 2:11-12). The picture is that of the Lord coming to earth as the cloud-riding Divine Warrior. Like those who welcome the arrival of a deliver to a city held under siege, the saints are taken up, not to depart to heaven, but - it seems - to meet him and escort him on his victorious 'march' to earth. This picture may be implied in Paul's use of apantesin to refer to this meeting. A well-known use of this term in Greek literature refers to an official delegation going forth from a city to meet a visiting regent or dignitary and escort him into the city. Paul seems to have taken a term used of a horizontal approach and applied it to vertical descent." Pg 174
I have been aware of a few motifs in the Bible including God as a warrior but had no idea just how prevalent this motif is. It is really pervasive! (Perhaps more than any other?) The authors skillfully brought it out in a compelling manner. I especially enjoyed Chapter 6 (The Pattern of Divine Warfare in the Bible and the Ancient Near East) and Chapter 7 (Jesus: New Exodus, New Conquest). I had never really viewed Christ's ministry of healing and deliverance through the lens of warfare. He truly is, like His Father, a Great Divine Warrior.
An interesting tidbit from the book -
"In 1st Thessalonians 4:16 -17, Paul employees spatial imagery to speak of the Lord himself coming 'down from heaven' and the saints who are alive being 'caught up together with the dead in Christ in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air' (cf. 2 Ki 2:11-12). The picture is that of the Lord coming to earth as the cloud-riding Divine Warrior. Like those who welcome the arrival of a deliver to a city held under siege, the saints are taken up, not to depart to heaven, but - it seems - to meet him and escort him on his victorious 'march' to earth. This picture may be implied in Paul's use of apantesin to refer to this meeting. A well-known use of this term in Greek literature refers to an official delegation going forth from a city to meet a visiting regent or dignitary and escort him into the city. Paul seems to have taken a term used of a horizontal approach and applied it to vertical descent." Pg 174
June 5, 2016
God Is a Warrior belongs to a series of books on Old Testament Theology. This book goes beyond OT Theology. Here is an examination of God as the Divine Warrior that traces the theme into the NT to see Jesus as the Divine Warrior. Quite an undertaking, but extremely well done!
The book examines the concept of Holy War in the OT to see more clearly God as the Divine Warrior. Then an examination of the warfare in the spiritual realm shows another aspect of God as the Divine Warrior. The motif is explored in the NT where Jesus continues the warfare with the spiritual realm. The examination of Revelation shows connections that trace through the whole Bible.
The Biblical Theology is developed, not in Cannonical fashion, but in the major divisions of Scripture. There is plenty of synthesis, but the authors examine stories to see how the motif develops. It avoids many of the pitfalls of Systematic Theology be keeping texts of Scripture within their contexts.
While not focus of the authors, one can see more clearly that the idea of territorial spirits has plenty of biblical support. They do not address how spiritual warfare should be undertaken.
A significant insight relates to Scriptures about singing a "new song". Many of these texts about singing a new song follow victories won by the Divine Warrior over His enemies - the "new songs" are songs of victory.
One criticism - the authors really do not bring any type of conclusion to their theology. They show that God is a Warrior throughout Scripture, but do not say in any way why this is significant.
The book is outstanding in scope and contribution. Enjoy!
The book examines the concept of Holy War in the OT to see more clearly God as the Divine Warrior. Then an examination of the warfare in the spiritual realm shows another aspect of God as the Divine Warrior. The motif is explored in the NT where Jesus continues the warfare with the spiritual realm. The examination of Revelation shows connections that trace through the whole Bible.
The Biblical Theology is developed, not in Cannonical fashion, but in the major divisions of Scripture. There is plenty of synthesis, but the authors examine stories to see how the motif develops. It avoids many of the pitfalls of Systematic Theology be keeping texts of Scripture within their contexts.
While not focus of the authors, one can see more clearly that the idea of territorial spirits has plenty of biblical support. They do not address how spiritual warfare should be undertaken.
A significant insight relates to Scriptures about singing a "new song". Many of these texts about singing a new song follow victories won by the Divine Warrior over His enemies - the "new songs" are songs of victory.
One criticism - the authors really do not bring any type of conclusion to their theology. They show that God is a Warrior throughout Scripture, but do not say in any way why this is significant.
The book is outstanding in scope and contribution. Enjoy!
October 6, 2024
Yahweh is a warrior;
Yahweh is His name.
Exodus 15:1-3 LSB
"This poem [from The Song of Moses] is the first explicit statement of the warlike nature of God."
pg 32
"In ancient Israel, all of life was religious, all of life was related to God." pg. 32
"As odd as it may seem to modern sensibilities, battle is portrayed as an act of worship in the Hebrew Bible. Since at the heart of holy war is God's presence with the army, Israel had to be as spiritually prepared to go to battle as they would be to approach the sanctuary." pg 35
Almost 70 pages worth of hermeneutics later Longman proposes that David and his men were fit to eat the shewbread because they were consecrated for war! He proceeds to expand upon this position in relation to Jesus and His reference to this story in Mark. Eureka!!
The Divine Warrior IS a Central Biblical Motif and I am already reaping the rewards from reading this book. I was able to process my pastor's bulletin note in greater depth today with my clearer understanding.
This was a fantastic book. I'm finding I really jive with Tremper Longman (to be fair Longman/Reid were co-authors).
I will say the ending was abrupt. I thought I had 25 or 30 more pages to go in the book and it turned out the final pages were the Bibliography and Subject Index.
Yahweh is His name.
Exodus 15:1-3 LSB
"This poem [from The Song of Moses] is the first explicit statement of the warlike nature of God."
pg 32
"In ancient Israel, all of life was religious, all of life was related to God." pg. 32
"As odd as it may seem to modern sensibilities, battle is portrayed as an act of worship in the Hebrew Bible. Since at the heart of holy war is God's presence with the army, Israel had to be as spiritually prepared to go to battle as they would be to approach the sanctuary." pg 35
Almost 70 pages worth of hermeneutics later Longman proposes that David and his men were fit to eat the shewbread because they were consecrated for war! He proceeds to expand upon this position in relation to Jesus and His reference to this story in Mark. Eureka!!
The Divine Warrior IS a Central Biblical Motif and I am already reaping the rewards from reading this book. I was able to process my pastor's bulletin note in greater depth today with my clearer understanding.
This was a fantastic book. I'm finding I really jive with Tremper Longman (to be fair Longman/Reid were co-authors).
I will say the ending was abrupt. I thought I had 25 or 30 more pages to go in the book and it turned out the final pages were the Bibliography and Subject Index.
September 15, 2024
An insightful look at the theme of warfare and God as a warrior. Clearly a major theme in the Old Testament, but this book also shows how it is major theme in the New Testament as well.
The Ancient Near Eastern pattern of divine warfare outlined in this book is a helpful paradigm for understanding the warrior theme. The pattern is 1) Warfare, 2) Victory, 3) Kingship, 4) Housebuilding, 5) Celebration. Housebuilding reflects building a temple. Using this paradigm, one can see how these themes are a big part of the biblical corpus.
Even in the gospels, where one doesn’t think of warrior themes, Jesus re-enacts Exodus themes and his conflict with demons link to the warrior theme. One can also see the temple themes and the celebration themes in the triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the Kingship theme. Understanding those in the context of divine warrior opens up the meaning of a lot of texts.
Overall, a helpful book in understanding the meaning of the Biblical narrative. Provides a lot of insight.
The Ancient Near Eastern pattern of divine warfare outlined in this book is a helpful paradigm for understanding the warrior theme. The pattern is 1) Warfare, 2) Victory, 3) Kingship, 4) Housebuilding, 5) Celebration. Housebuilding reflects building a temple. Using this paradigm, one can see how these themes are a big part of the biblical corpus.
Even in the gospels, where one doesn’t think of warrior themes, Jesus re-enacts Exodus themes and his conflict with demons link to the warrior theme. One can also see the temple themes and the celebration themes in the triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the Kingship theme. Understanding those in the context of divine warrior opens up the meaning of a lot of texts.
Overall, a helpful book in understanding the meaning of the Biblical narrative. Provides a lot of insight.
December 21, 2025
The books explore many topics which are related to the vision of God as the symbolic image of warrior-chief and great spiritual warrior. God most striking feature is that he is a war-leader both againts Israel foes (Egypt, Canaan or whatever) and against themselves when they did wrong and "defied him" and his autority as war-leader. The book explore deeply how in both spiritual and physical warfare god is behind his choosen people (and also Jesus later on) indirectly and directly and how the whole actual millitary religious tradition and thinking of Old Israel shaped around that. God tradition as a warrior deity emerges from the ancient near-east before the bible and it's neightboors which shared many similars figures, when armies fought each other they truly fought as physicals embodiments and representatives of their gods and divine wills, the book make it clear and show concisely how this is a great part of the biblical tradition and how said imagine continued later on with Jesus.
June 1, 2023
A good overview of an often overlooked aspect to the character of God. He will fight for his glory and in turn fights for others who are to/and do glorify him.
Certainly, there is a lot more content that the authors could have covered and they even admit so. One could spend a lifetime seeing the connections all throughout the Bible that God is a Warrior.
Really only one gripe and it is minor. This book is touted as a "Study in Old Testament Biblical Theology" and it makes a good case in that part of the Bible as well as moving forward into the New Testament.
However, there is an unnecessary reliance on extra-biblical sources such as the Apocrypha and other pseudographical writings. Why mention them at all to support points when the Bible was sufficient enough in earlier arguments?
Although, I would recommend this to any learned who wants to know about the character of God.
Certainly, there is a lot more content that the authors could have covered and they even admit so. One could spend a lifetime seeing the connections all throughout the Bible that God is a Warrior.
Really only one gripe and it is minor. This book is touted as a "Study in Old Testament Biblical Theology" and it makes a good case in that part of the Bible as well as moving forward into the New Testament.
However, there is an unnecessary reliance on extra-biblical sources such as the Apocrypha and other pseudographical writings. Why mention them at all to support points when the Bible was sufficient enough in earlier arguments?
Although, I would recommend this to any learned who wants to know about the character of God.
September 30, 2022
This was an enjoyable read. I think I would give it 3.5 stars if that were an option, for two reasons.
One, for an Old Testament theology, I felt as if Longman and Reid could have devoted a little bit more space to addressing the divine warrior theme in the OT itself. The content on the NT’s use of the divine warrior theme was great, but it was surprisingly weightier than the exploration of the OT.
Second, a conclusion of sorts to tie together the themes of the book across the Testaments would have been helpful. It felt as if it had ended abruptly.
All in all, though, a great read. I now recognize how important the fact that God is a Warrior is for the biblical narrative, especially as it culminates in the Christ-event.
One, for an Old Testament theology, I felt as if Longman and Reid could have devoted a little bit more space to addressing the divine warrior theme in the OT itself. The content on the NT’s use of the divine warrior theme was great, but it was surprisingly weightier than the exploration of the OT.
Second, a conclusion of sorts to tie together the themes of the book across the Testaments would have been helpful. It felt as if it had ended abruptly.
All in all, though, a great read. I now recognize how important the fact that God is a Warrior is for the biblical narrative, especially as it culminates in the Christ-event.
November 8, 2019
Read this to help complete a paper/presentation on conquest. Longman does a good job summarizing major themes and movements of conquest from God's perspective.
May 17, 2025
Interesting Read
This book gives a lot of connections that I haven’t thought of before and is worthy of reading again and of deeper reflection.
This book gives a lot of connections that I haven’t thought of before and is worthy of reading again and of deeper reflection.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews