The Lord Will Fight For You

At the Red Sea, with the Egyptian army bearing down on them, mountains on either side blocking any escape, and the sea before them, The LORD tells Moses to tell the people --
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:13-14
..Israel went through the midst of the sea upon the dry ground...
and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. Exodus 14: 27-28

Also, referring to the story of Hezekiah when the Assyrians had besieged Jerusalem, God told them He would take care of the Assyrians, and the next morning when Israel arose, they found the whole Assyrian army dead. 2 Kings 19

Therefore the Sabbath School lesson guide puts forth this idea:

God never intended Israel to fight and kill the Canaanites.
God Himself would clear the land for Israel, they would not need to use swords and spears. The just needed sufficient trust in Him.


But others see this as presuming too much?
True, without God there is no possibility for Israel to be successful in any of these campaigns, as was demonstrated in the campaign against the small town of Ai (Joshua 7). Without God there was no success, but defeat.

With God, even 300 men (Gideon's army) could defeat a huge army. (Judges 7)

At Jericho, it was God who demolished the opponent's defenses, but Israel still had to take the city.

I suppose the bottom question, going beyond even the historical events is:

Does God enable His people to fight against sin?
Or
Does God tell people to relax and He will do it all for them?

There are times when we call upon Him in trust, He will just take the temptations and problem away for us. Like God did for the Israelites at the Red Sea.

Other times He wants us to work with Him, trusting in Him, fight along with Him, as demonstrated by Gideon, Deborah, Joshua, and others who took up the fight fully trusting in God to give the victory, and God worked marvelously for them. Yet they first had to stand up, by faith, against the "enemy".

The lesson shares a quote from EGW:
"He did not design that they should gain the land of promise by warfare, but through submission and unqualified obedience to his commands." {ST, September 2, 1880 par. 4}

Doesn't this settle the questions asked in the previous post?
It's always wise to read sentences in their context to see the full meaning. Israel had just sent 12 spies into Canaan (this was 40 years previous to Joshua's conquest of Canaan) Ten came back hugely complaining that conquest of Canaan was impossible. They had forgotten something very important: that of God's enabling power when following His directions. So they were sentenced to 40 years in the wilderness. But then they got a bright idea.

What was wrong with their thinking?
1. They sensed God's rejection due to their unbelief but didn't repent and seek heart change.
2. They would go and conquer without God
3. They would show God they were capable
4. They would earn back His acceptance by their works.
5. And they would take the glory of any victory to themselves.

This was totally against God's plans.
God's plan was for Moses and Aaron, his appointed leaders, to conduct the expedition under his (God's) watchful direction. With such supervision, no harm would have come to them. But now, contrary to the command of God, and the solemn prohibition of their leaders, without the ark of God and without Moses, and without God, they march out to meet the armies of the enemy. It was a large, tumultuous, disorganized company. The results were bad. It was absolutely impossible to succeed on their own terms.

Fighting against evil saves people from even worse horror and escalating brutality, one only needs to look at Stalin and Hitler in current history..