Exodus 15:3 says.... “The Lord is a man of war, the Lord is His name.”......
Deuteronomy 20 is basically God’s war policy.
.... He instructs ‘first’ to speak peace to every city.... BUT if it refuses to make peace and fights and attacks THEN we are to besiege it and smote it.
In this first account of war, there were four kings against 5 kings. The winners took all of the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abram’s nephew Lot lived. They also took Lot and all of his belongings as a prisoner of war. BAD IDEA.
As a result, Abram heard about it.... Did he shrink back and try to say “Pretty please give my nephew back?.. That wasn’t very nice that you slaughtered so many people and took their stuff... Can we talk about it? ... Nope. He didn’t say any of that. Here’s what he did....
Lot took 318 of his best men, divided his forces at night and went in. He attacked them, routed them and even continued to chase them, taking them down... Then, he brought back all of the goods that were taken. He also rescued his nephew Lot, took back all of his belongings and the people.....That means he overwhelmingly defeated them. To top it off, he got BLESSED for it!
Abram was attacked, and he defended himself. He went after the attackers, pursued them, took them down, and restored justice to the area.
Psalm 18:34:..... David said....” God teaches my hands to war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”..... In verse 37 he goes on to say, ....”I pursued my enemies and overtook them neither did I turn again till they were consumed. I smote them so that they were not able to rise, they fell wounded under my feet.”
Numbers 10:9 ....justifies going to war against enemies that try to oppress you.
In 1 Samuel 17.... Israel is ‘being terrorized’ by the Philistines.... A young 17 year old boy named David took courage and killed their fiercest soldier, Goliath, with one blow to the head.... Then the Israelite army pursued and destroyed the Philistine terrorists killing them all and leaving their dead on the road…....To top it off, David cut off Goliath’s head and brought it back to Jerusalem as a trophy..... Then, David got blessed by God for his courage to fight against the enemy!