By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed

  

     

        The above title is based on Genesis 9:6, a command from God after the flood. It says “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” As explained by Dennis Praeger this verse “makes it clear that God expects human beings to take the murderer’s life, providing a direct rejoinder to those who believe that only God is allowed to take a human life.”[1]

        This has direct application regarding the arguments of Mormon pacifists. They often argue that if we are truly righteous God will fight our battles, and by extension it means that any human violence is unnecessary and wrong. For example, Hugh Nibley said “the Saints were told time and again to stand still and let God fight their battles.”[2] (I would immediately note that Moroni condemned a passive reliance on God no less than three times in his letter to Pahoran, Alma 60: 7,11, 14.)[3] But in their defense, there are a fair number of verses throughout the scriptures that say this.[4]

“And I the Lord would fight their battles” (D&C 98:37).

“As I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfill- I will fight your battles” (D&C 105:14).

“Thou will fight for thy people as thou didst in the day of battle, that they may be delivered from the hands of all their enemies” (D&C 109:28.)

“The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you” (Deut 1:30).

“The Lord fought for Israel” (Joshua 10:14).

“The battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chron. 20:1-29).

        This list sounds impressive and seems to support the idea that if truly righteous we would never have to fight or shed blood by our hand like Genesis 9:6 says. But many of the above verses are far weaker when read in context. Take the example of D&C 98:36, the verse preceding the promise of the Lord to fight our battles says that after lifting a standard of peace “Then I, the Lord, would give unto them a commandment, and justify them in going out to battle against that nation, tongue, or people” (D&C 98:36).

        The scripture in context says that the Lord will join the righteous battle already initiated by righteous people. Instead of their virtue sparing them from battle, they would be strengthened in battle. Or as Genesis 9:6 might put it, “by man shall they shed blood.”

        That pattern is repeated in many of the other scriptures in the long list of promises from the Lord to fight our battles, and conforms to what the Book of Mormon teaches.  In Deuteronomy and Joshua for example, the Lord says He will fight their battles but, as he promised in D&C 98, he joined the children of Israel in their battles.

        This shouldn’t surprise readers because Moroni made the same point when he cornered the opposing army in Alma 44:3. The best example of the Lord helping people in battle comes in Helaman 4 when the Lord withdraws his support in battle:

24 And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples

25 Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness; and they saw that the Lamanites were exceedingly more numerous than they, and except they should cleave unto the Lord their God they must unavoidably perish.

26 For behold, they saw that the strength of the Lamanites was as great as their strength, even man for man. And thus had they fallen into this great transgression; yea, thus had they become weak, because of their transgression, in the space of not many years.

        Clearly, when the Lord says he will fight our battles, he refers to strengthening our arms in battle, not preventing it all together. The Lord doesn’t take the responsibility of battle or the death penalty out of our hands. He expects His people to have a peaceful heart and renounce war. But inspired by the love of the Good Samaritan, when they see the impending slaughter of them or their neighbors, they are reluctantly compelled (Alma 48:14, 21-23) to battle. And they take up that just and righteous task by their own hand (Genesis 9:6). Contrary to the position set out by Hugh Nibley and supported by many others, when the Lord says he will fight our battles, he doesn't absolve of responsibility to join battle and even kill. 

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[1] Dennis Praeger, The Rational Bible: Genesis, (Regnery Faith: 2019), 122.

[2] Hugh Nibley, “If there must needs be offense," The Ensign, July, 1971, 271.

[3] Morgan Deane "The Unwritten Debates in Moroni1’s Letter," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Vol. 61, Article 8.

[4] Thanks to Duane Boyce for summarizing them. Duane Boyce, Even Unto Bloodshed, (Greg Kofford Books: An LDS Perspective on War, (Greg Kofford Books, 2015), 94.