H3898 (fight)

לָחַם (lāḥam)

A three-consonant Hebrew root, lāḥam (H4421) has a complex set of meanings that can infer both combat and consumption. As a noun it becomes milḥāmâ (H4421), that which devours. (see FW-H4421) Although most often rendered “fight/ing,” it retains its alternate meaning, as in Deuteronomy 32:24; “they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured (lāḥam) by plague.” A derived adjective, ḥāmaš (H2571), armed, is closely related to ḥōmeš (H2570), obese. The Hebrew word for fighter, lokhém ( לוחם), never appears in the Hebrew Scriptures and has no Strong’s Concordance number.

Occurrences

There are only 18 references to fighting in Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The first is placed on the lips of the Egyptians, who are afraid that, if milḥāmâ breaks out, then Joseph’s descendants may “join our enemies and lāḥam against us.” (Exodus 1:10) In Joshua, care is given to point out that YHWH is solely responsible for lāḥam, with chapter 10 being of particular interest for its repeated usage and ambiguous attribution; although framed by YHWH’s agency in vv.14, 25, and 42, several verses in between imply Israel fights. Other exemplary uses include;

• Exodus 14:4 “YHWH will lāḥam for you, and you have only to be silent.”

• Deuteronomy 20:10 “When you draw near to a city to lāḥam against it, offer terms of peace to it.”

• Joshua 24:8 "the Amorites... lāḥam with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you."

Conclusion

It is noteworthy that fighting, lāḥam, has no scriptural form to imply the Israelite tradition tolerates its members being ‘fighters.’ Rather it is YHWH alone to whom this attribute is assigned, and members of Israel’s armies are never called lokhém. While this privileges a pacifist reading of armed service, it does not fully endorse one. Clearly the Israelites did engage in battle, even if the ordained nature of that activity is such that humanity is prohibited from employing on its own behalf.

More H4421

Exodus

14:25 "the Egyptians said, 'Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD lāḥam for them against [us]"

17:8-10 "Amalek came and lāḥam with Israel... 9 So Moses said to Joshua, 'Choose for us ĕnôš (H582), and go out and fight with Amalek...' 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and lāḥam with Amalek"

* Numbers has 4 occurrences but none attach to Israel or YHWH.

Deuteronomy

1:30 “The LORD… will himself lāḥam for you"

1:41-42 “We have sinned against the LORD. We ourselves will go up and lāḥam, just as the LORD our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. 42 And the LORD said to [Moses], ‘Say to them, Do not go up or lāḥam, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’

3:22 “it is the LORD your God who lāḥam for you.’

20:4 “the LORD your God is he who goes with you to lāḥam for you"

20:19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, lāḥam against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees... Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you?"

Joshua

10:14 "the LORD lāḥam for Israel"

10:25 "Joshua said to them, 'Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you lāḥam.'”

10:42 "Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time because the LORD God of Israel lāḥam for Israel."

19:47 "the people of Dan went up and lāḥam against Leshem, and after capturing it and striking it with the sword they took possession of it and settled in it"

23:3, 10 "it is the LORD your God who has lāḥam for you."

24:11 "the leaders of Jericho lāḥam against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites,

H4421 (war)

מִלְחָמָה (milḥāmâ)

The complex feminine noun derived from lāḥam (see FW-H3898). Unlike ṣāḇā (see FW-H6635), milḥāmâ unambiguously describes war and battle. Very infrequently, it is attached to îš (H376) to become “man of war” or “warrior.” This construction rarely applies to individual persons, such as God (Ex.15:3, Is.42:13), David (1Sam.16:18, 2Sam.17:8), Machir of Manasseh (Josh.17:1), and Hadadezer (2Sam.8:10). When milhama is attached to individuals, it is not always in a positive sense, as with Goliath (1Sam.17:33) and when David is denied the opportunity to build the Temple (1Chr.28:3). More frequently, it is coupled with ĕnôš (H582) to become “people of war.” Only a handful of times with am (H5971) to become “nation of war,” or āśâ (H6213) to become “do-ers of war.”

Occurrences

The word appears just 37 times in the Torah, the first five foundation books of the Hebrew Scriptures, often with double-sided implications. Egypt is afraid the Hebrew slaves will join their enemies if milḥāmâ breaks out (Ex.1:10), but God points out that they prefer enslavement to milḥāmâ (Ex.13:17). Interestingly, the priestly book of Leviticus contains no references whatsoever to milḥāmâ or lāḥam. Some instances;

• Exodus 15:3 YHWH is a man of milḥāmâ, YHWH is his name.

• Numbers 31:14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from ṣāḇā milḥāmâ.

• 1 Chronicles 28:3 But God said to [David], "You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of milḥāmâ and have shed blood.

Conclusion

Several verses distinguish milḥāmâ from ṣāḇā and/or emphasize God’s agency, over and against humanity’s, in undertaking milḥāmâ. This serves to remind Israel that 1) assembling is not necessarily for war or armed service and 2) war is God’s exclusive domain. Often, Israel attempts to assert their own interests through armed conflict only to have their defeat classified as God’s judgment against them for the sin of idolatry.

More H4421

Exodus

1:10 Let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if milḥāmâ breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us

13:17 God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see milḥāmâ and return to Egypt.”

17:16 The LORD will have milḥāmâ with Amalek from generation to generation.

32:17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of milḥāmâ in the camp.”

Numbers

10:9 And when you go to milḥāmâ in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the LORD your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.

31:14 And Moses was angry with the officers of the ḥayil, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who had come from ṣāḇā milḥāmâ.

31:27 Divide the plunder into two parts between 1) those who brought milḥāmâ from the ṣāḇā and 2) all the congregation.

32:6 But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to milḥāmâ while you sit here?

Deuteronomy

2:14 And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the ĕnôš milḥāmâ, had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.

20:1 When you milḥāmâ against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And when you draw near to milḥāmâ, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people 3 and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for milḥāmâ against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, 4 for the LORD your God is he who goes with you to lāḥam against your enemies, to give you the victory.’

Isaiah

42:13 The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of milḥāmâ he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.

H6635 (army)

צָבָא(ṣāḇā)

A root, the verb ṣᵊḇā (H6633), is less prevalent than ṣāḇā, the noun form. It is often rendered as the archaic “host” after the KJV popularized it, and another common English translation is “army.” But this creates some issues with consistency. Clarity might be found in the fact that between ṣᵊḇā and ṣāḇā in Strong’s Concordance is ṣᵊḇâ (H6634), a verb that means to call forth or desire. A few dictionaries suggest “serve/servant,” but it may be best to think of it as “assemble/assembly.”

Occurrences

The first occurrence describes “the heavens and the earth, and all their ṣāḇā.” (Gen.2:1) Another, with the verb, is applied to “the ṣᵊḇā women who ṣᵊḇā at the entrance to the tent of meeting.” (Ex.38:8) The verb only appears in twelve verses, but the noun occurs almost 500 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. Numbers uses it more than 50 times, many in reference to the Israelite clans and their organization. Another concentration can be found in the prophetic literature, Isaiah and Zechariah in particular. In Joshua, despite what is considered a military campaign, the word appears just five times. Some noteworthy examples include:

• Exodus 12:17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ṣāḇā out of the land of Egypt.

• Numbers 8:24 This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall ṣᵊḇā in the service of the tent of meeting.

• Deuteronomy 24:5 When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the ṣāḇā or be liable for any other public duty.

Conclusion

Some translators go so far as to render ṣāḇā as “war,” but this is not borne out by the text, which reserves milḥāmâ for that purpose. (see FW-H4421) The word denotes, rather, the act of assembling, whether for war, civil service, census, or other civic duties. The modern “All Volunteer Force” is a historical anomaly, and armies have usually been little more than the sum total of those citizens eligible for service.

More H6633 & H6635

Exodus

• 6:26 These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said: “Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their ṣāḇā.”

• 7:4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my ṣāḇā, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.

• 12:41 At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the ṣāḇā of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

• 12:51 And on that very day the LORD brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their ṣāḇā.

Numbers

• 2:32 These are the people of Israel as listed by their fathers’ houses. All those listed in the camps by their ṣāḇā were 603,550.

• 26:2 Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all in Israel who are able to ṣāḇā.

• 31:42 From the people of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had ṣᵊḇā…

Deuteronomy

• 4:19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the ṣāḇā of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

• 17:3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the ṣāḇā of heaven, which I have forbidden,

• 20:9 And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then ṣāḇā shall be appointed at the head of the people.

Joshua

• 4:13 About 40,000 ready for ṣāḇā passed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho.

• 5:14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the ṣāḇā of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

• 22:12 And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make ṣāḇā against them.