Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 14 of 14

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 1998-10-05

Synopsis: John Weaver explores the theological reasons for the South's defeat in the Civil War, arguing that God's sovereignty allowed a more wicked North to conquer a more righteous South as a judgment on national sin. Using Psalm 44, Judges 19-20, Habakkuk, and Isaiah 10, he demonstrates that God sometimes uses ungodly nations to chastise His people, and that victory does not equate to divine approval. The lecture concludes with a call to national repentance, emphasizing that both North and South have suffered under God's judgment since 1865.

[John Weaver] Alright, let's open our Bible today to Psalm 44. Psalm 44, beginning there with verse 1. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thine hand, and plentish them. How thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, Neither did their own arms save them, but thy right hand and thine arm abideth thy countenance, because thou hast a favor unto them. Thou art my King, O God, to man deliverance is for Jacob.

[John Weaver] Through thee we will push down our enemies. Through thy name we will tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me, but thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name forever."

[John Weaver] Now, note if you would, the first eight verses are a rehearsal of history showing how God protected and provided for his people and gave them victory. In fact, they ask for continued victory in verse four when he says, Thou art my King, O God, command deliverances. In other words, as you've done in time past, do so now. But when you come to verse nine, here's the change once again, but thou hast cast off and put us to shame, and do us not forth with our armies.

[John Weaver] Now make us thus to turn back from the enemy, and they who hate us spoil for themselves. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat, and hast scattered us among the heathen.

[John Weaver] Now sell us, thy people, for naught, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price. Now make us thus to reproach our neighbors, a scorn and a derision of them that are round about us. Now make us thus a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me. Why? For the voice of him that reproaches and blacks them is my reason of the enemy and the avenger."

[John Weaver] Now, in this passage, God has withdrawn Himself and His people are being depressed and defeated. But note, if you would please, in verse 17 they say,"'All this has come upon us, yet have we not forgotten Neither have we dealt falsely in my covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from my way."

[John Weaver] Now, evidently, what the psalmist is saying here in this particular time is, although they're being defeated and oppressed, it is not because of any covenantal rebellion on their part. So the question has to be asked, how is it that God can allow His people to be defeated by their enemies, even when there is not any covenantal rebellion.

[John Weaver] Now, we've been looking last week particularly at why the South lost the war, and I asked and answered several questions, and I gave you several reasons that you would find in a very probably common, ordinary, everyday work on the South. I told you, first of all, there was the numerical reason. The South was outnumbered basically four to one. Secondly, there was the industrial reason, because the North had ten times the industry the South did. Then I pointed out how there were no weapon manufacturers in the South, and there were very few weapons until the war literally broke out. And then, of course, I told you there was the economic reason, how that all the gold and most of the, even the currency, was in the North. It was not in the South.

[John Weaver] Now, today we're going to continue this study, but I want to come down to the theological reason, and I want to deal more with the same question that I just presented to you from Psalm 44. Now, I want you to look at two quick passages in your Bibles. Turn, if you would, to the book of Proverbs, chapter 16, and then Proverbs, chapter 21, because I want to establish a principle that everyone in here at least knows and believes. What is that principle? That is the absolute sovereignty of God, for he says in Proverbs 16, verse 7, that when a man's ways please the Lord, he make it even his enemies to be at peace with him. So God is very capable of making our enemies be at peace with us. Then if you look in Proverbs 21, in verse 1, the scripture says, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as rivers of water.

[John Weaver] He turns it to whoever he will. So God, then, is actually in control. God is the sovereign. And the king's heart is in his hand, and he turns it to whoever he will.

[John Weaver] Now, one may rightly answer the question, in a theological framework, why the South lost the war would be answered, the sovereignty of God. You see, God is absolutely sovereign, not only in dealing with individuals, but in dealing with nations as well. I want you to turn back in your Bibles, if you would please, to Psalm 75 and look at verses 6 and 7. Psalm 75 verses 6 and 7. Note what the scripture says, and I want to establish this point with some other scriptures as well. In Psalm 75 verse 6, for promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. Watch, but God is the judge. He put it down one and set it up another. So God is a sovereign. God is the judge. God puts down one and sets up another. God could have very easily have put down Abraham Lincoln before he did. He could have very easily have put down the Republican Congress before he did. He could have very easily elevated Jeff Davis, but he did not.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bible to the book of Daniel chapter 2. Let me just show you this again. The book of Daniel, chapter 2. And let's look there, beginning with verse 20. Daniel, chapter 2. And we'll begin reading there with verse 20. Note, if you would, what Daniel said. Daniel 2, verse 20. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. Now watch. And he, that is God, changes the times and the seasons. He, God, removes the kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding. So it's God, then, that removes the rulers and sets up rulers. In fact, if you'll skip down to verse 37 in the same chapter, you'll see what Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar. He says, Thou, O king, art a king of kings. Why? Why was Nebuchadnezzar in the position that he was in? Here's why.

[John Weaver] For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, and power, and strength, and glory. So if God had not given it to Nebuchadnezzar, then he would not have had it. Now, if you'll turn over to Daniel chapter 4, beginning there with verse 16, everyone knows the story how Nebuchadnezzar was a proud, arrogant, haughty monarch. He did not want to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and so God is going to let him go Rome for seven years as a beast, and here's why. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him, and let seven times pass over him. That's the Chaldean way of saying seven years. This matters by the decree of the Watchers and by the demand of the word of the Holy One, to the intent, here's the purpose, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whosoever he will, and setteth up over it the basis of men. So God, then, is the absolute sovereign.

[John Weaver] Now, if you'll skip down to verse 32 in the same chapter, Daniel 4, you'll see the same statement again. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar, and they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field, and they shall make thee eat grass as oxen, and seven times or seven years shall pass over thee, until thou knowest that the most high rule is in the kingdom of men, and given it to whosoever he will."

[John Weaver] So God, then, is the absolute sovereign. He's not only sovereign over individuals, he's sovereign over nations.

[John Weaver] Now, let me try to say this another way. Man proposes, but God disposes. Man can propose all he wants, but God is the one who works it out. Look back in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 19, and let me show you a verse very quickly, Proverbs chapter 19, and note if you would please verse 21. Proverbs 19, verse 41. Scripture says there are many devices in a man's heart.

[John Weaver] Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. So man proposes, but God disposes.

[John Weaver] Now look in Proverbs 21, verse 30. Here's another truth. Proverbs 21, verse 30. There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord. So the Lord is absolutely sovereign.

[John Weaver] Now, although the answer, the sovereignty of God, is an excellent answer as to why the South lost the war, yet the truth of the matter is we want more specifics than that. We want our question answered in a little clearer way. In other words, there are numerous questions that arise in our minds that oftentimes cloud the issue when we just simply say the sovereignty of God. For instance, if the South was right biblically, and it was, and if the South was right constitutionally, and it was, why did the South lose the war?

[John Weaver] Now, as we have already seen in our studies, it was the North that had apostatized. It was the North that had gone into Transcendentalism and Unitarianism. It was the North that denied not only the deity of Christ, but the inspiration of the Scriptures as well. So here you have a Northern nation denying Christ and denying the Word of God, and here you have the Southern nation adhering to the Word of God and believing in Jesus Christ. Now, the question has to arise How could God allow such an apostate nation as the North to conquer and defeat a more righteous nation?

[John Weaver] Let's ask it another way. Do you realize that during the War of Northern Aggression, there were two great revivals in the Confederate armies, and thousands were swept into the Kingdom of God? No such thing happened in the Northern armies. There were no revivals. There were no awakenings. All you have to do is read Jones's book, Christ in the Camp, or W. W. Bennett's book, The Great Revivals in the Confederate Army, and you will get the detail on these great awakenings. So how then could God bless the South? in such a way as to have these great awakenings and revivals and multitudes converted into the kingdom of God, and yet the South lose the war. Let me bring up another question. Have you ever considered just comparing the Northern leaders to the Southern leaders?

[John Weaver] I mean, if we were just to do that quick comparison, for instance, here's Abraham Lincoln, who is an infidel. I don't care how many books you read on Abraham Lincoln, the Christian, according to his own testimony, the testimony of his wife, the testimony of his secretary, and the testimony of people who lived close to him, he was not a believer. He ridiculed and mocked preachers and mocked the gospel, and he hated Jesus Christ. He even wrote, at one time, a transcript denying the deity of Christ and the inspiration of the Scriptures. When you compare Lincoln to Jeff Davis, who was a godly Christian man, there is just absolute no comparison. If I had to choose between the two, certainly I would choose Jeff Davis in the day of the week.

[John Weaver] When you stop and think about General Grant versus General Robert E. Lee, Grant was nothing more than a cigar-smoking Turk. That's it. Robert E. Lee was a godly Christian and a gentleman. When you start thinking about fighting Joe Hooker versus a Stonewall Jackson, Hooker the Northern General, and you remember I told you this in time past, but one of the names for a prostitute is a hooker. And that came from fighting Joe Hooker. It was Joe Hooker who allowed these ladies of the night into the tents of the men to boost their morale, and they were known as Hooker's Ladies, and pretty soon Ladies was dropped and they were just known as Hooker. That came from fighting Joe Hooker. Stonewall Jackson is known, rather, for his godliness. He's not known for allowing prostitutes into the camp. When you compare or Spoons Butler to a General Ewell. Benjamin Butler was a Northern General. He's called Beast Butler because he murdered so many people.

[John Weaver] He hanged a young man in New Orleans just because a young southern boy climbed up and took down the U.S. flag. He hanged him. He was named Spoons Butler because he was such a thief that whenever he went somewhere he would even steal the silverware.

[John Weaver] Now, you compare that to General Ewell. I'm just simply saying the South not only had better military leaders, the South had more godly leaders.

[John Weaver] Now, let's ask the question. In light of these facts, how could a sovereign god allow a more wicked, Christ-denying, constituting hating covenant-breaking nation such as the North to defeat a more godly nation. How could that happen? Let me give you a quote, and then I want to build upon this quote. What I'm going to read to you was written by Robert L. Dabney. Remember now, Dabney was aide-de-camp to Stonewall Jackson. Dabney was a Presbyterian pastor, He was a theologian, he was an author, and you will find this in his book, A Defense of Virginia and the South, and here is what he says on page 356. Now, listen carefully. He says,"...a righteous God, for our sins toward him, hath permit us to be overthrown by our enemies and his."

[John Weaver] It is vain to complain in the ear of a maddening tempest. Although our people are now oppressed with present sufferings and a prospective destiny more cruel and disastrous than has been visited on any civilized people of modern ages, they suffer silently, disdaining to complain and only raising to the chastening heavens the cry, How long, O Lord? Their appeal is to history and to Him. They well know that in due time they, although powerless themselves, will be avenged through the same disorganizing heresies under which they now suffer, and through the anarchy and woes which they will bring upon the North.

[John Weaver] Meantime, let the arrogant and successful wrongdoers flout our defense with disdain. We will meet them with it again when it will be heard, in the day of their calamity, in the pages of impartial history. and in the day of judgment.

[John Weaver] Now, let me go back and point out several things that Dabney said before we get started. First of all, when Dabney said, quote, a righteous God for our sins toward him has permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his, he is not saying that slavery was wrong or wicked In fact, in his book, A Defense of Virginia and the South, he proves that slavery is indeed biblical. We've gone over that. So he is not saying that slavery is sin. Now, that does not mean that there were not some sins connected with slavery. There certainly were. And the South may have been wicked in more ways than one. But Dabney is not saying that slavery in and of itself is sinful and wicked. He's just saying a righteous God for our sins hasn't permitted us to be overthrown. Secondly, Dabney is saying here that when the North attacked the South and did so aggressively, that they were not only acting as our enemy, but God's enemy.

[John Weaver] Listen to what he said. A righteous God for our sins toward him has permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his. How can we say the north with God's enemies? Let me tell you something. Anybody that denies the deity of Jesus Christ is the enemy of God. Anybody that denies the inspiration of the scripture is the enemy of God. It's just that simple. Now, Dabney said it was for our sins.

[John Weaver] I want you to remember that. He said they were God's enemies as well as ours.

[John Weaver] Thirdly, I want you to note in this quote that Dabney also apports to the biblical principle of reaping and sowing, or sowing and reaping. Galatians 6, 7, 8. God says through the Apostle Paul, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For if ever man soweth back, shall he also reap. This is known as the Lex Palaiologos, or the Law of Retribution. Now, I want you to listen to what he says.

[John Weaver] He is saying that the North is going to come to suffer as we have. He says, they will know that in due time they, although powerless themselves, will be avenged through the same disorganizing heresies under which they now suffer, and through the anarchy and the woes which they will bring upon the North. What's he saying? Now, a listener won't come back to this. What he's basically saying is this. When the North defeated the South, they basically defeated themselves. When the North subjugated the South, the North also subjugated itself.

[John Weaver] And I'll prove that to you, hopefully, in just a few moments. Fourthly, I want you to understand that Dabney also speaks of an eternal judgment and vindication, as well as a judgment and a vindication in time and in history.

[John Weaver] Now listen to what he says. Listen carefully. Meantime, let the arrogant and successful wrongdoers flout our defense with disdain. We will meet them with it again when it will be heard in the day of their calamity. That's judgment in time and history. in the pages of impartial history and in the Day of Judgment. That's the eternal judgment. So what is he saying? There's going to be a time in history when the North gets paid back.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bible, since you're in Proverbs. Proverbs 11 and verse 31. Proverbs 11, verse 31. Here's the statement. Proverbs 11, verse 31. God says, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner."

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. Are the righteous going to be rewarded in glory? What's the answer? Yes. But do we have to wait until we get the glory before we receive any blessings or any rewards? No. We get them every day. So God rewards us in time and in history.

[John Weaver] Now look what he says. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed, or paid back in the earth." That is, we're going to reap what we have sown in time and history. God's going to bless us in time and history. Then he says, much more of the wicked in the center. So if God blesses us in time and history, how much more am I going to curse those that disobey me? So there are negative sanctions in time and in history, as well as positive sanctions. In light of the aforementioned facts, how could God allow the South to lose? Ask that question. Certainly God is sovereign. God could have prevented it, but he did not. Now, you've got to ask yourself this question. Are there any analogies in Scripture that will shed light on this question?

[John Weaver] And the answer is, there is. Now, let me give you a leading question. Does a gardener hate weeds? Yes. But the gardener actually hates the weeds even more when those weeds are in his flower bed or in his vegetable garden. Now, does God hate sin? And the answer is yes. But God even hates sin more when it's in His own people.

[John Weaver] Now listen, in punishing the South for her sins, God also punished the North for her sins as well. Now, you're going to ask me a question, and it's a legitimate question, Pastor. How can winning a war be called punishment? Well, we shall see, okay?

[John Weaver] Now, the Puritans had a saying, and it went like this, God oftentimes curses his enemies with wealth. Well, how could wealth be a curse? Very simply, because the people who have wealth, most of the time, trust in their own wealth. They don't trust in God. So he often times curses his enemies with wealth, and thus they trust in that wealth and end up damning themselves. Now we could change that a little bit, and we could say it like this, that God sometimes punishes his enemies with victory.

[John Weaver] You see, we're going to learn that might does not make right, and force does not equal justice. And just because someone wins a war does not mean that the blessings of God and the approval of God are upon them.

[John Weaver] Now let's turn in our Bibles to Judges chapter 19. Now let me just try to give you this story, Judges chapter 19, because there is a parallel here and I want you to see it. Now in Judges chapter 19, Let's begin reading with verse 1 just so you can get a little bit of context, and then I'm going to tell you a lot of the story just to save some time. In Judges chapter 19 and verse 1, it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem, Judah. And the concubine played the whore against him and went away from him into her father's house of Bethlehem, Judah.

[John Weaver] was there for a whole month. Now watch, and her husband, although she's called his concubine, but later on she's called his wife, and her husband arose and went after her to speak friendly unto her and to bring her again, having his servant with him and a couple of asses. And she brought him into her father's house, and when the father of the damsels saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. Watch, and his father-in-law, the damsel father, retained him. He keeps retaining his son-in-law, and the son-in-law says, Let me be going. No, no. He says, You stay with me, and he keeps doing this for several days. Finally, when the son-in-law takes his wife and his servant and starts out, it's getting toward dark, and here's what his servant says.

[John Weaver] Verse 10, But the man would not carry that night, but he rose up and departed and came over against Jesus, which is Jerusalem. and there were with him two axes, saddles, and his concubine also was with him. When they were by Jeebus, the day was far spent, and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn him to this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. And his master said unto him," Now remember, this was a Levite. His master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger that is not one of the children of Israel.

[John Weaver] We will pass over to Gibeah. And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these cities, to watch all night in Gibeah or in Ramah. And they passed on and went their way, and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belonged to Benjamin." So now they are in a Benjamite city, so the Levite is among his own. Well, he goes into the city and no one asks him into their house.

[John Weaver] And so an old man comes from the field and he sees the man there. And he says, what are you doing out lodging in the streets? Well, he said, nobody's asked me to in. Then he said, and I've got food for myself and for my animals. And the old man says, don't worry about it. He said, your needs be upon me. Don't lodge in the street. You come into my house. Well, the man and his wife and his servant goes home with the old man.

[John Weaver] And when they get there, the sodomites of the city surround him. And they say, bring that man out that we may know him. Well, the man, look in verse 23, the man, the master of the house, went out unto them and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly, seeing that this man is to come into my house, do not this father.

[John Weaver] Now, I still don't understand this next verse. Behold, here's my daughter, a maiden, that is a virgin, and his concubine, Them will I bring out now, and humble you them, and do with them what seems good unto your eyes. But unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him. So the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them, and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning.

[John Weaver] And when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the woman in at the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house, where her lord was, till it was light." And the Lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go in his way. And behold, the woman, his concubine, was falling down the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold.

[John Weaver] And he set her up, and let her be going, but none answered. Then the man took her up upon a mast, and the man rose up, and got him to his place. And when he was coming to his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her together with her bones into twelve pieces, and sent her to all the coast of Israel. And it was so that all that saw it said there was no such deed done or seen from the day that children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt unto this day.

[John Weaver] Considered it, take advice and speak your minds. So the man now takes his dead wife, he divides her into twelve pieces, he sends her to the twelve tribes and says, look what the children of Gibeah and of Benjamin have done to my wife.

[John Weaver] Now, let's look at chapter twenty, beginning with verse one. Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man from Daniel even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead unto the Lord in Mishpah. And the chief of the people, even all the tribe of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew swords.

[John Weaver] So you've got nearly half a million fighting men. Now watch.

[John Weaver] Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were going up to Mishpah, Then said the children of Israel, Tell us how was this wickedness? And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came unto Gibeah, that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lunch. And the men of Gibeah rose up against me, and they set the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me and my concubine, and they forced so that she is dead. And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country. the inheritance of Israel, for they have committed lewdness in following Israel. Behold, you are all children of Israel.

[John Weaver] Give me your advice and counsel." And the people arose as one man, saying, Watch, we will not, any of us, go into his tent, neither will any of us turn into his house, but now this shall be the thing which we will do to give you. We will go up by a lot against it, and we will take ten men out of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousands, bench vittles for the people that they may do when they come to give you Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have brought in Israel. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? Now therefore deliver us, the men, the children of Elias, who are of Gibeah, that we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel.

[John Weaver] But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel." Now stop. Just a moment. What did the Israelites say? Just give us the men that did this wickedness. That's all we want. And we'll kill them. And we'll put evil away from Israel. That's all we want. You just give us these men. Watch verse 14. But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah to go out to battle against the children of Israel. And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the city's 26,000 men that drew sword besides the inhabitants of Gidea, which were numbered 700 chosen men." Now, you've got 26,700 soldiers to fight 400,000. Look at verse 16 about these 700 men, though. Among all the people, there were 700 chosen men left-handed, everyone that could swing the stones of a haresbread, but not men. And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered 400,000 men that drew sword. All these were men of war.

[John Weaver] And the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God, watched, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judas shall go up. Now is this thing of God? Yes. God says Judah shall go up. Watch verse 19. And the children of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin. And the men of Israel put themselves in a ray to fight against them at Gibeah. And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty-two thousand men. Whoa.

[John Weaver] The Benjamites are the bad guys. The Israelites are the good guys. The first day, the men protecting the Sodomites killed 22,000 Israelites. Wait a minute, who's wrong in this battle? Well, the Pentiumites are. Who's right? The Israelites are. Verse 22, And the people of the men of Israel encouraged themselves and set their battle again in the rain, the place where they put themselves in the rain the first day. And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother? And the Lord said to him, Go up against him. And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men that grew sore. Whoa! Now we've got 40,000 Israelites dead.

[John Weaver] And evidently, so far, not one Benjamite. Look in verse 26. Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up and came into the house of God and wept. and sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days. And Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days, saying, Shall I yet go again out to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother? Shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver him into thy hand. And, of course, the next day they killed 25,000 Benjamites."

[John Weaver] Let me ask you a question. Who lost the most men in this battle? The Israelites. 40,000 Israelites that were more righteous than the Benjamites. And only 25,000 Benjamites died. Now was Benjamin wrong? Yes. Was Israel right? Yes. Why did God allow more Israelites to die than Ninjamites? Could not God have protected those Israelites? And the answer is yes. Look back in your Bible very quickly to the book of Numbers chapter 31.

[John Weaver] Let me show you something. Numbers chapter 31. Here are 12,000 Israelites that went out to fight against the Midianites. Watch this. Numbers 31. Now, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites, after which shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian. Of every tribe of thousands, of all the tribes of Israel, shalt thou send unto the war. And there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand, armed for war. And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phineas, the son of Ilias, the priest of the war, with the holy instruments of the trumpets, the bull, and the hen. And they warred against the Midianites as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all the males. Watch. We're talking about 12,000 Israelites now, and they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain, namely Evi, and Recham, and Zer, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian.

[John Weaver] So they killed a lot of men, not just kings. Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with a sword, and the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captive, and all their little ones, and took the spoil of their cattle, of their flocks, and all their goods, and they burned all their cities where they dwelt, and all their goodly castles with fire, and they took all the spoil and all the prey, both of men and beasts, and of course they'd bring it back to Moses.

[John Weaver] Now sit down, if you would, to verse 48. So 12,000 Israelites have gone to defeat all these many knights. Look in verse 48,"...and the officers, which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses, and they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the shrub of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us." Could not God have eased just as easily have protected the Israelites in Judges chapter 20 as he protected them in Numbers chapter 31? Yes. But yet 40,000 more righteous men had to die to defeat 25,000 unrighteous men.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something, folks. I want you to learn this principle. not only do righteous men die in war, sometimes the righteous even lose the war. So the man who wins is not necessarily the man who's right.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Habakkuk. A little Minor Prophet. Little book. Book of Habakkuk. Alright? Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. Look in Habakkuk chapter 1, and let's start reading there with verse 5. I want you to see that Habakkuk is perplexed by the same question that we are asking. How could God use a wicked nation to defeat a more righteous nation?

[John Weaver] In this instance, it's the Chaldeans or the Babylonians who are going to come against Judah. And look what he says, Habakkuk 1 verse 5. He says, Behold you among the heathen in regard, and wonder marvelously For I will work a work in your days which you will not believe, though it be told you." Now, look what God tells them. "'For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march to the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.

[John Weaver] They are terrible and dreadful, their judgment and their dignity shall proceed themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and more fierce than the evening wolves, and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from afar. and they shall fly as the eagle that hastens thee, they shall all come for violence, their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather as the captivity of the sand, and they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be scorned unto them, they shall deride every stronghold,

[John Weaver] for they shall heap dust and take it. Then shall he change his mind, and he shall pass over," look what the wicked's going to do, and offend, imputing this his power unto his God.

[John Weaver] Now look what Habakkuk says,"'Art thou not everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die, O Lord.' Now look, thou hast ordained them for judgment, and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction." So he understands that God is going to use the wicked now to correct and to chastise, but then he says, Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore lookest thou upon them, that is, the Chaldeans, that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue, whom the wicked, that is, the Chaldeans, devoureth a man that is more righteous than he." Now, here's what Habakkuk is saying. Habakkuk is saying, Lord, I'm not saying we don't deserve to be punished. We do. But how can you use someone more wicked to punish us?

[John Weaver] They're vile, they're ungodly, they're idolaters. Look what he says in chapter 2 and verse 1. I will stand upon my watch and set thee upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me. And what I shall answer when I'm reproved?" He said, God, the only thing I'm going to do is just wait and see and hear what you say. But I don't understand how you could let a wicked nation defeat a more righteous nation.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you what he came up with. Look in chapter 3. Look in chapter 3, and you're going to see the answer the Habakkuk came up with. with God's absolute sovereignty. God does as He pleases, when He pleases, with whomever He pleases, and always as He pleases. He says in Habakkuk 3, verse 17, look at what he says, Although the fig tree shall not Neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail." We're going to lose everything.

[John Weaver] "...and the field shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no hurt in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will join the God of my salvation." What's he saying? I'm going to still trust in God and rest in God. no matter the devastation that comes upon us, even from a more wicked and vile nature. So Habakkuk's problem was the same problem that we have when we ask, how could God allow the South to lose the war?

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you one other illustration. Go back to Isaiah chapter 10. It gets very plain as you look at this passage.

[John Weaver] Now, the Assyrians were used by God to defeat the ten northern tribes. The Assyrians were wicked, vile people. It was the Assyrians who invented crucifixion. It was the Assyrians who threw little babies up in the air and catched them on their spears and swords. It was the Assyrians It would take a sharp knife and literally skin or flay a man alive, cut his skin off of him and tie him to an ant hill.

[John Weaver] They were masters of torture. And I want you to note what God says. Isaiah chapter 10. Let's begin reading there with verse 5. Isaiah 10 verse 5. Now watch carefully. God says, oh, a Syrian, the rod of my anger and the staff in their hand is my indignation. I will send him against the hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath. Will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the street?

[John Weaver] How do you mean it's not so? Neither does his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy, to cut off nations, not a few.

[John Weaver] Now let me just stop there. Let's go back to verse 5. God says, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger. What was God doing? God was using the Assyrian as a parent would use a rod to whip a disobedient child. So he called the Assyrian the rod of his anger. He says, and the staff in their hand, that is, the sword or whatever weapon they have in their hand, is the staff of mine indignation. Now look what God says in verse six. God said, I will send him. That's why the Assyrian king, God sent him. I will send him against the Hippocratic Nation, against the people of my wrath. Look what God says.

[John Weaver] Will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Now, the next verse is very revealing. He meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy, to cut off nations, and not a few."

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. When the Assyrians came over, did they come over because they say, we are the instruments of the holy, righteous, sovereign God of Heaven, and we're coming over to exercise His judgment and His chastisement? What did the Assyrians think? They wanted to kill and plunder and rape and steal. They had no earthly idea of honoring God or obeying God in any way whatsoever. So what did God do? When God got through using the Assyrians to chastise His people, then God turned around and judged the Assyrians for doing what they did. Isn't that amazing? God sent them God allowed them to defeat Israel, and then God judged them for doing what they did to Israel.

[John Weaver] Well, how does that work? Well, let's begin reading in verse 10. Here is what the Assyrian says, As my hand found the kingdoms of the isles, and whose graven images did expel them of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her isles, so do to Jerusalem her isles? Wherefore, it shall come to pass, Lord has performed his whole work upon Mount Zion, that is, when he used the Assyrian to finish his work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, God says, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks. Why? Here's why. For he, that is the king of Assyria, said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am And I have removed the bounds of the people and robbed their treasures, and I put them down the inhabitants like a bagot man, and my hand hath bound as a nest the riches of the people.

[John Weaver] And as one gathers eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth? And there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth or feet." Here's what God says,"'Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if a rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up itself as it were no wood.

[John Weaver] Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, and among his fattened ones leaneth, and under his glory he shall kindle a burning, like the burning of a fire." Now, if Jester takes an axe and chops down the tree, don't you think it would be mighty strange that the axe stood up and said,"'I'll chop down that tree.'" The axe could do nothing. if Chester had not picked it up and swung it. So God says these Assyrians are stealing my glory, so now I will judge them for doing what they did, because they did not do it out of obedience.

[John Weaver] They did it out of wickedness. Now, just like God allowed the Babylonians to defeat Judah and the Assyrians to defeat Israel, God in His sovereignty use the North to judge and to chastise the South for her sins, and in so doing, he also judged and chastised the North. You say, how can you say that? Well, let me tell you, time will not permit me to tell even how during the war of Northern Aggression, subjugated even the northern states.

[John Weaver] Remember I told you that Lincoln arrested, incarcerated, without warrant and without trial, nearly 40,000 northerners. Did you realize that New York, are you listening? New York was divided up into military districts Her courts were circumvented. Her citizens were arrested and imprisoned without charge and without warrant. The electoral process was interfered with. Lincoln even had some officers who were having votes or taking votes from soldiers in the field. Lincoln even had those officers of the court arrested and thrown in prison because he was afraid they did not agree with his policies.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something. The northern states were generally forced to agree with Lincoln or face military intervention themselves. Look at Ohio. Look at the riots that broke out up north. Now, here's the point. How could you say, in allowing the South to lose, God was judging the North? Are you listening? Today, the North is just as subjugated and enslaved as the South is. The North did not win. The North lost as well as the South. And consequently, North and South now face federal mandates, unfunded federal mandates, and it is the central bureaucracy and the central government now that tells the state they must toe the line or lose their federal funds. In fact, to show you the absolute ridiculousness of this situation and the stupidity of it, funds are collected from the state and from their citizens and are given to the feds and then the federal government uses those collected funds to blackmail the state into submission. Isn't that interesting? You see, in the beginning of our nation, the federal government was limited.

[John Weaver] Why? because it was controlled by the states. It had limited power and limited money. Now, the states are controlled by the federal government, and the federal government now claims unlimited power, and the power to tax as they please. I believe the South lost the war, not because slavery was evil in and of itself, not because the South was wicked and wrong, not because the North was moral and righteous. I believe the South lost the war because God was judging the nation.

[John Weaver] The sin was not necessarily a southern sin, it was a national sin. Because in the end, the North has lost just as much as the South.

[John Weaver] Now let me make an application. Listen carefully. Since the loss of the war involves a theological issue, It means that God is not only angry with us as individuals, but also as a nation.

[John Weaver] Now remember folks, nations do not have souls. Nations must be judged in time and in history. You know, people talk about Well, we're going to be facing the judgment of God. We already are. And we have been. Especially since 1865. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 5. And let me show you a short passage. And I hope this will explain exactly what I'm trying to say to you. Jeremiah chapter 5. This will show you the corruption of Jerusalem, the capital city. I want to say the capital city because that's where the temple was. It certainly was the capital of the north, of the south, and it was of all of Israel until the Ten Tribes broke away and made Samaria the capital. But look in Jeremiah chapter 5 and verse 1. Here's what God tells Jeremiah,"...run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment and seeketh the truth in all part of it, this would be the equivalent of

[John Weaver] saying to us, run through Washington, D.C. and find a man, if you can find one, that executes judgment and seeketh truth in all part of the country. The next verse is very apropos, too. And though they say the Lord did this, surely they swear falsely." Oh, he said, you're going to find some that will say, oh, we're Christians. But he said, they're lying. How do we know they're lying?

[John Weaver] Because they don't live what they speak. Now, look what he says, O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved. Hey, man, that's us, isn't it? What about all the hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, spannings, droughts? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved. Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. That's this country. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They refuse to return. Now, look what Jeremiah says.

[John Weaver] Therefore, I said, surely these are poor. That is, we're a common, ordinary, everyday folks. They're foolish. They know not the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God. In other words, we're not the educated. We're not the erudite. We're not the elite. He says in verse 5, I will get me to the great men and will speak unto them, for they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God.

[John Weaver] But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the barn. He said, man, they cast God off too. Now watch verse 6. Wherefore, a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evening shall spoil them. A leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone that goeth out fence shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. That's judgment. Now look what God asks.

[John Weaver] How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. Look at the New Age movement. Look at humanism. When I fed them to the full, then they committed adultery. Look at the fornication in this country, and assemble themselves by troops in the harlot's houses. They were as fed horses in the morning, everyone made after his neighbor's wife. Watch.

[John Weaver] Verse 9, Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? What is God doing? God is judging the nation. Now look at verse 10. He says, Go ye up upon our walls, and destroy, and make not but that ye are full in. Take away her banglements, for they are not the Lord's. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. They have belied, that is, they have lied against the Lord and said, Is not he worse?

[John Weaver] Neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword or famine. Well, why too gay is not going to hurt us? I mean, you know, God's not going to send any more judgment, no. And the prophets shall become wind and the word is not in them, thus shall it be done unto them. Skip down to verse 29. God says it again in the same chapter. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord?

[John Weaver] And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? You look at the adultery And the fornication, and the fraud, and the treachery, and the deceit, and the idolatry, and the humanism, and the turning our backs upon God? Yes. God began judging this nation as a whole in 1865. And excuse my English, but he threw What does this mean? That means the proper response to why the South lost the war is one of repentance. Not just individual repentance, but national repentance as well. And I challenge you to go back and read Ezra Nye and Daniel Nye confess the sins of their nation and ask God to be merciful." God has a controversy with this country. And when the South, who was standing for right, biblically and constitutionally, lost, God of the North and the nation as a whole. Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us, give us understanding, let us know where we are and how we got here, and what our proper response should be.

[John Weaver] Give us grace to serve Thee accessibly with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray. Amen.

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 14 of 14

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	3290483918
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom
Genre	Sermon
Date	1998-10-05
Dictation Name
Book	Book 119: Where We Are & How We Got Here — Chapter 14
Source Timed Segments	99

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Question from Psalm 44

Weaver reads Psalm 44, noting the shift from recounting God's past deliverance to lamenting present defeat despite no covenantal rebellion, raising the question of how God can allow His people to be defeated.

Alright, let's open our Bible today to Psalm 44. Psalm 44, beginning there with verse 1.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 44:1-8

"We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thine hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob." "Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever."

Now, note if you would, the first eight verses are a rehearsal of history showing how God protected and provided for His people and gave them victory. In fact, they ask for continued victory in verse four when he says, "Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances." In other words, as you've done in time past, do so now. But when you come to verse nine, here's the change once again: "But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies." "Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen." "Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, for the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger."

Now, in this passage, God has withdrawn Himself and His people are being depressed and defeated. But note, if you would please, in verse 17 they say, "All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way." Now, evidently, what the psalmist is saying here in this particular time is, although they're being defeated and oppressed, it is not because of any covenantal rebellion on their part. So the question has to be asked, how is it that God can allow His people to be defeated by their enemies, even when there is not any covenantal rebellion?

Common Reasons for the South's Loss

Weaver reviews non-theological reasons for the South's defeat: numerical inferiority, industrial disadvantage, lack of weapons, and economic weakness.

Now, we've been looking last week particularly at why the South lost the war, and I asked and answered several questions, and I gave you several reasons that you would find in a very probably common, ordinary, everyday work on the South. I told you, first of all, there was the numerical reason. The South was outnumbered basically four to one. Secondly, there was the industrial reason, because the North had ten times the industry the South did. Then I pointed out how there were no weapon manufacturers in the South, and there were very few weapons until the war literally broke out. And then, of course, I told you there was the economic reason, how that all the gold and most of the, even the currency, was in the North. It was not in the South.

Now, today we're going to continue this study, but I want to come down to the theological reason, and I want to deal more with the same question that I just presented to you from Psalm 44. Now, I want you to look at two quick passages in your Bibles. Turn, if you would, to the book of Proverbs, chapter 16, and then Proverbs, chapter 21, because I want to establish a principle that everyone in here at least knows and believes. What is that principle? That is the absolute sovereignty of God, for he says in Proverbs 16, verse 7, that when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. So God is very capable of making our enemies be at peace with us. Then if you look in Proverbs 21, in verse 1, the scripture says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water."

The Sovereignty of God as the Ultimate Answer

Weaver establishes God's absolute sovereignty over nations using Proverbs 16:7, Proverbs 21:1, Psalm 75:6-7, and Daniel 2 and 4, asserting that God raises and removes rulers.

"He turneth it whithersoever he will." So God, then, is actually in control. God is the sovereign. And the king's heart is in his hand, and he turneth it whithersoever he will. Now, one may rightly answer the question, in a theological framework, why the South lost the war would be answered, the sovereignty of God. You see, God is absolutely sovereign, not only in dealing with individuals, but in dealing with nations as well. I want you to turn back in your Bibles, if you would please, to Psalm 75 and look at verses 6 and 7. Psalm 75 verses 6 and 7. Note what the scripture says, and I want to establish this point with some other scriptures as well. In Psalm 75 verse 6, "For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another." So God is a sovereign. God is the judge. God puts down one and sets up another. God could have very easily have put down Abraham Lincoln before he did. He could have very easily have put down the Republican Congress before he did. He could have very easily elevated Jeff Davis, but he did not.

Look in your Bible to the book of Daniel chapter 2. Let me just show you this again. The book of Daniel, chapter 2. And let's look there, beginning with verse 20. Daniel, chapter 2. And we'll begin reading there with verse 20. Note, if you would, what Daniel said. Daniel 2, verse 20. "Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." So it's God, then, that removes the rulers and sets up rulers. In fact, if you'll skip down to verse 37 in the same chapter, you'll see what Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar. He says, "Thou, O king, art a king of kings." Why? Why was Nebuchadnezzar in the position that he was in? Here's why.

Scripture Reading — Daniel 2:20-21

"For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory." So if God had not given it to Nebuchadnezzar, then he would not have had it. Now, if you'll turn over to Daniel chapter 4, beginning there with verse 16, everyone knows the story how Nebuchadnezzar was a proud, arrogant, haughty monarch. He did not want to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and so God is going to let him go roam for seven years as a beast, and here's why. "Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him." That's the Chaldean way of saying seven years. "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men." So God, then, is the absolute sovereign.

Now, if you'll skip down to verse 32 in the same chapter, Daniel 4, you'll see the same statement again. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar,

Scripture Reading — Daniel 4:16-17

"And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will."

So God, then, is the absolute sovereign. He's not only sovereign over individuals, he's sovereign over nations.

The Perplexing Question: Why Did the Righteous South Lose?

Weaver contrasts the apostate North (Unitarianism, denial of Christ) with the godly South (revivals, Christian leaders) and asks how a sovereign God could allow the North to win.

Now, as we have already seen in our studies, it was the North that had apostatized. It was the North that had gone into Transcendentalism and Unitarianism. It was the North that denied not only the deity of Christ, but the inspiration of the Scriptures as well. So here you have a Northern nation denying Christ and denying the Word of God, and here you have the Southern nation adhering to the Word of God and believing in Jesus Christ. Now, the question has to arise: How could God allow such an apostate nation as the North to conquer and defeat a more righteous nation? Let's ask it another way. Do you realize that during the War of Northern Aggression, there were two great revivals in the Confederate armies, and thousands were swept into the Kingdom of God? No such thing happened in the Northern armies. There were no revivals. There were no awakenings. All you have to do is read Jones's book, Christ in the Camp, or W. W. Bennett's book, The Great Revivals in the Confederate Army, and you will get the detail on these great awakenings. So how then could God bless the South in such a way as to have these great awakenings and revivals and multitudes converted into the kingdom of God, and yet the South lose the war? Let me bring up another question. Have you ever considered just comparing the Northern leaders to the Southern leaders?

I mean, if we were just to do that quick comparison, for instance, here's Abraham Lincoln, who is an infidel. I don't care how many books you read on Abraham Lincoln, the Christian, according to his own testimony, the testimony of his wife, the testimony of his secretary, and the testimony of people who lived close to him, he was not a believer. He ridiculed and mocked preachers and mocked the gospel, and he hated Jesus Christ. He even wrote, at one time, a transcript denying the deity of Christ and the inspiration of the Scriptures. When you compare Lincoln to Jeff Davis, who was a godly Christian man, there is just absolute no comparison. If I had to choose between the two, certainly I would choose Jeff Davis any day of the week.

When you stop and think about General Grant versus General Robert E. Lee, Grant was nothing more than a cigar-smoking drunk. That's it. Robert E. Lee was a godly Christian and a gentleman. When you start thinking about Fighting Joe Hooker versus a Stonewall Jackson, Hooker the Northern General, and you remember I told you this in time past, but one of the names for a prostitute is a hooker. And that came from Fighting Joe Hooker. It was Joe Hooker who allowed these ladies of the night into the tents of the men to boost their morale, and they were known as Hooker's Ladies, and pretty soon Ladies was dropped and they were just known as Hookers. That came from Fighting Joe Hooker. Stonewall Jackson is known, rather, for his godliness. He's not known for allowing prostitutes into the camp. When you compare Spoons Butler to a General Ewell. Benjamin Butler was a Northern General. He's called Beast Butler because he murdered so many people.

He hanged a young man in New Orleans just because a young southern boy climbed up and took down the U.S. flag. He hanged him. He was named Spoons Butler because he was such a thief that whenever he went somewhere he would even steal the silverware. Now, you compare that to General Ewell. I'm just simply saying the South not only had better military leaders, the South had more godly leaders.

Now, let's ask the question. In light of these facts, how could a sovereign God allow a more wicked, Christ-denying, constitution-hating, covenant-breaking nation such as the North to defeat a more godly nation? How could that happen? Let me give you a quote, and then I want to build upon this quote. What I'm going to read to you was written by Robert L. Dabney. Remember now, Dabney was aide-de-camp to Stonewall Jackson. Dabney was a Presbyterian pastor, he was a theologian, he was an author, and you will find this in his book, A Defense of Virginia and the South, and here is what he says on page 356. Now, listen carefully. He says, "...a righteous God, for our sins toward him, hath permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his."

Dabney's Explanation: Judgment for National Sin

Weaver quotes Robert L. Dabney, who said God permitted the South's overthrow for their sins, using enemies who were also God's enemies, and predicts future judgment on the North.

"It is vain to complain in the ear of a maddening tempest. Although our people are now oppressed with present sufferings and a prospective destiny more cruel and disastrous than has been visited on any civilized people of modern ages, they suffer silently, disdaining to complain and only raising to the chastening heavens the cry, How long, O Lord? Their appeal is to history and to Him. They well know that in due time they, although powerless themselves, will be avenged through the same disorganizing heresies under which they now suffer, and through the anarchy and woes which they will bring upon the North." "Meantime, let the arrogant and successful wrongdoers flout our defense with disdain. We will meet them with it again when it will be heard, in the day of their calamity, in the pages of impartial history, and in the day of judgment."

Now, let me go back and point out several things that Dabney said before we get started. First of all, when Dabney said, quote, "a righteous God for our sins toward him has permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his," he is not saying that slavery was wrong or wicked. In fact, in his book, A Defense of Virginia and the South, he proves that slavery is indeed biblical. We've gone over that. So he is not saying that slavery is sin. Now, that does not mean that there were not some sins connected with slavery. There certainly were. And the South may have been wicked in more ways than one. But Dabney is not saying that slavery in and of itself is sinful and wicked. He's just saying a righteous God for our sins has permitted us to be overthrown. Secondly, Dabney is saying here that when the North attacked the South and did so aggressively, that they were not only acting as our enemy, but God's enemy.

Biblical Analogies: Righteous Losing to Wicked

Weaver examines Judges 19-20, where righteous Israel lost 40,000 men to wicked Benjamin before victory, and Numbers 31, where God protected Israel, showing that outcomes don't indicate righteousness.

And the answer is, there is. Now, let me give you a leading question. Does a gardener hate weeds? Yes. But the gardener actually hates the weeds even more when those weeds are in his flower bed or in his vegetable garden. Now, does God hate sin? And the answer is yes. But God even hates sin more when it's in His own people.

Now listen, in punishing the South for her sins, God also punished the North for her sins as well. Now, you're going to ask me a question, and it's a legitimate question, Pastor. How can winning a war be called punishment? Well, we shall see, okay?

Now, the Puritans had a saying, and it went like this, "God oftentimes curses his enemies with wealth." Well, how could wealth be a curse? Very simply, because the people who have wealth, most of the time, trust in their own wealth. They don't trust in God. So he often times curses his enemies with wealth, and thus they trust in that wealth and end up damning themselves. Now we could change that a little bit, and we could say it like this, that God sometimes punishes his enemies with victory. You see, we're going to learn that might does not make right, and force does not equal justice. And just because someone wins a war does not mean that the blessings of God and the approval of God are upon them.

Now let's turn in our Bibles to Judges chapter 19. Now let me just try to give you this story, Judges chapter 19, because there is a parallel here and I want you to see it. Now in Judges chapter 19, let's begin reading with verse 1 just so you can get a little bit of context, and then I'm going to tell you a lot of the story just to save some time. In Judges chapter 19 and verse 1,

Scripture Reading — Judges 19:1-30

"And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah. And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehemjudah." "...and was there a whole month. And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. And his father in law, the damsel's father, retained him;"

he keeps retaining his son-in-law, and the son-in-law says, "Let me be going." "No, no." He says, "You stay with me," and he keeps doing this for several days. Finally, when the son-in-law takes his wife and his servant and starts out, it's getting toward dark, and here's what his servant says.

Verse 10, "But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him. And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. And his master said unto him," Now remember, this was a Levite. "His master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel." "We will pass over to Gibeah. And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah. And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin." So now they are in a Benjamite city, so the Levite is among his own. Well, he goes into the city and no one asks him into their house.

And so an old man comes from the field and he sees the man there. And he says, "What are you doing out lodging in the streets?" Well, he said, "Nobody's asked me in. And I've got food for myself and for my animals." And the old man says, "Don't worry about it. Your needs be upon me. Don't lodge in the street. You come into my house." Well, the man and his wife and his servant goes home with the old man. And when they get there, the sodomites of the city surround him. And they say, "Bring that man out that we may know him." Well, the man, look in verse 23, "the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly."

Now, I still don't understand this next verse. "Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning." "And when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold."

"And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day." "Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds." So the man now takes his dead wife, he divides her into twelve pieces, he sends her to the twelve tribes and says, "Look what the children of Gibeah and of Benjamin have done to my wife."

Now, let's look at chapter twenty, beginning with verse one.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpeh. And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword."

So you've got nearly half a million fighting men. Now watch.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh. Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness? And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Behold, ye are all children of Israel." "Give here your advice and counsel. And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; and we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victuals for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel." "But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel."

Now stop. Just a moment. What did the Israelites say? "Just give us the men that did this wickedness. That's all we want. And we'll kill them. And we'll put evil away from Israel. That's all we want. You just give us these men." Watch verse 14.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men."

Now, you've got 26,700 soldiers to fight 400,000. Look at verse 16 about these 700 men, though.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war." "And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first."

Now is this thing of God? Yes. God says Judah shall go up. Watch verse 19.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men."

Whoa. The Benjamites are the bad guys. The Israelites are the good guys. The first day, the men protecting the sodomites killed 22,000 Israelites. Wait a minute, who's wrong in this battle? Well, the Benjamites are. Who's right? The Israelites are. Verse 22,

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.) And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword."

Whoa! Now we've got 40,000 Israelites dead. And evidently, so far, not one Benjamite. Look in verse 26.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand."

And, of course, the next day they killed 25,000 Benjamites.

Let me ask you a question. Who lost the most men in this battle? The Israelites. 40,000 Israelites that were more righteous than the Benjamites. And only 25,000 Benjamites died. Now was Benjamin wrong? Yes. Was Israel right? Yes. Why did God allow more Israelites to die than Benjamites? Could not God have protected those Israelites? And the answer is yes. Look back in your Bible very quickly to the book of Numbers chapter 31.

Let me show you something. Numbers chapter 31. Here are 12,000 Israelites that went out to fight against the Midianites. Watch this. Numbers 31. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian. Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand. And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian."

So they killed a lot of men, not just kings. "Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts." And of course they'd bring it back to Moses.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 31:1-12, 48-49

Now skip down, if you would, to verse 48. So 12,000 Israelites have gone to defeat all these Midianites. Look in verse 48, "And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses: And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us." Could not God have just as easily have protected the Israelites in Judges chapter 20 as he protected them in Numbers chapter 31? Yes. But yet 40,000 more righteous men had to die to defeat 25,000 unrighteous men. Let me tell you something, folks. I want you to learn this principle. Not only do righteous men die in war, sometimes the righteous even lose the war. So the man who wins is not necessarily the man who's right.

Habakkuk and Isaiah: God Uses Wicked Nations to Chastise

Weaver shows Habakkuk's struggle with God using Babylon to punish Judah, and Isaiah 10 where God calls Assyria the rod of His anger, then judges Assyria for its pride.

Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Habakkuk. A little Minor Prophet. Little book. Book of Habakkuk. Alright? Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. Look in Habakkuk chapter 1, and let's start reading there with verse 5. I want you to see that Habakkuk is perplexed by the same question that we are asking. How could God use a wicked nation to defeat a more righteous nation?

In this instance, it's the Chaldeans or the Babylonians who are going to come against Judah. And look what he says, Habakkuk 1 verse 5. He says,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:5-13

"Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you."

Now, look what God tells them.

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:5-13

"For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs." "They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold." "For they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god."

Now look what Habakkuk says,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:5-13

"Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction."

So he understands that God is going to use the wicked now to correct and to chastise, but then he says,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:5-13

"Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?"

Now, here's what Habakkuk is saying. Habakkuk is saying, "Lord, I'm not saying we don't deserve to be punished. We do. But how can you use someone more wicked to punish us?"

"They're vile, they're ungodly, they're idolaters." Look what he says in chapter 2 and verse 1. "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." He said, "God, the only thing I'm going to do is just wait and see and hear what you say. But I don't understand how you could let a wicked nation defeat a more righteous nation." Now, let me show you what he came up with. Look in chapter 3. Look in chapter 3, and you're going to see the answer that Habakkuk came up with. With God's absolute sovereignty. God does as He pleases, when He pleases, with whomever He pleases, and always as He pleases. He says in Habakkuk 3, verse 17, look at what he says, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail." We're going to lose everything.

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 3:17-18

"...and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

What's he saying? I'm going to still trust in God and rest in God, no matter the devastation that comes upon us, even from a more wicked and vile nation. So Habakkuk's problem was the same problem that we have when we ask, how could God allow the South to lose the war? Now, let me show you one other illustration. Go back to Isaiah chapter 10. It gets very plain as you look at this passage.

Now, the Assyrians were used by God to defeat the ten northern tribes. The Assyrians were wicked, vile people. It was the Assyrians who invented crucifixion. It was the Assyrians who threw little babies up in the air and catched them on their spears and swords. It was the Assyrians who would take a sharp knife and literally skin or flay a man alive, cut his skin off of him and tie him to an ant hill. They were masters of torture. And I want you to note what God says. Isaiah chapter 10. Let's begin reading there with verse 5. Isaiah 10 verse 5. Now watch carefully. God says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets." "Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few."

Now let me just stop there. Let's go back to verse 5. God says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger."

What was God doing? God was using the Assyrian as a parent would use a rod to whip a disobedient child. So he called the Assyrian the rod of his anger. He says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"and the staff in their hand,"

that is, the sword or whatever weapon they have in their hand, "is the staff of mine indignation." Now look what God says in verse six. God said, "I will send him." That's why the Assyrian king, God sent him. "I will send him against the hypocritical nation, against the people of my wrath." Look what God says. "Will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets." Now, the next verse is very revealing. "Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few." Now, let me ask you a question. When the Assyrians came over, did they come over because they say, "We are the instruments of the holy, righteous, sovereign God of Heaven, and we're coming over to exercise His judgment and His chastisement"? What did the Assyrians think? They wanted to kill and plunder and rape and steal. They had no earthly idea of honoring God or obeying God in any way whatsoever. So what did God do? When God got through using the Assyrians to chastise His people, then God turned around and judged the Assyrians for doing what they did. Isn't that amazing? God sent them, God allowed them to defeat Israel, and then God judged them for doing what they did to Israel. Well, how does that work? Well, let's begin reading in verse 10. Here is what the Assyrian says, "As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks." Why? Here's why.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people." "And as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped."

Here's what God says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood." "Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire."

Now, if a forester takes an axe and chops down the tree, don't you think it would be mighty strange that the axe stood up and said, "I'll chop down that tree." The axe could do nothing if the forester had not picked it up and swung it. So God says these Assyrians are stealing my glory, so now I will judge them for doing what they did, because they did not do it out of obedience.

The North Also Judged: Both Sides Lost

Weaver argues that the North was subjugated through Lincoln's tyranny and that today both North and South suffer under federal overreach, proving God judged the whole nation.

They did it out of wickedness. Now, just like God allowed the Babylonians to defeat Judah and the Assyrians to defeat Israel, God in His sovereignty used the North to judge and to chastise the South for her sins, and in so doing, he also judged and chastised the North. You say, how can you say that? Well, let me tell you, time will not permit me to tell even how during the war of Northern Aggression, subjugated even the northern states. Remember I told you that Lincoln arrested, incarcerated, without warrant and without trial, nearly 40,000 northerners. Did you realize that New York, are you listening? New York was divided up into military districts. Her courts were circumvented. Her citizens were arrested and imprisoned without charge and without warrant. The electoral process was interfered with. Lincoln even had some officers who were having votes or taking votes from soldiers in the field. Lincoln even had those officers of the court arrested and thrown in prison because he was afraid they did not agree with his policies.

Let me tell you something. The northern states were generally forced to agree with Lincoln or face military intervention themselves. Look at Ohio. Look at the riots that broke out up north. Now, here's the point. How could you say, in allowing the South to lose, God was judging the North? Are you listening? Today, the North is just as subjugated and enslaved as the South is. The North did not win. The North lost as well as the South. And consequently, North and South now face federal mandates, unfunded federal mandates, and it is the central bureaucracy and the central government now that tells the state they must toe the line or lose their federal funds. In fact, to show you the absolute ridiculousness of this situation and the stupidity of it, funds are collected from the state and from their citizens and are given to the feds and then the federal government uses those collected funds to blackmail the state into submission. Isn't that interesting? You see, in the beginning of our nation, the federal government was limited.

Why? Because it was controlled by the states. It had limited power and limited money. Now, the states are controlled by the federal government, and the federal government now claims unlimited power, and the power to tax as they please. I believe the South lost the war, not because slavery was evil in and of itself, not because the South was wicked and wrong, not because the North was moral and righteous. I believe the South lost the war because God was judging the nation. The sin was not necessarily a southern sin, it was a national sin. Because in the end, the North has lost just as much as the South.

Application: National Repentance Required

Weaver applies Jeremiah 5 to modern America, calling for national repentance because God has been judging the nation since 1865 for its collective sins.

Now let me make an application. Listen carefully. Since the loss of the war involves a theological issue, it means that God is not only angry with us as individuals, but also as a nation. Now remember folks, nations do not have souls. Nations must be judged in time and in history. You know, people talk about, "Well, we're going to be facing the judgment of God." We already are. And we have been. Especially since 1865. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 5. And let me show you a short passage. And I hope this will explain exactly what I'm trying to say to you. Jeremiah chapter 5. This will show you the corruption of Jerusalem, the capital city. I want to say the capital city because that's where the temple was. It certainly was the capital of the north, of the south, and it was of all of Israel until the Ten Tribes broke away and made Samaria the capital. But look in Jeremiah chapter 5 and verse 1. Here's what God tells Jeremiah, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it." This would be the equivalent of

saying to us, "Run through Washington, D.C. and find a man, if you can find one, that executes judgment and seeketh truth in all part of the country." The next verse is very apropos, too. "And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely." Oh, he said, you're going to find some that will say, "Oh, we're Christians." But he said, they're lying. How do we know they're lying? Because they don't live what they speak. Now, look what he says, "O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved." Hey, man, that's us, isn't it? What about all the hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, famines, droughts? "Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction." That's this country. "They have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return." Now, look what Jeremiah says.

"Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God." In other words, we're not the educated. We're not the erudite. We're not the elite. He says in verse 5, "I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God." "But these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds." He said, man, they cast God off too. Now watch verse 6. "Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased." That's judgment. Now look what God asks.

"How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods." Look at the New Age movement. Look at humanism. "When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery." Look at the fornication in this country, "and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife." Watch. Verse 9, "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" What is God doing? God is judging the nation. Now look at verse 10. He says, "Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord's. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he;"

"neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine." Well, why today is not going to hurt us? I mean, you know, God's not going to send any more judgment, no. "And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them." Skip down to verse 29. God says it again in the same chapter. "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" You look at the adultery and the fornication, and the fraud, and the treachery, and the deceit, and the idolatry, and the humanism, and the turning our backs upon God? Yes. God began judging this nation as a whole in 1865. And excuse my English, but he threw the book at us. What does this mean? That means the proper response to why the South lost the war is one of repentance. Not just individual repentance, but national repentance as well. And I challenge you to go back and read Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, who confess the sins of their nation and ask God to be merciful. God has a controversy with this country. And when the South, who was standing for right, biblically and constitutionally, lost, God judged the North and the nation as a whole. Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us, give us understanding, let us know where we are and how we got here, and what our proper response should be.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Sovereignty of God over nations

Summary: God is absolutely sovereign, raising up and putting down rulers and nations according to His will, as seen in Proverbs, Psalms, and Daniel.

Evidence: Weaver cites Proverbs 16:7, 21:1; Psalm 75:6-7; Daniel 2:20-21, 4:17, 4:32 to show God controls kings and outcomes.

God uses wicked nations to chastise His people

Summary: God sometimes employs ungodly nations as instruments of judgment against a more righteous people, as with Assyria against Israel and Babylon against Judah.

Evidence: Isaiah 10:5-6 calls Assyria the rod of God's anger; Habakkuk 1:6 shows God raising up the Chaldeans.

Victory does not equal divine approval

Summary: Winning a war does not mean God favors the victor; the righteous can lose, and the wicked can win as part of God's sovereign plan.

Evidence: Judges 20 shows righteous Israel losing 40,000 men to wicked Benjamin; Weaver states, 'the man who wins is not necessarily the man who's right.'

National sin and corporate judgment

Summary: God judges nations in history for their collective sins, not just individuals, and America has been under judgment since the Civil War.

Evidence: Jeremiah 5:1, 9, 29 speak of God avenging a nation; Weaver says God 'began judging this nation as a whole in 1865.'

The North as God's enemy and instrument

Summary: The North, though apostate and Christ-denying, was used by God to punish the South, yet the North itself was also judged for its wickedness.

Evidence: Dabney quote: 'a righteous God... hath permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his'; Isaiah 10 shows God judging Assyria after using it.

Repentance as the proper response

Summary: The appropriate reaction to national judgment is repentance, both individual and corporate, following biblical examples like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel.

Evidence: Weaver concludes: 'the proper response to why the South lost the war is one of repentance... national repentance as well.'

Key Arguments

The South was biblically and constitutionally right, yet lost

Summary: Weaver argues the South was correct on biblical and constitutional grounds, while the North had apostatized, making the South's defeat theologically puzzling.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'if the South was right biblically, and it was, and if the South was right constitutionally, and it was, why did the South lose the war?'

God's sovereignty is the ultimate but insufficient answer

Summary: While God's sovereignty explains all outcomes, Weaver seeks more specific reasons, such as God's use of the North to judge national sin.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'the sovereignty of God, is an excellent answer... yet the truth of the matter is we want more specifics than that.'

The North was more wicked than the South

Summary: Weaver contrasts Northern leaders (Lincoln, Grant, Hooker, Butler) with Southern leaders (Davis, Lee, Jackson, Ewell) to show the North's moral inferiority.

Evidence: Weaver describes Lincoln as an infidel, Grant as a drunk, Hooker as associated with prostitutes, and Butler as a murderer and thief.

God judged both North and South through the war

Summary: The North's victory brought subjugation upon itself as well, leading to federal tyranny over all states, fulfilling Dabney's prediction of reaping and sowing.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'the North did not win. The North lost as well as the South... North and South now face federal mandates.'

Biblical precedent for righteous losing to wicked

Summary: Judges 20 shows that God can allow the more righteous side to suffer greater losses, proving that military outcome does not reflect divine favor.

Evidence: Weaver notes: '40,000 Israelites that were more righteous than the Benjamites. And only 25,000 Benjamites died.'

God judges nations in time and history

Summary: Since nations have no souls, they must be judged in history; America has been experiencing God's judgment since 1865 through various calamities.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'nations do not have souls. Nations must be judged in time and in history... We already are. And we have been. Especially since 1865.'

Scripture References

Psalm 44:1-8

Context: Weaver reads these verses to show how God gave past victories, then notes the shift to defeat in verse 9.

Psalm 44:9-16

Context: Weaver reads these verses to illustrate God's withdrawal and the resulting defeat and shame of His people.

Psalm 44:17-18

Context: Weaver cites these verses to show the people claimed no covenantal rebellion despite their suffering.

Proverbs 16:7

Context: Weaver uses this to establish that God can make enemies be at peace when a man's ways please Him.

Proverbs 21:1

Context: Weaver quotes this to show the king's heart is in God's hand and He turns it as He wills.

Psalm 75:6-7

Context: Weaver reads this to demonstrate God puts down one and sets up another, affirming His sovereignty over rulers.

Daniel 2:20-21

Context: Weaver quotes Daniel's praise that God changes times, removes kings, and sets up kings.

Daniel 2:37

Context: Weaver references this to show Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was given by God.

Daniel 4:16-17

Context: Weaver reads this to show God rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will.

Daniel 4:32

Context: Weaver quotes this to reiterate that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men.

Proverbs 19:21

Context: Weaver cites this to show that man's devices are many, but God's counsel stands.

Proverbs 21:30

Context: Weaver quotes this to assert there is no wisdom or counsel against the Lord.

Galatians 6:7-8

Context: Weaver references the principle of sowing and reaping as the Lex Talionis.

Proverbs 11:31

Context: Weaver reads this to show the righteous are recompensed in the earth, and much more the wicked.

Judges 19:1-30

Context: Weaver recounts the story of the Levite's concubine to set up the conflict in Judges 20.

Judges 20:1-48

Context: Weaver reads extensively to show Israel's losses to Benjamin despite being in the right.

Numbers 31:1-12, 48-49

Context: Weaver contrasts this battle where Israel lost no men, showing God can protect when He wills.

Habakkuk 1:5-13

Context: Weaver reads Habakkuk's complaint about God using the wicked Chaldeans to punish Judah.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

Context: Weaver quotes Habakkuk's resolve to rejoice in God despite devastation.

Isaiah 10:5-19

Context: Weaver reads this passage to show God using Assyria as a rod and then judging Assyria for its pride.

Historical References

Robert L. Dabney, A Defense of Virginia and the South

Context: Weaver quotes Dabney's explanation that God permitted the South's overthrow for their sins, and predicts future judgment on the North.

Revivals in the Confederate armies

Context: Weaver mentions two great revivals in the Confederate armies, referencing Jones's Christ in the Camp and Bennett's The Great Revivals in the Confederate Army.

Abraham Lincoln's infidelity

Context: Weaver describes Lincoln as an infidel who mocked the gospel and denied Christ's deity, based on testimonies of his wife, secretary, and associates.

Jefferson Davis's Christian character

Context: Weaver contrasts Davis as a godly Christian man with Lincoln.

General Ulysses S. Grant

Context: Weaver calls Grant a cigar-smoking drunk, contrasting him with Robert E. Lee.

General Joseph Hooker and origin of 'hooker'

Context: Weaver explains that the term 'hooker' for prostitute originated from Hooker allowing prostitutes into camp.

General Benjamin Butler ('Beast Butler', 'Spoons Butler')

Context: Weaver describes Butler's hanging of a boy in New Orleans and his thievery, contrasting him with General Ewell.

Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus and arrests

Context: Weaver states Lincoln arrested nearly 40,000 northerners without warrant or trial, and interfered in elections.

New York under military districts

Context: Weaver notes New York was divided into military districts, courts circumvented, and citizens imprisoned.

Federal mandates and central government control

Context: Weaver describes how federal government now uses funds to blackmail states, showing loss of state sovereignty.

Important Quotes

a righteous God, for our sins toward him, hath permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his.

Significance: This quote from Dabney encapsulates the central theological argument that the South's defeat was divine judgment for sin, using the North as an instrument.

they will know that in due time they, although powerless themselves, will be avenged through the same disorganizing heresies under which they now suffer, and through the anarchy and the woes which they will bring upon the North.

Significance: Dabney predicts that the North will suffer from the same destructive ideologies it used against the South, a key to Weaver's argument that both sides were judged.

God oftentimes curses his enemies with wealth.

Significance: This Puritan saying supports Weaver's point that victory and prosperity can be a form of divine curse, leading to self-reliance and damnation.

the man who wins is not necessarily the man who's right.

Significance: Weaver succinctly states the lesson from Judges 20, challenging the assumption that military success indicates moral or divine approval.

O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

Significance: This verse from Isaiah 10 is the clearest biblical example of God using a wicked nation as an instrument of judgment, paralleling the North's role.

Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?

Significance: God's rhetorical question in Isaiah 10 rebukes Assyria's pride, illustrating that the North, like Assyria, acted from wicked motives and would be judged.

the North did not win. The North lost as well as the South.

Significance: Weaver's thesis that the war's outcome was a judgment on the entire nation, not a victory for the North, is captured in this statement.

nations do not have souls. Nations must be judged in time and in history.

Significance: This principle undergirds Weaver's call for national repentance, as God's judgment on America is already occurring in historical events.

Discussion Questions

How does Psalm 44 help us understand the experience of feeling abandoned by God despite faithfulness?

Context: Weaver introduces the psalm as a pattern of lament where God's people suffer defeat without clear covenantal rebellion.

In what ways does the sovereignty of God over nations challenge our assumptions about military or political success?

Context: Weaver establishes God's control over rulers and outcomes, then asks why the righteous South lost.

How should we reconcile the existence of revivals in the Confederate armies with the South's defeat?

Context: Weaver notes the spiritual awakenings in the South but not in the North, raising the question of God's purposes.

What does the story of Judges 19-20 teach us about God's justice when the righteous suffer greater losses than the wicked?

Context: Weaver uses this narrative to show that God's ways are not always immediately vindicated by outcomes.

How does Habakkuk's struggle with God using Babylon inform our understanding of God using evil nations today?

Context: Weaver parallels Habakkuk's perplexity with the question of the North's victory.

In what sense did the North 'lose' the Civil War according to Weaver, and do you see evidence of that today?

Context: Weaver argues that federal overreach and loss of state sovereignty show the North was also subjugated.

What does national repentance look like, and how can we practice it biblically?

Context: Weaver calls for repentance modeled after Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, confessing national sins.

How should Christians respond when they see their nation experiencing God's judgment?

Context: Weaver applies Jeremiah 5 to America, urging recognition of judgment and turning back to God.

Applications

Trust God's sovereignty even when the righteous lose

Summary: Believers should not equate victory with God's approval; they must trust God's purposes even when the wicked seem to triumph.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'the man who wins is not necessarily the man who's right' and points to Habakkuk's resolve to rejoice in God despite devastation.

Recognize national sin and God's judgment

Summary: Christians should see calamities as God's judgment on national sin and not dismiss them as mere natural events.

Evidence: Weaver applies Jeremiah 5:3: 'thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved... they have refused to receive correction.'

Practice corporate repentance

Summary: Believers should follow biblical examples of confessing national sins and pleading for God's mercy, not just individual sins.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'the proper response... is one of repentance. Not just individual repentance, but national repentance as well' and references Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel.

Beware of pride in success

Summary: Like Assyria, those used by God can become proud and attribute success to their own strength, inviting God's judgment.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Isaiah 10:15: 'Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?'

Understand that God judges nations in history

Summary: Since nations have no afterlife, God's justice must be executed in time; Christians should interpret historical events through this lens.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'nations do not have souls. Nations must be judged in time and in history.'

Do not trust in military or political might

Summary: Victory can be a curse if it leads to self-reliance; God sometimes punishes enemies with success.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'God sometimes punishes his enemies with victory' and cites the Puritan saying about cursing with wealth.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:03:11Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:41:37Z

Clean Transcript

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 14 of 14

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Alright, let's open our Bible today to Psalm 44. Psalm 44, beginning there with verse 1. "We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thine hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob."
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"Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever."
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Now, note if you would, the first eight verses are a rehearsal of history showing how God protected and provided for His people and gave them victory. In fact, they ask for continued victory in verse four when he says, "Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances." In other words, as you've done in time past, do so now. But when you come to verse nine, here's the change once again: "But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies."
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"Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen."
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"Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, for the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger."
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Now, in this passage, God has withdrawn Himself and His people are being depressed and defeated. But note, if you would please, in verse 17 they say, "All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way."
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Now, evidently, what the psalmist is saying here in this particular time is, although they're being defeated and oppressed, it is not because of any covenantal rebellion on their part. So the question has to be asked, how is it that God can allow His people to be defeated by their enemies, even when there is not any covenantal rebellion?
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Now, we've been looking last week particularly at why the South lost the war, and I asked and answered several questions, and I gave you several reasons that you would find in a very probably common, ordinary, everyday work on the South. I told you, first of all, there was the numerical reason. The South was outnumbered basically four to one. Secondly, there was the industrial reason, because the North had ten times the industry the South did. Then I pointed out how there were no weapon manufacturers in the South, and there were very few weapons until the war literally broke out. And then, of course, I told you there was the economic reason, how that all the gold and most of the, even the currency, was in the North. It was not in the South.
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Now, today we're going to continue this study, but I want to come down to the theological reason, and I want to deal more with the same question that I just presented to you from Psalm 44. Now, I want you to look at two quick passages in your Bibles. Turn, if you would, to the book of Proverbs, chapter 16, and then Proverbs, chapter 21, because I want to establish a principle that everyone in here at least knows and believes. What is that principle? That is the absolute sovereignty of God, for he says in Proverbs 16, verse 7, that when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. So God is very capable of making our enemies be at peace with us. Then if you look in Proverbs 21, in verse 1, the scripture says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water."
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"He turneth it whithersoever he will." So God, then, is actually in control. God is the sovereign. And the king's heart is in his hand, and he turneth it whithersoever he will.
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Now, one may rightly answer the question, in a theological framework, why the South lost the war would be answered, the sovereignty of God. You see, God is absolutely sovereign, not only in dealing with individuals, but in dealing with nations as well. I want you to turn back in your Bibles, if you would please, to Psalm 75 and look at verses 6 and 7. Psalm 75 verses 6 and 7. Note what the scripture says, and I want to establish this point with some other scriptures as well. In Psalm 75 verse 6, "For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another." So God is a sovereign. God is the judge. God puts down one and sets up another. God could have very easily have put down Abraham Lincoln before he did. He could have very easily have put down the Republican Congress before he did. He could have very easily elevated Jeff Davis, but he did not.
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Look in your Bible to the book of Daniel chapter 2. Let me just show you this again. The book of Daniel, chapter 2. And let's look there, beginning with verse 20. Daniel, chapter 2. And we'll begin reading there with verse 20. Note, if you would, what Daniel said. Daniel 2, verse 20. "Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." So it's God, then, that removes the rulers and sets up rulers. In fact, if you'll skip down to verse 37 in the same chapter, you'll see what Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar. He says, "Thou, O king, art a king of kings." Why? Why was Nebuchadnezzar in the position that he was in? Here's why.
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"For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory." So if God had not given it to Nebuchadnezzar, then he would not have had it. Now, if you'll turn over to Daniel chapter 4, beginning there with verse 16, everyone knows the story how Nebuchadnezzar was a proud, arrogant, haughty monarch. He did not want to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and so God is going to let him go roam for seven years as a beast, and here's why. "Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him." That's the Chaldean way of saying seven years. "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men." So God, then, is the absolute sovereign.
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Now, if you'll skip down to verse 32 in the same chapter, Daniel 4, you'll see the same statement again. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar, "And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will."
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So God, then, is the absolute sovereign. He's not only sovereign over individuals, he's sovereign over nations.
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Now, let me try to say this another way. Man proposes, but God disposes. Man can propose all he wants, but God is the one who works it out. Look back in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 19, and let me show you a verse very quickly, Proverbs chapter 19, and note if you would please verse 21. Proverbs 19, verse 21. Scripture says, "There are many devices in a man's heart."
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"Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." So man proposes, but God disposes.
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Now look in Proverbs 21, verse 30. Here's another truth. Proverbs 21, verse 30. "There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord." So the Lord is absolutely sovereign.
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Now, although the answer, the sovereignty of God, is an excellent answer as to why the South lost the war, yet the truth of the matter is we want more specifics than that. We want our question answered in a little clearer way. In other words, there are numerous questions that arise in our minds that oftentimes cloud the issue when we just simply say the sovereignty of God. For instance, if the South was right biblically, and it was, and if the South was right constitutionally, and it was, why did the South lose the war?
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Now, as we have already seen in our studies, it was the North that had apostatized. It was the North that had gone into Transcendentalism and Unitarianism. It was the North that denied not only the deity of Christ, but the inspiration of the Scriptures as well. So here you have a Northern nation denying Christ and denying the Word of God, and here you have the Southern nation adhering to the Word of God and believing in Jesus Christ. Now, the question has to arise: How could God allow such an apostate nation as the North to conquer and defeat a more righteous nation?
#20 | 10:42 to 11:27 | cleaned
Let's ask it another way. Do you realize that during the War of Northern Aggression, there were two great revivals in the Confederate armies, and thousands were swept into the Kingdom of God? No such thing happened in the Northern armies. There were no revivals. There were no awakenings. All you have to do is read Jones's book, Christ in the Camp, or W. W. Bennett's book, The Great Revivals in the Confederate Army, and you will get the detail on these great awakenings. So how then could God bless the South in such a way as to have these great awakenings and revivals and multitudes converted into the kingdom of God, and yet the South lose the war? Let me bring up another question. Have you ever considered just comparing the Northern leaders to the Southern leaders?
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I mean, if we were just to do that quick comparison, for instance, here's Abraham Lincoln, who is an infidel. I don't care how many books you read on Abraham Lincoln, the Christian, according to his own testimony, the testimony of his wife, the testimony of his secretary, and the testimony of people who lived close to him, he was not a believer. He ridiculed and mocked preachers and mocked the gospel, and he hated Jesus Christ. He even wrote, at one time, a transcript denying the deity of Christ and the inspiration of the Scriptures. When you compare Lincoln to Jeff Davis, who was a godly Christian man, there is just absolute no comparison. If I had to choose between the two, certainly I would choose Jeff Davis any day of the week.
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When you stop and think about General Grant versus General Robert E. Lee, Grant was nothing more than a cigar-smoking drunk. That's it. Robert E. Lee was a godly Christian and a gentleman. When you start thinking about Fighting Joe Hooker versus a Stonewall Jackson, Hooker the Northern General, and you remember I told you this in time past, but one of the names for a prostitute is a hooker. And that came from Fighting Joe Hooker. It was Joe Hooker who allowed these ladies of the night into the tents of the men to boost their morale, and they were known as Hooker's Ladies, and pretty soon Ladies was dropped and they were just known as Hookers. That came from Fighting Joe Hooker. Stonewall Jackson is known, rather, for his godliness. He's not known for allowing prostitutes into the camp. When you compare Spoons Butler to a General Ewell. Benjamin Butler was a Northern General. He's called Beast Butler because he murdered so many people.
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He hanged a young man in New Orleans just because a young southern boy climbed up and took down the U.S. flag. He hanged him. He was named Spoons Butler because he was such a thief that whenever he went somewhere he would even steal the silverware.
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Now, you compare that to General Ewell. I'm just simply saying the South not only had better military leaders, the South had more godly leaders.
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Now, let's ask the question. In light of these facts, how could a sovereign God allow a more wicked, Christ-denying, constitution-hating, covenant-breaking nation such as the North to defeat a more godly nation? How could that happen? Let me give you a quote, and then I want to build upon this quote. What I'm going to read to you was written by Robert L. Dabney. Remember now, Dabney was aide-de-camp to Stonewall Jackson. Dabney was a Presbyterian pastor, he was a theologian, he was an author, and you will find this in his book, A Defense of Virginia and the South, and here is what he says on page 356. Now, listen carefully. He says, "...a righteous God, for our sins toward him, hath permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his."
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"It is vain to complain in the ear of a maddening tempest. Although our people are now oppressed with present sufferings and a prospective destiny more cruel and disastrous than has been visited on any civilized people of modern ages, they suffer silently, disdaining to complain and only raising to the chastening heavens the cry, How long, O Lord? Their appeal is to history and to Him. They well know that in due time they, although powerless themselves, will be avenged through the same disorganizing heresies under which they now suffer, and through the anarchy and woes which they will bring upon the North."
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"Meantime, let the arrogant and successful wrongdoers flout our defense with disdain. We will meet them with it again when it will be heard, in the day of their calamity, in the pages of impartial history, and in the day of judgment."
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Now, let me go back and point out several things that Dabney said before we get started. First of all, when Dabney said, quote, "a righteous God for our sins toward him has permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his," he is not saying that slavery was wrong or wicked. In fact, in his book, A Defense of Virginia and the South, he proves that slavery is indeed biblical. We've gone over that. So he is not saying that slavery is sin. Now, that does not mean that there were not some sins connected with slavery. There certainly were. And the South may have been wicked in more ways than one. But Dabney is not saying that slavery in and of itself is sinful and wicked. He's just saying a righteous God for our sins has permitted us to be overthrown. Secondly, Dabney is saying here that when the North attacked the South and did so aggressively, that they were not only acting as our enemy, but God's enemy.
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Listen to what he said. "A righteous God for our sins toward him has permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his." How can we say the North were God's enemies? Let me tell you something. Anybody that denies the deity of Jesus Christ is the enemy of God. Anybody that denies the inspiration of the scripture is the enemy of God. It's just that simple. Now, Dabney said it was for our sins.
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I want you to remember that. He said they were God's enemies as well as ours.
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Thirdly, I want you to note in this quote that Dabney also apports to the biblical principle of reaping and sowing, or sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:7-8. God says through the Apostle Paul, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." This is known as the Lex Talionis, or the Law of Retribution. Now, I want you to listen to what he says.
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He is saying that the North is going to come to suffer as we have. He says, "they will know that in due time they, although powerless themselves, will be avenged through the same disorganizing heresies under which they now suffer, and through the anarchy and the woes which they will bring upon the North." What's he saying? Now, a listener won't come back to this. What he's basically saying is this. When the North defeated the South, they basically defeated themselves. When the North subjugated the South, the North also subjugated itself.
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And I'll prove that to you, hopefully, in just a few moments. Fourthly, I want you to understand that Dabney also speaks of an eternal judgment and vindication, as well as a judgment and a vindication in time and in history.
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Now listen to what he says. Listen carefully. "Meantime, let the arrogant and successful wrongdoers flout our defense with disdain. We will meet them with it again when it will be heard in the day of their calamity." That's judgment in time and history. "...in the pages of impartial history and in the Day of Judgment." That's the eternal judgment. So what is he saying? There's going to be a time in history when the North gets paid back.
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Look in your Bible, since you're in Proverbs. Proverbs 11 and verse 31. Proverbs 11, verse 31. Here's the statement. Proverbs 11, verse 31. God says, "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner."
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Now, let me ask you a question. Are the righteous going to be rewarded in glory? What's the answer? Yes. But do we have to wait until we get to glory before we receive any blessings or any rewards? No. We get them every day. So God rewards us in time and in history.
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Now look what he says. "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed, or paid back in the earth." That is, we're going to reap what we have sown in time and history. God's going to bless us in time and history. Then he says, "much more the wicked and the sinner." So if God blesses us in time and history, how much more is He going to curse those that disobey me? So there are negative sanctions in time and in history, as well as positive sanctions. In light of the aforementioned facts, how could God allow the South to lose? Ask that question. Certainly God is sovereign. God could have prevented it, but he did not. Now, you've got to ask yourself this question. Are there any analogies in Scripture that will shed light on this question?
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And the answer is, there is. Now, let me give you a leading question. Does a gardener hate weeds? Yes. But the gardener actually hates the weeds even more when those weeds are in his flower bed or in his vegetable garden. Now, does God hate sin? And the answer is yes. But God even hates sin more when it's in His own people.
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Now listen, in punishing the South for her sins, God also punished the North for her sins as well. Now, you're going to ask me a question, and it's a legitimate question, Pastor. How can winning a war be called punishment? Well, we shall see, okay?
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Now, the Puritans had a saying, and it went like this, "God oftentimes curses his enemies with wealth." Well, how could wealth be a curse? Very simply, because the people who have wealth, most of the time, trust in their own wealth. They don't trust in God. So he often times curses his enemies with wealth, and thus they trust in that wealth and end up damning themselves. Now we could change that a little bit, and we could say it like this, that God sometimes punishes his enemies with victory.
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You see, we're going to learn that might does not make right, and force does not equal justice. And just because someone wins a war does not mean that the blessings of God and the approval of God are upon them.
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Now let's turn in our Bibles to Judges chapter 19. Now let me just try to give you this story, Judges chapter 19, because there is a parallel here and I want you to see it. Now in Judges chapter 19, let's begin reading with verse 1 just so you can get a little bit of context, and then I'm going to tell you a lot of the story just to save some time. In Judges chapter 19 and verse 1, "And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah. And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehemjudah."
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"...and was there a whole month. And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. And his father in law, the damsel's father, retained him;" he keeps retaining his son-in-law, and the son-in-law says, "Let me be going." "No, no." He says, "You stay with me," and he keeps doing this for several days. Finally, when the son-in-law takes his wife and his servant and starts out, it's getting toward dark, and here's what his servant says.
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Verse 10, "But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him. And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. And his master said unto him," Now remember, this was a Levite. "His master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel."
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"We will pass over to Gibeah. And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah. And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin." So now they are in a Benjamite city, so the Levite is among his own. Well, he goes into the city and no one asks him into their house.
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And so an old man comes from the field and he sees the man there. And he says, "What are you doing out lodging in the streets?" Well, he said, "Nobody's asked me in. And I've got food for myself and for my animals." And the old man says, "Don't worry about it. Your needs be upon me. Don't lodge in the street. You come into my house." Well, the man and his wife and his servant goes home with the old man.
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And when they get there, the sodomites of the city surround him. And they say, "Bring that man out that we may know him." Well, the man, look in verse 23, "the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly."
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Now, I still don't understand this next verse. "Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning."
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"And when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold."
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"And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day."
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"Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds." So the man now takes his dead wife, he divides her into twelve pieces, he sends her to the twelve tribes and says, "Look what the children of Gibeah and of Benjamin have done to my wife."
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Now, let's look at chapter twenty, beginning with verse one. "Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpeh. And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword."
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So you've got nearly half a million fighting men. Now watch.
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"Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh. Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness? And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Behold, ye are all children of Israel."
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"Give here your advice and counsel. And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; and we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victuals for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel."
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"But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel." Now stop. Just a moment. What did the Israelites say? "Just give us the men that did this wickedness. That's all we want. And we'll kill them. And we'll put evil away from Israel. That's all we want. You just give us these men." Watch verse 14. "But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men." Now, you've got 26,700 soldiers to fight 400,000. Look at verse 16 about these 700 men, though. "Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war."
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"And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first." Now is this thing of God? Yes. God says Judah shall go up. Watch verse 19. "And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men." Whoa.
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The Benjamites are the bad guys. The Israelites are the good guys. The first day, the men protecting the sodomites killed 22,000 Israelites. Wait a minute, who's wrong in this battle? Well, the Benjamites are. Who's right? The Israelites are. Verse 22, "And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.) And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword." Whoa! Now we've got 40,000 Israelites dead.
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And evidently, so far, not one Benjamite. Look in verse 26. "Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand." And, of course, the next day they killed 25,000 Benjamites.
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Let me ask you a question. Who lost the most men in this battle? The Israelites. 40,000 Israelites that were more righteous than the Benjamites. And only 25,000 Benjamites died. Now was Benjamin wrong? Yes. Was Israel right? Yes. Why did God allow more Israelites to die than Benjamites? Could not God have protected those Israelites? And the answer is yes. Look back in your Bible very quickly to the book of Numbers chapter 31.
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Let me show you something. Numbers chapter 31. Here are 12,000 Israelites that went out to fight against the Midianites. Watch this. Numbers 31. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian. Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand. And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian."
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So they killed a lot of men, not just kings. "Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts." And of course they'd bring it back to Moses.
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Now skip down, if you would, to verse 48. So 12,000 Israelites have gone to defeat all these Midianites. Look in verse 48, "And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses: And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us." Could not God have just as easily have protected the Israelites in Judges chapter 20 as he protected them in Numbers chapter 31? Yes. But yet 40,000 more righteous men had to die to defeat 25,000 unrighteous men.
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Let me tell you something, folks. I want you to learn this principle. Not only do righteous men die in war, sometimes the righteous even lose the war. So the man who wins is not necessarily the man who's right.
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Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Habakkuk. A little Minor Prophet. Little book. Book of Habakkuk. Alright? Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. Look in Habakkuk chapter 1, and let's start reading there with verse 5. I want you to see that Habakkuk is perplexed by the same question that we are asking. How could God use a wicked nation to defeat a more righteous nation?
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In this instance, it's the Chaldeans or the Babylonians who are going to come against Judah. And look what he says, Habakkuk 1 verse 5. He says, "Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you." Now, look what God tells them. "For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs."
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"They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold."
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"For they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god."
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Now look what Habakkuk says, "Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction." So he understands that God is going to use the wicked now to correct and to chastise, but then he says, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?" Now, here's what Habakkuk is saying. Habakkuk is saying, "Lord, I'm not saying we don't deserve to be punished. We do. But how can you use someone more wicked to punish us?"
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"They're vile, they're ungodly, they're idolaters." Look what he says in chapter 2 and verse 1. "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." He said, "God, the only thing I'm going to do is just wait and see and hear what you say. But I don't understand how you could let a wicked nation defeat a more righteous nation."
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Now, let me show you what he came up with. Look in chapter 3. Look in chapter 3, and you're going to see the answer that Habakkuk came up with. With God's absolute sovereignty. God does as He pleases, when He pleases, with whomever He pleases, and always as He pleases. He says in Habakkuk 3, verse 17, look at what he says, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail." We're going to lose everything.
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"...and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." What's he saying? I'm going to still trust in God and rest in God, no matter the devastation that comes upon us, even from a more wicked and vile nation. So Habakkuk's problem was the same problem that we have when we ask, how could God allow the South to lose the war?
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Now, let me show you one other illustration. Go back to Isaiah chapter 10. It gets very plain as you look at this passage.
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Now, the Assyrians were used by God to defeat the ten northern tribes. The Assyrians were wicked, vile people. It was the Assyrians who invented crucifixion. It was the Assyrians who threw little babies up in the air and catched them on their spears and swords. It was the Assyrians who would take a sharp knife and literally skin or flay a man alive, cut his skin off of him and tie him to an ant hill.
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They were masters of torture. And I want you to note what God says. Isaiah chapter 10. Let's begin reading there with verse 5. Isaiah 10 verse 5. Now watch carefully. God says, "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets."
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"Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few."
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Now let me just stop there. Let's go back to verse 5. God says, "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger." What was God doing? God was using the Assyrian as a parent would use a rod to whip a disobedient child. So he called the Assyrian the rod of his anger. He says, "and the staff in their hand," that is, the sword or whatever weapon they have in their hand, "is the staff of mine indignation." Now look what God says in verse six. God said, "I will send him." That's why the Assyrian king, God sent him. "I will send him against the hypocritical nation, against the people of my wrath." Look what God says.
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"Will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets." Now, the next verse is very revealing. "Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few."
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Now, let me ask you a question. When the Assyrians came over, did they come over because they say, "We are the instruments of the holy, righteous, sovereign God of Heaven, and we're coming over to exercise His judgment and His chastisement"? What did the Assyrians think? They wanted to kill and plunder and rape and steal. They had no earthly idea of honoring God or obeying God in any way whatsoever. So what did God do? When God got through using the Assyrians to chastise His people, then God turned around and judged the Assyrians for doing what they did. Isn't that amazing? God sent them, God allowed them to defeat Israel, and then God judged them for doing what they did to Israel.
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Well, how does that work? Well, let's begin reading in verse 10. Here is what the Assyrian says, "As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks." Why? Here's why. "For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people."
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"And as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." Here's what God says, "Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood."
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"Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire." Now, if a forester takes an axe and chops down the tree, don't you think it would be mighty strange that the axe stood up and said, "I'll chop down that tree." The axe could do nothing if the forester had not picked it up and swung it. So God says these Assyrians are stealing my glory, so now I will judge them for doing what they did, because they did not do it out of obedience.
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They did it out of wickedness. Now, just like God allowed the Babylonians to defeat Judah and the Assyrians to defeat Israel, God in His sovereignty used the North to judge and to chastise the South for her sins, and in so doing, he also judged and chastised the North. You say, how can you say that? Well, let me tell you, time will not permit me to tell even how during the war of Northern Aggression, subjugated even the northern states.
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Remember I told you that Lincoln arrested, incarcerated, without warrant and without trial, nearly 40,000 northerners. Did you realize that New York, are you listening? New York was divided up into military districts. Her courts were circumvented. Her citizens were arrested and imprisoned without charge and without warrant. The electoral process was interfered with. Lincoln even had some officers who were having votes or taking votes from soldiers in the field. Lincoln even had those officers of the court arrested and thrown in prison because he was afraid they did not agree with his policies.
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Let me tell you something. The northern states were generally forced to agree with Lincoln or face military intervention themselves. Look at Ohio. Look at the riots that broke out up north. Now, here's the point. How could you say, in allowing the South to lose, God was judging the North? Are you listening? Today, the North is just as subjugated and enslaved as the South is. The North did not win. The North lost as well as the South. And consequently, North and South now face federal mandates, unfunded federal mandates, and it is the central bureaucracy and the central government now that tells the state they must toe the line or lose their federal funds. In fact, to show you the absolute ridiculousness of this situation and the stupidity of it, funds are collected from the state and from their citizens and are given to the feds and then the federal government uses those collected funds to blackmail the state into submission. Isn't that interesting? You see, in the beginning of our nation, the federal government was limited.
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Why? Because it was controlled by the states. It had limited power and limited money. Now, the states are controlled by the federal government, and the federal government now claims unlimited power, and the power to tax as they please. I believe the South lost the war, not because slavery was evil in and of itself, not because the South was wicked and wrong, not because the North was moral and righteous. I believe the South lost the war because God was judging the nation.
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The sin was not necessarily a southern sin, it was a national sin. Because in the end, the North has lost just as much as the South.
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Now let me make an application. Listen carefully. Since the loss of the war involves a theological issue, it means that God is not only angry with us as individuals, but also as a nation.
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Now remember folks, nations do not have souls. Nations must be judged in time and in history. You know, people talk about, "Well, we're going to be facing the judgment of God." We already are. And we have been. Especially since 1865. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 5. And let me show you a short passage. And I hope this will explain exactly what I'm trying to say to you. Jeremiah chapter 5. This will show you the corruption of Jerusalem, the capital city. I want to say the capital city because that's where the temple was. It certainly was the capital of the north, of the south, and it was of all of Israel until the Ten Tribes broke away and made Samaria the capital. But look in Jeremiah chapter 5 and verse 1. Here's what God tells Jeremiah, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it." This would be the equivalent of
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saying to us, "Run through Washington, D.C. and find a man, if you can find one, that executes judgment and seeketh truth in all part of the country." The next verse is very apropos, too. "And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely." Oh, he said, you're going to find some that will say, "Oh, we're Christians." But he said, they're lying. How do we know they're lying?
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Because they don't live what they speak. Now, look what he says, "O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved." Hey, man, that's us, isn't it? What about all the hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, famines, droughts? "Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction." That's this country. "They have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return." Now, look what Jeremiah says.
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"Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God." In other words, we're not the educated. We're not the erudite. We're not the elite. He says in verse 5, "I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God."
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"But these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds." He said, man, they cast God off too. Now watch verse 6. "Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased." That's judgment. Now look what God asks.
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"How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods." Look at the New Age movement. Look at humanism. "When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery." Look at the fornication in this country, "and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife." Watch.
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Verse 9, "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" What is God doing? God is judging the nation. Now look at verse 10. He says, "Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord's. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he;"
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"neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine." Well, why today is not going to hurt us? I mean, you know, God's not going to send any more judgment, no. "And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them." Skip down to verse 29. God says it again in the same chapter. "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord:
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shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" You look at the adultery and the fornication, and the fraud, and the treachery, and the deceit, and the idolatry, and the humanism, and the turning our backs upon God? Yes. God began judging this nation as a whole in 1865. And excuse my English, but he threw the book at us. What does this mean? That means the proper response to why the South lost the war is one of repentance. Not just individual repentance, but national repentance as well. And I challenge you to go back and read Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, who confess the sins of their nation and ask God to be merciful. God has a controversy with this country. And when the South, who was standing for right, biblically and constitutionally, lost, God judged the North and the nation as a whole. Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us, give us understanding, let us know where we are and how we got here, and what our proper response should be.
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Give us grace to serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:03:11Z

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 14 of 14

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver explores the theological reasons for the South's defeat in the Civil War, arguing that God's sovereignty allowed a more wicked North to conquer a more righteous South as a judgment on national sin. Using Psalm 44, Judges 19-20, Habakkuk, and Isaiah 10, he demonstrates that God sometimes uses ungodly nations to chastise His people, and that victory does not equate to divine approval. The lecture concludes with a call to national repentance, emphasizing that both North and South have suffered under God's judgment since 1865.

Introduction: The Question from Psalm 44

Alright, let's open our Bible today to Psalm 44. Psalm 44, beginning there with verse 1.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 44:1-8

"We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thine hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob." "Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever."

Common Reasons for the South's Loss

Weaver reviews non-theological reasons for the South's defeat: numerical inferiority, industrial disadvantage, lack of weapons, and economic weakness.

The Sovereignty of God as the Ultimate Answer

Weaver establishes God's absolute sovereignty over nations using Proverbs 16:7, Proverbs 21:1, Psalm 75:6-7, and Daniel 2 and 4, asserting that God raises and removes rulers.

Scripture Reading — Daniel 2:20-21

"For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory." So if God had not given it to Nebuchadnezzar, then he would not have had it. Now, if you'll turn over to Daniel chapter 4, beginning there with verse 16, everyone knows the story how Nebuchadnezzar was a proud, arrogant, haughty monarch. He did not want to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and so God is going to let him go roam for seven years as a beast, and here's why. "Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him." That's the Chaldean way of saying seven years. "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men." So God, then, is the absolute sovereign.

Now, if you'll skip down to verse 32 in the same chapter, Daniel 4, you'll see the same statement again. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar,

Scripture Reading — Daniel 4:16-17

"And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will."

So God, then, is the absolute sovereign. He's not only sovereign over individuals, he's sovereign over nations.

The Perplexing Question: Why Did the Righteous South Lose?

Weaver contrasts the apostate North (Unitarianism, denial of Christ) with the godly South (revivals, Christian leaders) and asks how a sovereign God could allow the North to win.

Dabney's Explanation: Judgment for National Sin

Weaver quotes Robert L. Dabney, who said God permitted the South's overthrow for their sins, using enemies who were also God's enemies, and predicts future judgment on the North.

Biblical Analogies: Righteous Losing to Wicked

Weaver examines Judges 19-20, where righteous Israel lost 40,000 men to wicked Benjamin before victory, and Numbers 31, where God protected Israel, showing that outcomes don't indicate righteousness.

Scripture Reading — Judges 19:1-30

"And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah. And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehemjudah." "...and was there a whole month. And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. And his father in law, the damsel's father, retained him;"

Now, let's look at chapter twenty, beginning with verse one.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpeh. And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword."

So you've got nearly half a million fighting men. Now watch.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh. Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness? And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Behold, ye are all children of Israel." "Give here your advice and counsel. And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; and we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victuals for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel." "But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel."

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men."

Now, you've got 26,700 soldiers to fight 400,000. Look at verse 16 about these 700 men, though.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war." "And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first."

Now is this thing of God? Yes. God says Judah shall go up. Watch verse 19.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men."

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.) And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword."

Whoa! Now we've got 40,000 Israelites dead. And evidently, so far, not one Benjamite. Look in verse 26.

Scripture Reading — Judges 20:1-48

"Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand."

And, of course, the next day they killed 25,000 Benjamites.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 31:1-12, 48-49

Now skip down, if you would, to verse 48. So 12,000 Israelites have gone to defeat all these Midianites. Look in verse 48, "And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses: And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us." Could not God have just as easily have protected the Israelites in Judges chapter 20 as he protected them in Numbers chapter 31? Yes. But yet 40,000 more righteous men had to die to defeat 25,000 unrighteous men. Let me tell you something, folks. I want you to learn this principle. Not only do righteous men die in war, sometimes the righteous even lose the war. So the man who wins is not necessarily the man who's right.

Habakkuk and Isaiah: God Uses Wicked Nations to Chastise

Weaver shows Habakkuk's struggle with God using Babylon to punish Judah, and Isaiah 10 where God calls Assyria the rod of His anger, then judges Assyria for its pride.

In this instance, it's the Chaldeans or the Babylonians who are going to come against Judah. And look what he says, Habakkuk 1 verse 5. He says,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:5-13

"Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you."

Now, look what God tells them.

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:5-13

"For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs." "They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold." "For they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god."

Now look what Habakkuk says,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:5-13

"Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction."

So he understands that God is going to use the wicked now to correct and to chastise, but then he says,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:5-13

"Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?"

Now, here's what Habakkuk is saying. Habakkuk is saying, "Lord, I'm not saying we don't deserve to be punished. We do. But how can you use someone more wicked to punish us?"

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 3:17-18

"...and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets." "Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few."

Now let me just stop there. Let's go back to verse 5. God says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger."

What was God doing? God was using the Assyrian as a parent would use a rod to whip a disobedient child. So he called the Assyrian the rod of his anger. He says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"and the staff in their hand,"

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people." "And as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped."

Here's what God says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 10:5-19

"Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood." "Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire."

The North Also Judged: Both Sides Lost

Weaver argues that the North was subjugated through Lincoln's tyranny and that today both North and South suffer under federal overreach, proving God judged the whole nation.

Application: National Repentance Required

Weaver applies Jeremiah 5 to modern America, calling for national repentance because God has been judging the nation since 1865 for its collective sins.

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 14 of 14

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	3290483918
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom
Genre	Sermon
Date	1998-10-05
Dictation Name
Book	Book 119: Where We Are & How We Got Here — Chapter 14
Source Timed Segments	99

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Question from Psalm 44: Weaver reads Psalm 44, noting the shift from recounting God's past deliverance to lamenting present defeat despite no covenantal rebellion, raising the question of how God can allow His people to be defeated.
Common Reasons for the South's Loss: Weaver reviews non-theological reasons for the South's defeat: numerical inferiority, industrial disadvantage, lack of weapons, and economic weakness.
The Sovereignty of God as the Ultimate Answer: Weaver establishes God's absolute sovereignty over nations using Proverbs 16:7, Proverbs 21:1, Psalm 75:6-7, and Daniel 2 and 4, asserting that God raises and removes rulers.
The Perplexing Question: Why Did the Righteous South Lose?: Weaver contrasts the apostate North (Unitarianism, denial of Christ) with the godly South (revivals, Christian leaders) and asks how a sovereign God could allow the North to win.
Dabney's Explanation: Judgment for National Sin: Weaver quotes Robert L. Dabney, who said God permitted the South's overthrow for their sins, using enemies who were also God's enemies, and predicts future judgment on the North.
Biblical Analogies: Righteous Losing to Wicked: Weaver examines Judges 19-20, where righteous Israel lost 40,000 men to wicked Benjamin before victory, and Numbers 31, where God protected Israel, showing that outcomes don't indicate righteousness.
Habakkuk and Isaiah: God Uses Wicked Nations to Chastise: Weaver shows Habakkuk's struggle with God using Babylon to punish Judah, and Isaiah 10 where God calls Assyria the rod of His anger, then judges Assyria for its pride.
The North Also Judged: Both Sides Lost: Weaver argues that the North was subjugated through Lincoln's tyranny and that today both North and South suffer under federal overreach, proving God judged the whole nation.
Application: National Repentance Required: Weaver applies Jeremiah 5 to modern America, calling for national repentance because God has been judging the nation since 1865 for its collective sins.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

The South was biblically and constitutionally right, yet lost

Weaver argues the South was correct on biblical and constitutional grounds, while the North had apostatized, making the South's defeat theologically puzzling.

Weaver states: 'if the South was right biblically, and it was, and if the South was right constitutionally, and it was, why did the South lose the war?'

God's sovereignty is the ultimate but insufficient answer

While God's sovereignty explains all outcomes, Weaver seeks more specific reasons, such as God's use of the North to judge national sin.

Weaver says: 'the sovereignty of God, is an excellent answer... yet the truth of the matter is we want more specifics than that.'

The North was more wicked than the South

Weaver contrasts Northern leaders (Lincoln, Grant, Hooker, Butler) with Southern leaders (Davis, Lee, Jackson, Ewell) to show the North's moral inferiority.

Weaver describes Lincoln as an infidel, Grant as a drunk, Hooker as associated with prostitutes, and Butler as a murderer and thief.

God judged both North and South through the war

The North's victory brought subjugation upon itself as well, leading to federal tyranny over all states, fulfilling Dabney's prediction of reaping and sowing.

Weaver says: 'the North did not win. The North lost as well as the South... North and South now face federal mandates.'

Biblical precedent for righteous losing to wicked

Judges 20 shows that God can allow the more righteous side to suffer greater losses, proving that military outcome does not reflect divine favor.

Weaver notes: '40,000 Israelites that were more righteous than the Benjamites. And only 25,000 Benjamites died.'

God judges nations in time and history

Since nations have no souls, they must be judged in history; America has been experiencing God's judgment since 1865 through various calamities.

Weaver says: 'nations do not have souls. Nations must be judged in time and in history... We already are. And we have been. Especially since 1865.'

Scripture References

Psalm 44:1-8: Weaver reads these verses to show how God gave past victories, then notes the shift to defeat in verse 9.
Psalm 44:9-16: Weaver reads these verses to illustrate God's withdrawal and the resulting defeat and shame of His people.
Psalm 44:17-18: Weaver cites these verses to show the people claimed no covenantal rebellion despite their suffering.
Proverbs 16:7: Weaver uses this to establish that God can make enemies be at peace when a man's ways please Him.
Proverbs 21:1: Weaver quotes this to show the king's heart is in God's hand and He turns it as He wills.
Psalm 75:6-7: Weaver reads this to demonstrate God puts down one and sets up another, affirming His sovereignty over rulers.
Daniel 2:20-21: Weaver quotes Daniel's praise that God changes times, removes kings, and sets up kings.
Daniel 2:37: Weaver references this to show Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was given by God.
Daniel 4:16-17: Weaver reads this to show God rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will.
Daniel 4:32: Weaver quotes this to reiterate that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men.
Proverbs 19:21: Weaver cites this to show that man's devices are many, but God's counsel stands.
Proverbs 21:30: Weaver quotes this to assert there is no wisdom or counsel against the Lord.
Galatians 6:7-8: Weaver references the principle of sowing and reaping as the Lex Talionis.
Proverbs 11:31: Weaver reads this to show the righteous are recompensed in the earth, and much more the wicked.
Judges 19:1-30: Weaver recounts the story of the Levite's concubine to set up the conflict in Judges 20.
Judges 20:1-48: Weaver reads extensively to show Israel's losses to Benjamin despite being in the right.
Numbers 31:1-12, 48-49: Weaver contrasts this battle where Israel lost no men, showing God can protect when He wills.
Habakkuk 1:5-13: Weaver reads Habakkuk's complaint about God using the wicked Chaldeans to punish Judah.
Habakkuk 3:17-18: Weaver quotes Habakkuk's resolve to rejoice in God despite devastation.
Isaiah 10:5-19: Weaver reads this passage to show God using Assyria as a rod and then judging Assyria for its pride.

Historical References

Robert L. Dabney, A Defense of Virginia and the South: Weaver quotes Dabney's explanation that God permitted the South's overthrow for their sins, and predicts future judgment on the North.
Revivals in the Confederate armies: Weaver mentions two great revivals in the Confederate armies, referencing Jones's Christ in the Camp and Bennett's The Great Revivals in the Confederate Army.
Abraham Lincoln's infidelity: Weaver describes Lincoln as an infidel who mocked the gospel and denied Christ's deity, based on testimonies of his wife, secretary, and associates.
Jefferson Davis's Christian character: Weaver contrasts Davis as a godly Christian man with Lincoln.
General Ulysses S. Grant: Weaver calls Grant a cigar-smoking drunk, contrasting him with Robert E. Lee.
General Joseph Hooker and origin of 'hooker': Weaver explains that the term 'hooker' for prostitute originated from Hooker allowing prostitutes into camp.
General Benjamin Butler ('Beast Butler', 'Spoons Butler'): Weaver describes Butler's hanging of a boy in New Orleans and his thievery, contrasting him with General Ewell.
Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus and arrests: Weaver states Lincoln arrested nearly 40,000 northerners without warrant or trial, and interfered in elections.
New York under military districts: Weaver notes New York was divided into military districts, courts circumvented, and citizens imprisoned.
Federal mandates and central government control: Weaver describes how federal government now uses funds to blackmail states, showing loss of state sovereignty.

Important Quotes

a righteous God, for our sins toward him, hath permitted us to be overthrown by our enemies and his.

This quote from Dabney encapsulates the central theological argument that the South's defeat was divine judgment for sin, using the North as an instrument.

they will know that in due time they, although powerless themselves, will be avenged through the same disorganizing heresies under which they now suffer, and through the anarchy and the woes which they will bring upon the North.

Dabney predicts that the North will suffer from the same destructive ideologies it used against the South, a key to Weaver's argument that both sides were judged.

God oftentimes curses his enemies with wealth.

This Puritan saying supports Weaver's point that victory and prosperity can be a form of divine curse, leading to self-reliance and damnation.

the man who wins is not necessarily the man who's right.

Weaver succinctly states the lesson from Judges 20, challenging the assumption that military success indicates moral or divine approval.

O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

This verse from Isaiah 10 is the clearest biblical example of God using a wicked nation as an instrument of judgment, paralleling the North's role.

Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?

God's rhetorical question in Isaiah 10 rebukes Assyria's pride, illustrating that the North, like Assyria, acted from wicked motives and would be judged.

the North did not win. The North lost as well as the South.

Weaver's thesis that the war's outcome was a judgment on the entire nation, not a victory for the North, is captured in this statement.

nations do not have souls. Nations must be judged in time and in history.

This principle undergirds Weaver's call for national repentance, as God's judgment on America is already occurring in historical events.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does Psalm 44 help us understand the experience of feeling abandoned by God despite faithfulness?

[Context]

Weaver introduces the psalm as a pattern of lament where God's people suffer defeat without clear covenantal rebellion.

[Question]

In what ways does the sovereignty of God over nations challenge our assumptions about military or political success?

[Context]

Weaver establishes God's control over rulers and outcomes, then asks why the righteous South lost.

[Question]

How should we reconcile the existence of revivals in the Confederate armies with the South's defeat?

[Context]

Weaver notes the spiritual awakenings in the South but not in the North, raising the question of God's purposes.

[Question]

What does the story of Judges 19-20 teach us about God's justice when the righteous suffer greater losses than the wicked?

[Context]

Weaver uses this narrative to show that God's ways are not always immediately vindicated by outcomes.

[Question]

How does Habakkuk's struggle with God using Babylon inform our understanding of God using evil nations today?

[Context]

Weaver parallels Habakkuk's perplexity with the question of the North's victory.

[Question]

In what sense did the North 'lose' the Civil War according to Weaver, and do you see evidence of that today?

[Context]

Weaver argues that federal overreach and loss of state sovereignty show the North was also subjugated.

[Question]

What does national repentance look like, and how can we practice it biblically?

[Context]

Weaver calls for repentance modeled after Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, confessing national sins.

[Question]

How should Christians respond when they see their nation experiencing God's judgment?

[Context]

Weaver applies Jeremiah 5 to America, urging recognition of judgment and turning back to God.

Applications

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