The Warrior-Priest Mindset: A Necessary Dichotomy for God’s Chosen Knights

by Drew Graffia

to delve deeper into this verse and decide for yourself. The verse then moves on to say if the thief was caught alive, he would have to pay in full or work off the amount he stole through servitude. This shows that God is not only merciful but also just. This is another hidden dichotomy of our Lord. The mercy to forgive His children of all their sin and the justice to never let the unrepentant wicked go unpunished. He is merciful to forgive the repentant and just to punish the wicked...He is Yahweh Elohim. After the flood we see Yahweh telling Noah and a small group of people, “whoever sheds the blood of a man, by man shall His blood be shed” (Genesis 9:6). Yahweh instituted the death penalty for murder among other crimes; however, the same is not to be said for killing in a wartime setting. This applies to the individual and to the group. Another important example of self-defense is in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was led by God to rebuild the city walls. When his builders were doing their work, they began to be attacked by people opposing the