Theme of Swords
1004 words long.
Published on 2024-05-21
Swords
Swords in Psalms. In the Bible as a whole, swords are drawn most often in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Judges. Of the Seven Pillars, however, they appear most often in the Psalms. Nineteen occurrences are distributed in sixteen psalms. Seven of those times a sword is used as an analogy for speech:
Psalms 45:2-3; 55:21; 57:4; 59:7; 64:3; 144:10-11 and 149:6.
An overlapping seven occurrences are explicitly prophetic:
Psalms 7:12; 17:13; 22:20; 45:3; 55:21; 57:4 and 149:6.
Of those seven, four mention lions (7, 17, 22 and 57). This is significant to me because when I was suffering from nightmares about being attacked by wild animals (always large cats), I turned to these Psalms and found relief. The prophetic Psalms involving swords are significant. Psalm 22 is the Psalm that Jesus quoted while hanging on the cross – his only Bible quotation from the cross. Psalm 45 is a messianic wedding song, like the Song of Songs in many ways. Psalm 55 speaks of betrayal by a friend, foretelling Judas’ wicked deed. Lastly, Psalm 149 speaks of the two-edged sword, the sword Jesus wields in Revelation.
Swords in Job. Swords appear thirteen times in Job. Job’s trials begin when his servants are put to the sword ( Job 1:15-17). The sword is used as a metaphor for the words of the wicked in 5:15, war in 5:20 and God’s judgment in 15:22, 19:29, and 27:14. The sword is what God’s warnings protect the repentant from, via terrifying dreams and visions of the night in 33:14-18. That same sword is what slays those who ignore those warnings (36:12). Finally, the sword of man is shown as incapable of three things. It will not turn horses back from battle (39:22). In any hand but its maker’s it will not subdue Behemoth (40:19). And as for Leviathan, no sword will suffice (41:26), only eternal destruction.
Just as sword-Psalm 22 was quoted by Jesus while he was nailed to the cross, the final sword in Job sits in chapter 41 among analogies that describe Christ’s covenant in his blood, giving many details of the crucifixion.
The night I wrote this section, I was stumped about the larger message. I awoke in the middle of that night and my mind was filled with thoughts of all the wicked people destroying our world. For thirty or forty minutes I was consumed with a steadily growing rage and desire to kill them. I am not a wrathful person by nature. This shows that even the most even-tempered among us – like Job in one of his moods – are tempted to dethrone God and wield His sword as our own. This passage comes to mind:
Do you have an arm like God’s,
and can your voice thunder like his?
Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
Unleash the fury of your wrath,
look at all who are proud and bring them low,
look at all who are proud and humble them,
crush the wicked where they stand.
Bury them all in the dust together;
shroud their faces in the grave.
Then I myself will admit to you
that your own right hand can save you.
- Job 40:9-14
No, our arms are not strong enough to wield that sword.
Swords in Proverbs. Swords appear four times in Proverbs. They tie in nicely with references in Psalms, Job and Revelation.
For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
- Proverbs 5:3-4
The forbidden woman is described as like wormwood, reminiscent of a plague in Revelation. Like Psalms and Revelation, the two-edged sword makes a rare appearance. The remaining three mentions of swords use them as metaphors for rash words (12:18), false witness (25:18), and oppression against the poor (30:14). As the appendix on Proverbs made clear, Proverbs 30 is the battle plan for the final war between good and evil. This imagery of swords makes the unity of these books clearer.
Swords in Song of Songs. The two mentions of swords are in one verse:
all of them wearing swords and expert in war,
each with his sword at his thigh, against terror by night.”
- Song of Songs 3:8
The surrounding verses mention Solomon, gold, frankincense and myrrh. That is as messianic as you get.
Swords in Ecclesiastes. There are none! The closest we come here is “Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.” (Ecclesiastes 9:18) This links to Psalms 76:3, which says, “There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.”
Swords in Matthew. There are seven mentions of swords in Matthew. Six are in chapter 26, at the betrayal and arrest of Jesus. The other is prophetic: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) We previously identified this sword as the sword of the spirit of might, unsheathed when Rome was handed over to the church to be its mighty sword.
Swords in Revelation. The ten swords in Revelation include two mentions of the two-edged sword. Half the mentions of sword refer to the “sword of his mouth”, the power of his words to execute judgment and express power. The other half refer to actual weapons used in judgment through warfare.
If you take Ecclesiastes 9:18 together with all the usages of sword that speak of speech, you see that the Pillars of Wisdom are more powerful than material weapons. This theme runs through most of the pillar books and unites them.
Here are links to the sections on all seven themes common between the books that constitute the Seven Pillars of Wisdom:
