GOD'S COMMAND: RESCUE THOSE IN MORTAL DANGER

A friend of mine sent this to me:

He had earlier sent an article from The Wall Street Journal about Christians in Iraq arming themselves to fight the Islamic State militants. Then he came upon a couple of verses in Proverbs 24 as follows:

   11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death;

   hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

   12 If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”

   does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

   Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,

   and will he not repay man according to his work?

Note what a commentary has to say about these verses:

God holds people responsible for rescuing those who are in mortal danger. The use of “death” and “slaughter” seems rather strong in this passage; one might expect the verse to stress the need to rescue through teaching those who by their vice or imprudence are hastening toward destruction (see Toy, p. 445). 

The idea of “staggering” to the slaughter may need emendation to “at the point of” (G.R. Driver, “Problems in ‘Proverbs’,” ZAW 50 [1932]: 146). The references could be general, viz., to any who are in mortal danger, or specific, referring to those convicted. If the latter is meant, the sage would be saying not to abandon the convicted to prison, for they need all the help they can get (McKane, p. 401). 

The general application would include any who are in mortal danger, through disease, hunger, war—we cannot dodge responsibility, even by ignorance.

Ross, A. P. (1991). Proverbs. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Vol. 5, pp. 1074–1075). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

The article I sent you is at the top of the WSJ “Popular Now” category and has been the subject of numerous comments by readers who are quite fed up with the inaction by our government in the face of such horror, since we have initiated no rescue worthy of the greatest nation on earth. 

Some readers have commented that the Christian militia’s rifles will be no match against the state-of-the-art, US-made weaponry the Islamic State captured during its advance. Many are urging Congress to act where the administration will not. As citizens with the power to vote for our leadership we are responsible for what our government does, so at the very least we ought to confess the sins of our nation and pray for those who need rescue.