There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His excellency on the clouds. (Deuteronomy 33:26)

When God’s people walk upright before Him, they have nothing to fear. That is not to say their enemies will not try to intimidate and threaten, but any evil the enemies of Israel attempt to inflict upon them will come to nothing because there is no like the God of Israel. Moses declared that, when they are in desperate need, He will “ride the heavens to help” them. While his wording sounds rather poetic with a bit of dramatic flair, it is probably more literal than we might imagine. In fact, Jewish tradition teaches that when God goes out to war for His people, He rides into battle.

The Hebrew word translated as “rides” is רכב rakhav from which is derived the word, מרכבה merkavah, or “chariot.” It is understood, therefore, that God rides His chariot into battle when He goes forth on behalf of Israel. However, He does not abandon His Throne to do this because the merkavah of God is also His Throne. Put simply, His Throne is His war chariot upon which He rides as He leads the armies of heaven against the enemies of His people.

On one occasion, when the Philistines deployed themselves against David,, the king was told, “Circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines” (2 Samuel 5:22-24).

The point is this: when we are told that the LORD will go before us against our enemies, that is not speaking metaphorically — it is quite literal. And as is the case so many times in Scripture, if we will let Him fight the battle for us, our enemies are vanquished before we ever arrive on the battlefield. There is no one like our God and, so then, let us strive to leave matters in His hands when it comes to the enemy; He can do a much better job of defeating our foe than we can. Remember what David told Goliath: “All the earth will know that there is a God in Israel…. for the battle is the Lord’s” (1 Samuel 17:46-47).

Blessings and Shalom,  

Bill 

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