Hidden Insights Into God’s Word: The Book of Wars
- David and Marilynn Chadwick
- Feb 27
- 2 min read
by David Chadwick
How many of you have ever played a game of hide and seek? It is one of the most commonly played childhood games. There’s something exhilarating about little kids counting to twenty and then searching around to find their hiding friends.
I believe that God, the Creator of the universe, knows the beauty and wonder of childlike faith and appreciates hiding things for us to search out.
Numbers 21:14 says, “Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord, ‘Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon…’” This verse is where you will find today’s hidden insight.
Book of the Wars? What is that, you might ask? Evidently, it was an extra biblical book written by various different Jewish authors. The way it is mentioned in Numbers 21 seems to suggest that it was a rather well known book among the Jewish people.
Apparently, it was a book that described Israel’s many victories over enemies and how the Lord repeatedly rescued his people from their adversaries. They most assuredly took account of these testimonies to be able to read them again and again.
Perhaps all of us should write a book that lists out God’s victories in our lives. We can then go back and read it repeatedly to remind us of God’s victorious power in the past. And if God did it once, he can do it again!
Revelation 12:11 says, “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives unto death.” Testimony is one of the best ways to keep moving forward in faith in the midst of a broken world. For if God did it once, he can do it again.
Seeing that there were other books outside of what we know to be God’s Word also speaks to the miracle that there were 66 books that were preserved by the Holy Spirit to make it into the canon of Scripture!
Now you know how to answer someone if you are ever asked about the Book of Wars that is mentioned in the Bible. That book did not last. It was not preserved, but God’s Word is.
Another hidden insight for you!