12 Bible Verses about Warfare, Strategies In

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Joshua 8:5

I and all of the army with me will advance upon the city. When they come out after us like they did before, we'll run away from them.

Judges 7:16

There he announced, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite army into your control!" Then he separated the 300 men into three companies, gave them each trumpets to carry, along with jars into which he placed lit torches.

Judges 20:32

Then the descendants of Benjamin told themselves, "They're falling right in front of us, just like before!"

Genesis 14:14

When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he gathered together 318 of his trained men, who had been born in his household, and they went out in pursuit as far as Dan.

Genesis 32:7

Feeling mounting terror and distress, Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, doing the same with the flocks, the cattle, and the camels.

Joshua 8:3-25

So Joshua and all of the fighting men prepared to go out against Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 valiant warriors and sent them out by night, telling them, "Pay attention now! You are to set up an ambush around the city. Don't go very far from the city, and all of you remain on alert. I and all of the army with me will advance upon the city. When they come out after us like they did before, we'll run away from them. read more.
They'll come after us until we've drawn them away from the city, because they'll say, "They're running away from us just like they did before.' While we're running away from them, you get up from the ambush and seize the city, because the LORD your God will give it into your control. When you've taken the city, set it on fire, just as the LORD ordered. Look! These are your orders!" So Joshua sent them out, and they set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent that night in the camp among the army. In the morning, Joshua got up early, mustered his army, and set off for Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel in full view of the army. The entire fighting force with him attacked, approaching the city, and camped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. Taking about 5,000 men, he set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai to the west of the city, stationing their forces with its main encampment north of the city and its rear guard to the west. Joshua spent that night in the valley. When the king of Ai saw what had happened, he and his army quickly got up early and went out to meet Israel in battle. He and all his people met at the place adjacent to the desert plain. But he didn't know about the ambush that had been set for him on the other side of the city. Because Joshua and the entire fighting force of Israel pretended to lose the battle by running away in front of them toward the wilderness, everyone in the city followed after them. As they pursued Joshua, they were drawn away from the town. There wasn't a single man left in Ai or Bethel who didn't run out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel. Then the LORD told Joshua, "Stretch out the battle lance that's in your hand toward Ai, because I will give it into your control." So Joshua stretched out the battle lance that was in his hand toward the city. As soon as he stretched out his hand, the troops in ambush quickly got up from their place of hiding and attacked. They entered the city, seized it, and immediately set it on fire. Then the men of Ai looked back behind them and all of a sudden! smoke from the city was rising into the sky. They were unable to run in any direction, because the Israelis who had fled toward the wilderness had turned around to attack their pursuers. When Joshua and the entire fighting force of Israel observed that the men who had been in ambush had seized the city and that the smoke from the city was rising, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. Then the others came out from the city against them, so the men of Ai were surrounded by the Israelis, some on one side and some on the other. Israel attacked them until no one was left to survive or escape. But the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua. When Israel had completed executing all of the residents of Ai in the open wilderness where they had chased them, and after all of them to the very last of them had been killed by swords, the entire fighting force of Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with swords. The total of all who fell that day, including men and women, was 12,000 the entire population of Ai.

Judges 7:16-23

There he announced, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite army into your control!" Then he separated the 300 men into three companies, gave them each trumpets to carry, along with jars into which he placed lit torches. He instructed them, "Watch me, and do what I do. When we come to the outer perimeter of the encampment, do what I do. When I sound my trumpet, accompanied by everyone who is with me, you must blow your trumpets all around the entire encampment. Then shout out, "For the LORD and for Gideon!'"read more.
So Gideon and the 100 men with him arrived at the outer perimeter of the encampment at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had posted sentries. They blew their trumpets and smashed the jars that they were carrying in their hands. When the three companies sounded their trumpets and broke the jars, they held the torches in their left hands and sounded their trumpets with their right hands. Then they cried out, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" They stood up, each soldier in his assigned place surrounding the encampment, and the entire army ran away, sounding the alarm to retreat. As the 300 trumpets were being sounded, the LORD turned the swords of the Midianite soldiers against one another throughout the entire army, and the army ran away as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zererah. They got as far as the outskirts of Abel-meholah, near Tabbath. Israeli soldiers were called out from the territories of Naphtali, Asher, and throughout Manasseh, and they chased after the Midianites.

Judges 20:29-43

So Israel set soldiers in ambush around Gibeah. The Israelis went out against the descendants of Benjamin on the third day, arraying themselves against Gibeah as they had done previously. They attacked the army and were drawn away from the city as they began to inflict casualties on the soldiers along the roads to Bethel and Gibeah, just as they had done the other times. About 30 soldiers from Israel fell in battle there and in the fields.read more.
Then the descendants of Benjamin told themselves, "They're falling right in front of us, just like before!" But the army of Israel told themselves, "Let's draw them away by escaping to the highways from the city." So the entire army of Israel moved from their location and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamer while that part of their army moved from their ambush positions from Maareh-geba. As 10,000 of Israel's best soldiers came to fight Gibeah, the battle became fierce, but the army of Benjamin didn't know that disaster was close at hand. The LORD struck Benjamin in the full view of Israel. As a result, the Israelis destroyed 25,100 soldiers of Benjamin that day, all expert swordsmen. Then the descendants of Benjamin realized that they had been defeated. The army of Israel pretended to retreat from the army of Benjamin, knowing that they had set some soldiers in ambush near Gibeah. The soldiers in ambush rushed out to attack Gibeah, deploying in force and executing the entire city with swords. Meanwhile, the army of Israel had arranged to signal their soldiers who had been hiding in ambush by sending up a cloud of smoke from the city. The army of Israel turned around in the battle, and the army of Benjamin began to attack and kill about 30 soldiers, thinking, "Now we're really defeating them, just like before." But then the smoke began to rise from the city in a column. The army of Benjamin observed behind them that the whole city was going up in flames straight into the sky! At that point, as the army of Israel turned back to face the army of Benjamin, the army of Benjamin was filled with terror, because they realized that disaster was about to overtake them. So they turned tail and ran away from the army of Israel toward the wilderness, but they were overtaken in battle when soldiers came out from the cities to destroy them. They surrounded the army of Benjamin, pursuing them ceaselessly until they defeated them near the east-facing border of Gibeah.

2 Samuel 15:32-34

Just as David was coming to the top of the Mount of Olives where God was being worshipped, there was Hushai the Archite to meet him, with his coat ripped and dust all over his head! David greeted him, "If you come along with me, you'll be a burden to me. So go back to the city and tell Absalom, "I'll be your servant, your majesty! Just as I served your father in the past, I can be your servant now.' That way you can manipulate Ahithophel's advice to my benefit.

2 Samuel 17:7-14

"Ahithophel's advice is not best at this time," Hushai suggested to Absalom. "You know how strong your father and his men are. They're as mad as a bear robbed of her cubs! Furthermore, your father is a skilled warrior. He won't stay with his army at night. Look! He's probably already hiding in a cave or someplace like that. If the first attack fails, people will hear about it and think, "Absalom's army is losing!' read more.
Then even men who would otherwise be as brave as lions will be scared, because every Israeli knows your father is a mighty man, and they know his men are valiant! So here's my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other! You'll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you'll go into battle! We'll go find David wherever he's hiding. We'll fall on him like dew on the ground! We'll kill him and all of his men, and we won't leave even one man alive! If he escapes into a city, we'll bring ropes to that city and tear it down! We won't leave a single stone left in the valley!" Absalom and all of the Israelis replied, "The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel's!"

Isaiah 15:1

A message concerning Moab: "For Ir in Moab is destroyed in a night, and Moab is ruined! Because Ir in Moab is destroyed in a single night, Moab is ruined!

Jeremiah 6:5

Get ready, let's attack at night, and destroy her fortresses."

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