Should Christians love or kill their enemies?
Elisha (right) Refusing Gifts from Naaman (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Elisha refuses the gifts of Naaman (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) There is a tension between loving your enemies and using the sword against your enemies–yet both are commanded by God . How do they work together? The clearest example of these two principles working in concert is in the life of Elisha . Perhaps no one in Israel ’s history had more opportunities to demonstrate love for his enemies than Elisha, yet we also see that he was hardly a pacifist. Elisha was God’s chosen messenger in particularly hostile times. His predecessor, Elijah, was run out of the country when the Queen ordered him murdered as punishment for killing the priests of a false god. Rejected by Israel, he fled to Egypt and begged God to take his life. Instead, God gave him a final task: to anoint Elisha as his successor ( 1 Kings 19:16). Thus Elisha became a prophet with no shortage of enemies. The Israelite king stood opposed to him—an