Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion, was not only Israel’s first prime minister, but also its first defense minister. He loved comparing the political processes to biblical history and politics. Perhaps it is important and necessary, especially in these days of protests and calls for refusal to serve, to read his political and biblical account of Israel’s Defense Forces.

He once related that “we fought more than once with Egypt, with Assyria, with Babylon and with Syria during Bible times. But these peoples never attacked us at the same time. Only in the War of Independence in 1948 did the Arab armies invade the country at the same time. This is the first time in our history that all these nations have come together to fight us. A young army alone against the Arab nations and their armies. Nothing like this had happened in our 3,500-year history.”

This pushed Israel to become what it is today. Much can be read about Ben-Gurion’s political and biblical views from his speeches, which can be seen in the archives of...