Who guarantees Israel’s existence with greater security: God or the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)? How should Israel be preparing itself for the next war? At the end of September, a group of friends, who completed their military service together many years ago and have continued, even after 30 years, to be close friends, debated these topics. I myself was one of them.

A strong standing army is not a new concept in the history of Israel. Actually it already existed in the time of Moses. We all agreed on this. When a friend of ours read out the conventions of war from Deuteronomy 20, we were astonished how similar much of it was to the situation today.

However, to what extent God is responsible for Israel’s security and defense was a matter on which the clique was not in agreement. Not everyone sees God at work in Israel’s modern existence and wars. One person ascribes Israel’s victories to the nation’s military prowess, while others attribute them to God’s grace and assistance. In many aspects, the course of Israel’s wars is the...