Not all wars are equal. And not all belligerents in war are equal. Wars are launched for the sake of plunder, conquest, glory, homeland, and even an individual’s ego. They are fought over resources, power, reputation, and rights. There are aggressors, defenders, profiteers, and bystanders.

The existence of wars — both their inevitability and complexity — present difficult ethical questions for Christians committed to the divine command, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13, Matthew 19:18). Does this command forbid all killing, or is there such a thing as a just war? The fourth-century theologian Augustine is credited with developing the first theory of Just War, which sets forth limiting principles on what is proper in war.

“There are three things that, from a Christian standpoint, happen in a Just War,” explained Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries, on “Washington Watch” Tuesday. These three criteria are a legitimate government, a just cause, and a right intent.

These principles can be applied to particular conflicts, such as the Israel-Hamas conflict taking place in the Middle East.

On October 7, 2023, a terror group launched a surprise attack against a neighboring state, indiscriminately killing and kidnapping men, women, and children, most of whom were civilians. That terror group holds territory that it seized in a bloody coup, but it is not widely recognized as a legitimate government of a sovereign state. It also does not abide by the laws of war; it hides weapons inside schools and hospitals and uses civilians as human shields. The terror group publicly declares that it intends to annihilate its neighbor.

In response to this unprovoked attack, the aggrieved neighbor — which does have a democratically elected government — resolved to carry the war they did not start into the territory held by their opponent. For 17 years, they had endured constant harassment from this terror group but offered limited retaliation due to international pressure. Now, however, it resolved to dismantle the terrorist network and free its hostages. It is endeavoring to do so while keeping civilian casualties at a minimum.

In some wars, the relative moral standing of the participants is clear.

Myers “spent a lot of time on the ground there in the war zone,” conducting research for his new book, “Should Christians Support Israel?” He spoke with “IDF officials, intelligence officers, journalists who are on the left and the right, secular Jews, religious Jews, Palestinians, Arabs, Israeli citizens.” From all this research, “I have come to conclude that this war is just,” he said.

“Israel is a legitimate government … and it is legitimately formed. Two thirds of the nations in the United Nations voted to form Israel,” said Myers. “Palestine was invited to form a nation at the same time, and they refused. And they have refused every time it’s been offered since 1948: 1967, 2000, and 2008 — primarily because the leaders of the Palestinians, who are Arab … do not want a two-state solution. They want a one-state solution with Israel being annihilated.”

Next, Israel “has a just cause,” Myers continued, “not just about the October 7 attack … but Hamas has been doing this same kind of thing for decades.”

Thirdly, Israel has a right intent. In a July speech before the U.S. Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified his government’s two war aims: rescue the hostages and defeat Hamas to deliver Israeli citizens from the ever-present threat of attack. A government has not only a right but a duty to protect its citizens from foreign invasion.

“When you look at it and talk about it in those terms, it’s hard to argue any of those points,” responded Family Research Council Senior Vice President Jody Hice. He added that “people don’t connect those dots” between the current conflict in the Middle East and the Jewish people’s long history in the land of Canaan. As Myers’ book points out, “Gaza has a very specific role in Israel’s history,” Hice noted.

For instance, Judges 16:1-3 records an incident that sounds like it comes from a superhero comic. “About 1300 or so B.C. — so, before Christ — there was a guy in Israel named Samson who went to Gaza to visit a prostitute,” Myers began. When the men of Gaza set an ambush to kill him in the morning, “at midnight, he arose and took the gates of Gaza — Scripture specifically says it was the gates of Gaza. He took those gates, ripped them off, and carried them to a hill overlooking Hebron. … Those gates were probably 4,000 pounds. He carried them 36 miles.”

“Hebron is important because that’s the grave of Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish faith,” Myers continued (Genesis 25:9). “And so here you have this degenerate patriarch carrying the gates of Gaza — the defense that its enemies had — to the feet of Abraham.” The Lord had promised to Abraham, “your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies” (Genesis 22:17).

The conflict didn’t end there, because the Israelites and the Philistines, who inhabited the coastal plain of Gaza and the surrounding cities, fought constantly. Myers added that, “100 years later, that physical act of prophecy was fulfilled when David fought against Goliath” (1 Samuel 17). Here again, the descendant of Abraham saved God’s people by defeating the defense of the Philistines. Myers seems to be appealing to what theologians call typology in Scripture, a pattern of events that shape and are shaped by God’s promises, intensifying toward a future fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

Myers summarized the main point, “this is not a new conflict. This is one that has been going back literally thousands of years.”

There have been disruptions, of course. Myers identified “three Israels, essentially, in history” — the Israel from Joshua to the Babylonian invasion, the Israel from the return from exile to the Roman destruction of the temple, and the reconstitution in the modern state of Israel in 1948. There have also been different enemies; the current authorities in Gaza share little with the ancient Philistines besides their location and their enmity with Israel.

Nevertheless, the same historical patterns keep occurring. And the very existence of this pattern implies Israel’s longstanding, legitimate right to dwell in the land of promise and take up arms in its defense.