God the Protector: An Exposition of Psalm 68’s Thematic Coherence on the Warrior God’s Care for the Oppressed

From the beginning of the Creation saga, the Warrior God can be visualized taming the chaotic waters of the deep with the authoritative command of “Let there be light.” This theme catapults through the pages of Scripture and climaxes in the iconic scene of the end of the age as described in the book of Revelation where God as a warrior is meting out judgment against those whose faces have turned against him. Inherent in warrior character are aspects of strength, courage, righteousness, and sometimes even divine brutality. Within these warrior-istic characteristics of God is the trait of protector or defender. The connotation of these traits implies fierceness, necessary safeguarding, warfare, and masculine themes of strength, justice, vengeance, courage and bravery. These themes excite and inspire others to levels of valor and selfless defense within their own context. What is lacking in scholarship is the understanding that these attributes of strength and valor originate from a fundamental note of compassion, mercy, and kindness which impels God to protect the oppressed. Furthermore, within the scholarship of God as a Warrior, a lacuna exists specifically on how this characteristic demands God to be concerned for the oppressed. For the sake of focus, the paper will concentrate on God’s warrior characteristics in defending and protecting the widow. This dissertation will seek to fill in that gap by exploring that although it may seem natural for God’s concern for widows to flow from elements of his fatherhood or charity, God as a defender of the widow courses from his warrior-like characteristics which demands justice, righteousness, and compassion, and it is with the sensitivity of a gentle benefactor that the holy warrior God bends to hearken to the cry of the oppressed. This theme is explored by providing a background for the characterization of warrior in OT and ANE literature, and through the exegesis of Psalm 68 and related texts which provide the basis for warriorhood and the usage of that characterization for the defense, protection, and concern for the oppressed.