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I WAS IN AUSTIN, TEXAS, VISITING THE REGENT SCHOOL, a private elementary school modeled after the classical form of education outlined in Douglas Wilson's Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning. Following the direction of Dorothy Sayer's famous essay on "The Lost Tools of Learning," this school focuses on the medieval trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics. Children begin the study of Latin in the third grade.
I was speaking at a chapel service at Regent, and the schoolchildren had prepared a special treat for me. They sang the anthem "Non nobis domine sed tua nomine da gloriam," which means, "Not unto us, O Lord, but unto Your name be the glory."
The words of this song hark back to Shakespeare's Henry V, in which the battle of Saint Crispin's Day is celebrated. When the English, being heavily outnumbered, prevailed in battle, the king ruled that no soldier was allowed to boast of the victory because all the glory belonged to God and to God alone.
Henry commanded his troops to give all the glory to the providence of God.
The sentiments of the hymn are rooted in Scripture. God will share His glory with no man. The glory is never to be unto us but unto the Lord and to His name.
We remember that when God visited David with His judgment after the episode with Bathsheba, through the prophet Nathan God reminded David that he had prospered because of God's hand. We see this initially in David's stunning victory over the giant Goliath: And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to
them, "Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants.
But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." (1 Sam. 17:4-9) This challenge struck terror in the soldiers of Saul. No one stepped forward to fight against Goliath even though he repeated his challenge to the army of Israel every day for forty days, appearing each morning and each evening with the same words. Eighty times Goliath came forth, and eighty times there was no response from the cowering troops of Saul. When David visited the camp to bring provisions for his brothers he was appalled by the cowardice of the Israelites. He said: "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (1 Sam. 17:26) The soldiers explained to David that Saul had promised to enrich the warrior who would kill Goliath and give the victor his daughter in marriage and exempt his father's house from taxes. David viewed the situation as a sacred cause and volunteered his services to the king: Then David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."
And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."
But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." Moreover David said, "The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will
deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!" (1 Sam. 17-32-37) David stood before King Saul, reviewing his personal history under the providence of God, and giving credit to the Lord for delivering him out of the clutches of the lion and the bear. He expressed confidence that the same Providence would deliver him from Goliath. When Saul acceded to David's request, he pronounced his blessing upon the lad and said, "The LORD be with you." David gathered smooth stones from the brook and went out against Goliath, armed only with his sling. When Goliath saw David, only a youth and wearing no armor, he was incensed by the insult: And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" (1 Sam. 17:42-44) Goliath appealed to the providence of the Philistine gods, a providence that was impotent. But David was not intimidated by the giant's threats. He responded with confidence: "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands."
So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to
the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. (1 Sam. 17:45-50) The words of David are striking: "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." Here was a clear declaration of David's utter dependence upon Providence. There was not the slightest hint of self-reliance. David declared the words that would be echoed later by Stonewall Jackson, "The battle is ours; the outcome is God's."
Clearly it was God who enabled David to accomplish the prodigious feat of slaying the giant. David had a sling in his hand, but God had David in His. The glory for the victory belonged to God.
Gideon's Handful of Warriors
Another example of a biblical hero who claimed God's providence—and then gave Him the glory came in the days of the judges, when Israel was harassed by Midianite raiders. They plundered the land, stripping the fields of the Jews and stealing their livestock. The children of Israel were forced to retreat from their homes and seek shelter in caves: So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. (Judg. 6:3-6) It was in these circumstances that God raised up Gideon to be a judge over Israel. While he was threshing wheat in his father's winepress (to hide it from the Midianites), an angel appeared to him and called him a "mighty man of valor."
Gideon's response was one of wonderment and confusion:
Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."
Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?"
So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."
And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man." (Judg. 6:13-16) Gideon had some serious questions for the angel. He asked about the obvious discrepancy between the angel's promise of God's presence and the protracted suffering of the people at the hands of the Midianite marauders. He had heard of the miraculous intervention of God in the Exodus, but now, he complained, God had abandoned His people.
The angel replied with a command, a summons for Gideon to go in his might to save Israel. But Gideon, not perceiving himself to be a mighty man of valor, stumbled at the command and the promise of victory. He protested that his clan was the weakest in Manasseh and that he was the weakest in his own family. To assure Gideon that the God of the Exodus was not dead and still had the power to perform miracles, the angel performed a miracle for Gideon right on the spot: The Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so.
Then the Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.
Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. SO Gideon said,
Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face.
Then the LORD said to him, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die."
(Judg. 6:20-23) Notice that the mysterious angel is called the "Angel of God" but Gideon responded to the angel as if He were the presence of God Himself, giving rise to the speculation that the appearance of the angel was a preincarnation manifestation of Christ, a "Christophany."
Gideon continued to test God with the incident of the fleece (see Judges 6:36-40) to gain assurance that God's promise would indeed come to pass. When he was finally convinced, Gideon amassed a huge army of over thirty thousand troops to go up against the Midianites. But God intervened and began to cull the army, paring it down to a smaller and smaller number. He explained His reasons to Gideon: "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.'" And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.
But the LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' the same shall not go."
So he brought the people down to the water. And the L O R D said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink." And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. (Judg. 7:2-6) God was preparing His people to sing the non nobis domine. He reduced the
army from thirty-two thousand men to three hundred men so Israel would not claim glory for itself. The biblical axiom that salvation was of the Lord was to stay intact.
Then God commanded Gideon to go with his servant into the camp of the Midianite army at night to spy out the situation. In the darkness Gideon overheard one of the Midianite soldiers tell of a dream he had had that gave a foreboding sign that Midian would be defeated by Gideon. When Gideon heard this, he immediately worshiped God, then he returned to his own men and announced to them that for all intents and purposes the battle was already won: "When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!"' So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers—they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing — and they cried, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!" And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.
When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
(Judg. 7:18-22) The victory came through a cleverly devised ruse. Gideon's three hundred men made such a racket they gave the impression of an attacking horde. The Midianites were thrown into panic and fled for the borders. In their confusion, the Midianites even slaughtered each other. In the melee 120,000 Midian soldiers were killed.
Then many of the men of Israel, instead of celebrating this fabulous feat, began complaining that they had not been included in the victory. They were like those, of whom King Henry spoke, who were in their beds on the day of the great Saint
Crispin's Day victory.
God and the Exodus
The glory for this victory belonged to the God of providence. God had orchestrated the battle in such a way that the odds so heavily favored the enemy, the only way victory could come was by divine intervention. This was not the first nor the last time God did this sort of thing to ensure that the people would not miss His providential hand. In the Exodus itself God declared that it was He who would effect the redemption of the nation: "Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.'" (Exod. 6:6-8) The events of the Exodus, including the plagues and God's hardening the heart of Pharaoh, were designed to make it clear to the Egyptians and to the Israelites that it was God who would bring the Exodus to pass: "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them." (Exod. 7:3-5) In all of these events, all of these victories against all odds, the people of God were being taught to sing the non nobis domine. The glory belongs to the majesty of God and to His name and His name alone.