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The Bible is full of the violence caused by one tribe or nation taking or attempting to take land occupied by others. In a world where plague and famine happened often, it was seen as necessary to conquer more land as insurance against local disasters. There was also the hubris of kings and emperors who were hungry for wealth and power. Sometimes these empires brought “peace� to those they ruled.

Those armies may have been well-trained, but they were often cruel. In the New Testament we get a brief glimpse of the expected behavior of a soldier of Rome. John the Baptist was preaching beside the river Jordan and various groups of people asked him what he meant by, “bear fruits that befit repentance.� Luke 3:14 says, “Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.’ �