COME TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD
Gen FX — Slavery: The Cost of War
Understanding EFKS faith for the next generation, Gen FX reflects on today’s EFKS message and scripture in clear, simple language, exploring faith, hope, and God’s presence in everyday life.
FAITH & DEVOTIONSGEN FXEFKS
9/20/20263 min read
A special Gen FX reflection on today’s EFKS message.
Weekly EFKS Theme:
Stolen from God: Slavery
📖 Bible Reading:
Deuteronomy 20:1–14
(EFKS Tusi Faitau Aso)
Dear Gen FX,
Some passages of the Bible are difficult to read.
Deuteronomy 20 is one of them.
It speaks about war, enemies, captives and people being subjected to forced labour. These are uncomfortable realities, especially when we read them alongside this week's theme of slavery.
Rather than avoiding that discomfort, we should allow the passage to make us think carefully about war, power and the value of human life.
Because behind every war are people who carry its cost.
THE READING, EXPLAINED
Moses gives Israel instructions for warfare as they prepare to enter the Promised Land.
He begins by addressing fear.
When Israel sees armies larger and stronger than their own, they are told not to depend simply on military strength:
“Do not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is with you.” — Deuteronomy 20:1
The priest is to remind the people that their confidence must ultimately be in God.
The passage then gives exemptions from battle. Someone who has built a new house but not dedicated it, planted a vineyard but not enjoyed it, become engaged but not yet married, or is afraid may return home.
These instructions already remind us that soldiers are not merely numbers in an army. They are people with homes, relationships, hopes and fears.
Verses 10–14 then describe what Israel is to do when approaching certain cities outside the land being occupied.
Peace is to be offered first. If accepted, the people would become subject to forced labour. If refused, warfare would follow, with the women, children and possessions taken as spoil.
These words describe practices belonging to the brutal world of ancient warfare.
And they should trouble us.
WHAT THIS THEME IS POINTING TO
This week's theme gives us an important phrase:
Stolen from God.
Human beings belong ultimately to God. We bear His image and therefore possess a dignity that cannot rightly be reduced to usefulness, property or profit.
Slavery does exactly that.
It takes a human life and treats it as something another person can own, control or exploit.
Deuteronomy 20 shows us one way slavery and forced labour became connected with warfare in the ancient world. Victory did not affect only soldiers on a battlefield. Defeat could change the lives of entire communities.
People could lose their homes.
Families could be separated.
Freedom could disappear.
The passage therefore forces us to recognise something that can easily be forgotten when wars are discussed only in terms of winners and losers:
war has a human cost.
As Christians reading this passage today, we should not use an ancient description of warfare as permission to enslave, exploit or dehumanise others. We read it within the larger story of Scripture, which leads us to Jesus Christ and His command to love our neighbour.
Authority and power never make another person's humanity disposable.
WHERE THIS MEETS REAL LIFE
Imagine looking at a war through a map.
From a distance, we might see borders, arrows, armies and territory changing hands.
But move closer and those lines become people.
A city becomes families.
A battlefield becomes someone's son or daughter.
A captured population becomes individuals whose lives have suddenly changed.
That perspective matters beyond warfare.
Whenever people become statistics, resources, cheap labour or objects for someone else's benefit, it becomes easier to ignore their dignity.
Modern slavery and human exploitation continue wherever people are controlled, trafficked, coerced or forced to work for the benefit of others.
Scripture challenges us not to look away from the person behind the label.
Every human life belongs under the authority of God.
Every person bears a dignity that power should never erase.
ONE THING TO HOLD ONTO
War and slavery remind us what happens when human lives become possessions; God calls us to recognise the dignity of people who ultimately belong to Him.
CLOSING PRAYER
Lord, teach us to recognise the dignity You have given every person. Give us compassion for those who suffer through war, slavery and exploitation, and lead us in the way of justice and peace. Amen.
Signing off,
Alofa Tunoa
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