Machines like the one above carried out Operation Desert Storm.
Many of the engagements in and around Desert Storm were fiercely lopsided, and this tank was the reason.
Like the time M1A2 tanks destroyed seven T-72 Lion of Babylon tanks at point blank range (less than 50 yards) with no losses to the USA. In fact, no M1A1 has ever been destroyed by fire from an enemy tank.
Any M1A1 that's been disabled or broken down, has been destroyed by the United States, for obvious reasons, and many Army engineers have gone on record about how difficult it was to sufficiently destroy one of these fellas.
Can you imagine what it would look like, if sitting atop that tank, was a person preaching about Jesus? The tanks main gun barrel transformed into a giant megaphone, and it drives around the countryside preaching the good news.
Stay with me, just for a few paragraphs.
In 1st Kings 10:29, we're told that Solomon was in the business of buying and selling chariots, ie, the "tanks" of his day.
http://bible.cc/1_kings/10-29.htm
Chariots were war machines, and were absolutely devastating to men on foot. You know, like a tank. Solomon used Israel as a sort of "middle man" and imported chariots then exported them for huge profit for his people.
I'm sure the people of the royal court were happy, impressed even. Thanks to their king Israel was building wealth and securing a fine future. I think, if I were around then, I'd probably shower Solomon with compliments, congratulate him, maybe a slap on the back or two. This was an impressive business decision and it meant profit. That's good, right?
I'd imagine, though I'm not sure, that David (Solomon's father) would have taught him well in the law. If that's the case, then Solomon no doubt knew about Deuteronomy 17:14-20.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+17%3A14-20&version=NIV
Don't multiply power, and don't build wealth, and most importantly, don't use Egypt (your former life) to do it.
Thanks to Solomon, chariots were now in the hands of several kingdoms, and these kingdoms can use their "tanks" however they want, and Solomon can't do anything about it.
Once you add in Proverbs 21:31, the irony gets thick enough to run over with a chariot.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+21%3A31&version=NIV
Solomon wrote that.
He intrinsically knows where his salvation and strength come from, and it's not your money or the size of the army you can put on the field. So then, why persist with the wealth building, why keep on turning chariots for big profits to nations who will almost certainly use them for a violent purpose?
1st Kings 10 also says that the gold Solomon received weighed 666 talents. Wow. That's a very "Hebrew" way to say something very wrong is going on here.
But, as we all know, that's not the end of the story.
One of the things I love about Jesus is how his story transforms whatever it interacts with. There's several cases of someone meeting Jesus, even for only a moment or so, and they leave changed. The story of Jesus changes people, and the Biblical narrative shows us in no subtle way. His is a story so powerful it can take something previously used for war and violence and suddenly use it to carry his "good news."
Like a chariot
In Acts 8 a man named Phillip sees another man on a chariot reading about Jesus. The man on the chariot was an Ethiopian official in charge of the treasury of his nation. After their incredible interaction, the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing about Jesus. It's easy to read that story and glaze over the intentional irony woven into the tale.
The chariot, hundreds of years previous, was misused by Solomon, and thanks to him they were now all over the known world. Then, the story of Jesus transforms this war machine into a vessel that will carry his story out of Israel and into other parts of the world. A tank collides with the story of Jesus, and it leaves the meeting carrying a preacher.
"Swords to ploughshares" Just like Isiah said.
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