XIV.F. Women in the Military
        This report proposes to show that there is no Scriptural warrant, either stated or inferred, giving grounds for women to serve in the military. The procedure will be, first, to examine the order of creation to show why women are not to be mustered out for military service. Second, from texts of Scripture which deal directly with the mustering out and equipping of God's people for military service, and with ensuing texts the recording the casualties among the people of God in battle, to show who actually is mustered out. The outcome of this study will be to recommend a position for the Reformed Church in the United States on the subject of women serving in the military.

The Order of Creation
        In the creation of woman, God clearly spells out the relationship in which the woman stands to the man. She is to be a "help meet" for him (Gen. 2:18). These words refer to the woman as the counterpart of the man, one who is "opposite" or "over against him." Adam had been working at his calling to dress and keep the garden and to give names [to] (i.e., classify) the animals before God made Eve as a helper for him (Gen. 2:15, 18-20). The woman is brought to the man by God to be his helper in his covenantal work of dominion (Gen. 1:26). As such, though there is a mutual dependence upon each other (1 Cor. 1.11), there is to be a subjection of the woman to the man (1 Cor. 11:9; Eph. 6:22; Col. 3:18). Prior to the fall of man into sin the woman was led by the instinct of her created nature to this submission. After the Fall the former peaceful coalescence of the man and the woman had to be reinforced by positive law (Gen. 3:16) because of the inevitable collision of wills to which sin now exposed the woman.
        Therefore, by virtue of the creation order the role of the woman is defined as that of a helper to man in his covenant calling. She is not called to be the primary agent in the dominion task, but is called to help in it in a subordinate role to the man.
        The Bible describes the outworking of this role of the woman more specifically in terms of the home. She is the heart of the home. "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table" (Ps. 128:3). The phrase "by the sides of thy house" speaks of the inner part of the house. The sense of the text here is that the woman leads a life that is entirely devoted to the happiness of her husband and family.
        This is further borne out by Proverbs 31. In Proverbs 31:10-31, the virtuous woman is set forth as a very competent manager of household affairs and very capable of taking over her husband's business affairs, if the need should arise, freeing him for civil service (31:23). But even as her husband's help in business affairs she remains as the heart of the man's home (cf. also 1 Tim. 5:14; Titus 2:4-5; 1 Pet. 3:1).
        Clearly by order of creation the role of the woman in the work of dominion is more directly related to the nurturing of children and the continuation of the covenant home than the calling of men is. To this her disposition is ably suited. Peter refers, in a similar vein, to the woman as the "weaker vessel" (1 Pet. 3:7). In her role as the heart of the home a woman is to be protected. Her life is to be protected and preserved by the self-sacrifice of the man for her. His love toward her is a self-sacrificing love (Eph. 5:25) that is patterned after the self-sacrificing love of Christ for his bride, the Church. As head of the home, the husband is to preserve and protect his own wife in specific. But this headship is also general as well. "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God" (1 Cor. 11.3).
        By implication men in society ought to be self-sacrificing for the good and life of women. This is borne out in 1 Timothy 5:8-- "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel" (emphasis added). And again in Exodus 22:22-24-- "Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless."
        Thus Jesus, just moments before His death upon the cross, takes the care to preserve and protect Mary, His mother, a task which he delegated to John and which John willingly undertook (John 20:26,27). Very clearly women in Scripture have special rights to be protected from harm and danger, rather than to be exposed to it, including the dangers of battle for which they, by calling, are unfit.
        Moreover, the Bible is very clear on the distinctions to be maintained between men and women. Differences in dress (Deut. 22:5, see below), and differences in hair length (1 Cor. 11:14-15), reflect these distinctions. The Bible is also clear on how men and women are to be treated. Men are to be self-sacrificing for women. Thus it is a shame for the men of Israel to ask a woman to go to war with the army (Judg. 4:9, see below).
        Clearly, in light of the foregoing, the order of creation calls the woman to be man's helper in his covenantal task. She is governmentally subordinate to the man and by calling, nature, and disposition ideally equipped to be the heart of the home. She is to be preserved and protected from harm, and the man is to be self sacrificing to ensure that she is. One would, therefore, expect that she would never be called to military service, something borne out in what follows.

Those Mustered out for Military Service
        In the period prior to the exodus from Egypt under Moses, there was no formal military organization among the covenant people. Up to that point any military endeavor was an ad hoc venture.
        The principle account of this kind of ad hoc military venture appears in Genesis 14. The kings of the vale of Siddim (v.3) revolted from Chedorlaomer (v.1, 4). under whose vassalship they had served thirteen years. The following year, Chedorlaomer, together with his allies (v.5), came to punish the rebels, overpowered them and took the goods and victuals of the conquered and returned home (vv. 10, 11). Included in the captives was Abraham's nephew Lot (v.12). In the account that follows there is a record of Abraham's ad hoc military expedition to recover Lot, an expedition that resulted in the recovery of all that was taken (v.v. 13-16). Those Abraham mustered for the expedition were "trained servants" born in Abraham's house (v.14). These were men practiced in arms. Women were not mustered to serve in this military venture indicating adherence to the order of creation.
        In Exodus 7:4 God speaks to Moses concerning his commission to Pharaoh and speaks of those he will bring out of Egypt in terms of "armies": "But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments" (emphasis added). The Hebrew word saba, translated as "armies" has reference to an army of people. Elsewhere in the Old Covenant Scriptures the word refers to the "host" or armies of heaven (1 Kgs. 22.19), celestial bodies (Deut. 4:19) or an arrayed army (Judg. 4:2). Here in Exodus 7:14 the reference is to an army of men who would leave Egypt organized (Ex. 6:26), able, equipped, and in full battle array (Ex. 13:18). This exodus of the Lord's armies is recorded in Exodus 12:17,41, 51.
        In the midst of giving Moses instructions for the erection of the Tabernacle, the construction of its furnishings and the arraying and consecration of the priests to serve in the tabernacle, God instructs him to number all the men of Israel above the age of twenty for the purpose of collecting the atonement money. Exodus 30:11-16 says, "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shell be the offering of the LORD. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give am offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls" (emphasis added).
        This money collected was an atonement (covering) for the life of the men numbered. It was given to prevent a plague from God (v.12). In 1 Samuel 24 when David presumptuously numbered Israel God struck Israel with a literal plague. But the ransom money also stood as a type of redemption in Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:18). The atonement money thus protects the men from harm and covers for their sins.
        The Hebrew word for "number" is paqad. This word frequently translated "to number" by the KJV translators means "to muster troops or ascertain available manpower." It is also used throughout the prophets to mean "visit" or "punish." It is not merely a census or counting up. The word "sum" (v.12) speaks of counting. But the word "number" is a visitation by God to see who is on the Lord's side, who will stand in the army of the Lord. Those who pass over into the camp of the Lord are declaring themselves to be on the Lord's side. It is this same word that will be encountered frequently in the book of Numbers, a book that could well be renamed: The Book of the Mustering of the Army of the Lord. Clearly this muster took in only men twenty years and upwards. No women were mustered into the armies of Israel. Only men twenty years old and upwards were eligible to be soldiers. When the final accounting and number of those mustered are given in Exodus 38:25-26, they are referred to, again, as men: "And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel sanctuary: a bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men" (emphasis added).
        Some four weeks after the completion of the tabernacle (cf. Ex. 40:17; Num. 1:1) approximately nine months after the first mustering, Moses was again commanded by God to number or muster Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. Numbers 1:24 reads, "Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, but the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in lsrael; thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies. And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers" (emphasis added). This mustering of males from the various tribes numbered the same as the previous mustering. Numbers 1:44-46 continues, "These are those that were numbered, which Moses and Aaron numbered, and the princes of Israel, being twelve men: each one was for the house of fathers. So were all those that were numbered of the children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel; even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty" (emphasis added).
        What becomes very clear to this point is that in this mustering for military service no women are mustered. God specifically states that the armies of Israel, those fit to be soldiers, are to be men from the age of twenty years and upwards. Only the Levites were excepted (Num. 1:47-49). This male-only muster constituted the army through the wilderness wanderings, the period of the Judges, and up to and including the period of the monarchy.
        The male-only muster is reinforced, in the period from Moses to the monarchy, by several Scriptural truths.
        Exemptions from military service are found in Deuteronomy 20:5-8 and 24:5. The first is a man who was in the process of building a new house and had not lived in it for any length of time. The second concerns a man who had planted a vineyard and not eaten of it. The third concerns a man who has betrothed a wife or who is married under a year. The fourth is a man who is fearful and fainthearted and who may weaken his brother soldiers that they become fainthearted through his influence (cf. Judg. 7:3). The purpose of these exemptions was that those involved in military service were to be single-minded. The fact that these exemptions are given to men indicates again that the army is male only. No exemptions are given to women because no women were mustered into the army.
        Concerning dress, Deuteronomy 22:5 says, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God." This text is commonly urged against cross-dressing (transvestism) and rightly so. But there is more here than initially meets the eye. The phrase "that which pertaineth to a man" is translated " a man's things" by Keil-Delitzsch. This phrase in turn is from the Hebrew word keli which is a noun denoting equipment, containers, tools, etc., pertaining to or appropriate to a give service or occupation. By usage keli is applied to a variety of things. For example a soldier's equipment (Judg. 18:16), baggage or carriage (1 Sam. 17:22), a musician's instrument (1 Chron. 15:16), a builder's tools (1 Kgs. 6:7), jewels (Gen. 24:53) or vessels 2 Kgs. 12:13), etc. Much depends on the context to determine what the word keli refers to. Military combat gear pertains to men only. In the Old Testament only men are mustered for war and wore combat gear. Combat military gear is not to be worn by women. A sanctified distinction is to be kept between the sexes. John Calvin offers this quote from the heathen poet Juvenal in his commentary on this passage:
                What shame can she, who wears a helmet, shew,
                Her sex deserting?
        Further, on the approach of an enemy, a conscription was made from the general body, mustered according to how many men were actually needed for the forthcoming battle. The remaining men served in a supporting or reserve role (Judg. 7:4-8; 20:8-11). Again, it is men who were conscripted for the forthcoming battle. This conscription was under the direction of officers (i.e., the muster masters, Deut. 20:5). Decisions were then made as to the organization of the army and who was in charge of the various units (Deut. 20:9). Sometimes these decisions were made in advance (Num. 31:4).
        The fact that the Bible refers to those who went to war against the Midianites in Numbers 31 as "people" (v.3) and as "children of Israel" (v.9) does not argue for the inclusion of women, for those who so went to war are spoken of as "men of war" (vv 21, 28, 32, 49, 53). These men were paid out of the booty taken, a distinction being between the "men of war" and the rest of the congregation (Num. 31:27-41).
        The wars in the Mosaic period up to the monarchy turned on strategy and the taking advantage of the opportune moment rather than by the skillful disposition and discipline of the forces arrayed for battle, as would be seen under the monarchy. But nonetheless these border forays in Canaan consisted of men (Josh. 8:3; 10:7; Judg. 7:19, 24; 12:1ff., etc.). The frequent references in Joshua and Judges to "people of war" or "children of Israel" given in the context of battle (Josh. 11:7; Judg. 3:27, 4:23, 7:19, etc.) does not argue for the presence of women but rather is a generic reference to those men previously mustered and conscripted.
        The fact that Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite (Judg. 4:17), was instrumental in the death of Sisera, a captain in the Canaanite army, does not argue for her presence in the army or on the battlefield contrary to the order of creation; rather, Sisera was slain when he fled from the battle to a place of relative safety (Judg. 4:11, 17). He was in fact killed by a woman in a domestic setting removed from the battle (Judg. 4:18-22).
        Moreover Deborah's presence with the army (Judg. 4:8, 10; 5:15) was not as a military participant but as a prophetess who went with the commander of the army, Barak (Judg. 4:5, 14), because he refused to go without her (Judg. 4:8). She accompanied the army at the pleading of Barak but was not mustered or conscripted into it. Her presence with the army, contrary to the order of creation, was a shame unto the men of Israel (Judg. 4:9).
        Under Gideon, when the Midianites and the Amalekites gathered in the Valley of Jezreel to come against Israel (Judg. 6:33), Gideon, from four tribes (6:35) and with assurances of God's help (6:36-40), collected 32,000 "men of the people" (7:3). This number was reduced by sending home the cowardly men (Deut. 20:8) and by a means appointed by the Lord (7:4), until three hundred men remained to go to battle (7:7-8).
        In the period of Judges 19 and following, which is the period of Eli the High Priest and Samuel the prophet of the Lord, Israel went out to battle against the Philistines on two occasions, back to back. The casualty list shows that 4,000 men were killed in the first pitched battle (1 Sam. 4:1-2) and in the second battle 30,000 footmen (Heb.: ragli, men on foot, foot soldiers) were killed (1 Sam. 4:10). This same Hebrew word also used in Exodus 12:37; Numbers 11:21; Judges 20:2; 1 Samuel 15:4 and in the monarchical period in the context of war or battles to designate footmen (i.e., infantrymen). As Exodus 12:37 makes clear, these are distinguished from women and children. The use of this word ragli clearly denotes that the soldiers, either arrayed for battle or numbered as casualties, are men, not women.
        In the intertribal war between Jephthah the Gileadite and Ephraim, it was men of, Ephraim who confronted Jephthah (Judg. 12:1) and it was men of Gilead who fought them (12:4). In the war between Israel and the Benjamites, over the murder of the Levite's concubine, Israel mustered 400,000 "footmen that drew the sword" (Judg.20:2), out of which a conscription of men was made (20:10-11,17). When demands by Israel for the surrender of the murderers were rejected, Benjamin mustered 26,000 men along with 700 men from Gibeah. Within this mustered army were 700 male specialists (20:15-16). The casualty list of the ensuing battles reveals that it was male combatants that were killed (20:21, 25, 31, 35, 39, 44-46). Throughout the entire account of this battle it is men who are involved.
        In summary, during the period from Moses to the monarchy, there is no direct biblical precept including women in the military nor can this be justly inferred from an examination of those who were mustered and conscripted, and the casualty lists. Only men saw military service, in harmony with the order of creation.
        With the advent of the monarchy there also arose the custom of maintaining a body-guard for the king, which formed the nucleus of a standing army. Whereas under the period from Moses to the monarchy the military organization of Israel was a militia, now a standing army is formed under the kings. Initially when the future king of Israel, Saul, fought his first pitched battle with the Ammonites in defense of Jabesh-Gilead, he called forth the militia which was the military organization then in place. This consisted of men (1 Sam. 11.7-8), those previously mustered. However, after two years of actual reign, Saul established a body-guard consisting of men numbering 3,000 (1 Sam. 13:1, 14:52; 24:2). Prior to his accession to the throne, David retained a band of 600 select male soldiers (1 Sam. 23:13; 25:13). to which he later added men of the Cherethites and the Pelethites (2 Sam. 15:18; 20:7). The forces of both Saul and David served as an active group of professional, first-response male soldiers. Initially there was nothing contrary to the nature of the military organization of Israel under God in this. But this soon changed under David.
        In 1 Samuel 8, Samuel had predicted the results of Israel's rejection of God as King of Israel and its desire for a king like other nations (i.e., statism). Samuel predicted that such a king would form a standing army by drafting the sons of Israel into it. 1 Samuel 8:11 says, "And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you; He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots" (emphasis added).
        Instead of a general muster and specific conscription, as had been the case from Moses to the monarchy, from the time of the monarchy on there would be an enforced draft with men being ordered from their homes into a professional standing army. But one thing was to remain the same: the army was to be composed of sons, not daughters. Daughters, under the monarchy, were drafted only for domestic duties (1 Sam. 8:13), not for military duty. They did serve "the state" but not as soldiers in the army. Thus, though, the monarchy moved more along the lines of the humanistic state, women did not serve in the military. This will be seen upon further examination of the military under various kings.
        Samuel's prediction was fulfilled under David. David determined to hold a peacetime muster and create a standing national army reserve (2 Sam. 24:1, 2; I Chron. 21:1, 2). Against the opposition of Joab, and under the instigation of Satan (I Chron. 21:1), this was done. The results showed approximately 1,500,000 men fit for duty (cf. 1 Sam. 24:9 and 1 Chron. 21:5). No women were mustered under David. This reserve army no longer followed tribal lines but cut across these lines and divided the army into administrative districts consisting of 24,000 men in each district who would be called upon to serve one month of military duty (1 Chron. 27:1-15). The balance of the mustered but undrafted men formed a militia still organized along tribal lines (1 Chron. 27:16ff.) This rash action on David's part to conduct a peace time muster was cut short because of God's judgment (1 Chron. 27:24). But as Samuel predicted, a professional reserve army became the norm throughout the monarchy. It appears to have been left in place and not undone by God, as an act of judgment. But, however much this national standing army reserve became the norm under succeeding monarchs, it did not consist of women. Only men were numbered or mustered.
        Under Solomon, the mustering begun by David was completed when he numbered the foreigners and remnants of conquered nations among the Israelites and put them into civil service (2 Chron. 2:17-18). But he kept separate Israeli "men of war" (1 Kgs. 9:21, 22), those previously mustered by his father David.
        In Rehoboam's assembly of soldiers to war against Jeroboam, an attempt by thwarted by command of God, the Scriptures declare that he assembled 180,000 "chosen men" (1 Kgs. 12:21).
        In Abijah's confrontation with Jeroboam he arrayed for battle an army of "valiant men" while Jeroboam came on the field with 800,000 chosen "might men valor" (2 Chron. 13:3). The casualty lists reveal that Israel suffered 500,000 men killed (2 Chron. 13:17).
        Asa, in his war with Zerah the Ethiopian, had an army on hand from Judah and Benjamin that consisted of 580,000 men.
        Jehoshaphat had a standing army in addition to those in garrison totaling 1,160,000 men at arms (2 Chron. 17:12-19).
        Ahab's muster to confront the Syrians is stated to be 7,000 children of Israel (fighting men, army: cf. v.19), with the young men of the princes (i.e., their body guards) declared to be 232 (2 Kgs. 20:15).
        Amaziah from Judah and Benjamin has a standing army of 300,000 "choice men" as well as mercenaries hired out of Israel, consisting of 100,000 men (2 Chron. 25:5, 6).
        Under Uzziah 307,500 well-armed fighting men could be brought into the filed under 2,600 officers (2 Chron. 26:11-15).
        Pekah, King of Israel, attacked Judah and the casualty lists show that 120,000 "valiant men" of Judah were slain (2 Chron. 28:6) by his armed men (28:14).
        At the time of the Babylonian captivity, on the list of those taken to Babylon, are "mighty men of valor," all those strong and apt for war (2 Kgs. 24:14-16).
        From this survey of the period from the monarchy to the captivity what emerges is the unmistakable conclusion that women did not participate in the military affairs of either Israel or Judah. They appear neither on the lists of those assembled and arrayed for battle nor on the casualty lists. However much the affairs of Israel and Judah took a statist turn for the worse under the monarchy, as Samuel predicted, women were not mustered or drafted into military service. The order of creation was adhered to.
        As 2 Kings 24:14-16 makes clear, all the men capable of war were into captivity and only the poorest of the land remained. Under Ezra and Nehemia, and the return from captivity sponsored by their former captives, no military no military muster was conducted. The accounting in Ezra 2 is a genealogical registering, not a mustering for battle (Ezra 2:61, 62; Neh. 7:5).
        However, when Sanballat and his co-conspirators came to fight against the reconstruction of Jerusalem (Neh. 4:7-8), Nehemiah mustered men from the nobles, rulers and the people (Neh. 4:14) together with his personal retinue (Neh. 4:16), which consisted of men (2:12). This "home guard," reminiscent of the militia of the pre-monarchical period, did not consist of women.
        Little more can be discerned from Scripture on this period as to who constituted the make-up of the military. Progressively, in moving closer to the New Covenant period, Roman military system dominated. However, during the inter-testamental period, the system adopted by Judas Maccabeus appears to be in strict conformity with Mosaic law, meaning no women were involved in the military.
        Following this inter-testamental period, the discipline and arrangement of the army was gradually assimilated to that of the Romans. But up to and including the inter-testamental period the order of creation was not violated.
        During the period in which our Lord was incarnate and during the period in which the New Covenant books were written, Israel lay under Roman occupation and served as vassals of Rome. However, the New Covenant Scriptures do say under Herod's command were "men of war" (Luke 23:11), thus indicating that even under Roman occupation the army under Herod was composed, as it always had been throughout the Old Covenant period, of men.
        A study of the composition of the Roman military is not germane to this particular study, though every New Covenant indication is that it was composed of men only (Matt. 8:9 [Luke 7:8]; Mark 15:39 [Luke 23:47]; Acts 10:1; 21:37-40; 23:22-23, etc.).
        Further, since no musterings or casualty lists of God's people are recorded in the New Covenant Scriptures, as in the Old Covenant Scriptures, no help can be found from that quarter.
        The New Covenant references to a Christian as a soldier are used metaphorically of being a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Interestingly enough, this metaphor is applied only to Timothy, a man, in his labor as a minister of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:3, 4; cf. also 1 Tim. 1:18). This indicates a consistent application of the Old Covenant Scriptures, that soldiers are men while women are the heart of the home (cf. 1 Tim. 5:14; Titus 2:4. 5). This consistent application is not disturbed when in the book of Revelation the armies that accompany the Lord, who ride on white horses clothed in white linen, are identified in Revelation 17:14 as the "called, chosen and faithful"; in other words, Christians. If in this passage the armies of the Lord are comprised of both men and women seated with Him in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6), this symbolic representation of Christ overcoming His enemies cannot be applied to women serving in the military.

Conclusion
        While much of this study has been drawn from the structure of the military under the Old Covenant economy, and while New Covenant believers are not bound to every particular of the Old Covenant military structure, there is an obligation to discern the wisdom given unto us in the Scriptures pertaining to it. We must not attempt to be wiser than God in the establishment of a godly culture and ignore the wisdom He gives, particularly as it pertains to the issue of women serving in the military. Your committee concludes that no biblical warrant expressed or inferred can be found that either authorizes or permits nations to conscript women into the military, or which authorizes or permits women to serve in combat roles. On the contrary, just the opposite is warranted. Namely, that women are the heart of the home and their equipping disposition is in terms of that high and holy calling, a calling in which they are to be preserved and protected.

Recommendations:

1. That the Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States adopt the following position: "The 250th session of the Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States, upon due examination of Holy Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments, find no biblical warrant for women serving in enforced military service, but on the contrary, finds that women are to be protected from enforced military service that they might fulfill their calling and duties under God as set forth in the order of creation. Further, women are not to serve in combat roles."

2. That member churches of the Reformed Church in the United States make this study available to its members as a part of teaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17).

3. That this Committee be dissolved.

R. Potter, H. Hart, N. Riffert, W. Embree, D. McPherson