Deuteronomy · Chapter 20

Verse 1. When thou goest out to battle] This refers chiefly to the battles they were to have with the Canaanites, in order to get possession of the promised land; for it cannot be considered to apply to any wars which they might have with the surrounding nations for political reasons, as the Divine assistance could not be expected in wars which were not undertaken by the Divine command.

Verse 1. When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies — The land of Canaan being to be gained by conquest, in a war of God’s special appointment; and the Israelites, after their settlement in it, being likely to be exposed to invasions from, or quarrels with the neighbouring nations, Moses judged it necessary to leave them some standing rules for their conduct in both these kinds of war. The first and great rule was, to commit their cause to God, depending with entire confidence upon that divine power which had so often and so wonderfully delivered them, without the least fear or discouragement at the superior force or terrible appearance of their enemies. And seest horses and chariots — The armies of the Israelites consisted wholly of foot, and their law seems to have obliged them to continue so, in order that their reliance might be entirely on God, Deuteronomy 17:16. But the Egyptians, Canaanites, and other nations, had the advantage of horses and chariots, in which they placed their confidence. Thus the psalmist: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” These chariots were sometimes armed with scythes, to rush in among the foot, and cut them down like grass, which made them very formidable. These are the chariots of iron, mentioned Judges 4:3.

1. Seest horses, and chariots — Of the military resources of the Oriental nations, with whom the Israelites would be likely to be brought in hostile contact, cavalry constituted an important part. The Egyptians and the Syrians are especially mentioned for the abundance of their cavalry. Be not afraid — The Israelites are to call to mind their past history, when Jehovah overthrew the horse and the rider when he so triumphantly brought up his people out of Egypt.

V. 2. Speak unto the people-Probably to one regiment of the army after another.

Verse 2. The priest shall approach, and speak unto the people] The priest on these occasions was the representative of that God whose servant he was, and whose worship he conducted. It is remarkable that almost all ancient nations took their priests with them to battle, as they did not expect success without having the object of their adoration with them, and they supposed they secured his presence by having that of his representative.

Verse 2. The priest shall approach — The Jews say there was a priest anointed for the purpose, whose office, as we may gather from Numbers 31:6, was to blow with the trumpet when they were preparing for battle. And shall speak to the people — Probably exhorting them, in the most persuasive manner, to a courageous and undaunted performance of their duty, considering their cause as God’s, and relying on his protection and aid.

2. The priest shall approach and speak unto the people — According to the rabbins, the priest who thus accompanied the army was called the “Anointed for the war.” He held a high rank. See Numbers 31:6.

V. 5. What man-This and the following exceptions are to be understood only of a war allowed by God, not in a war commanded by God, not in the approaching war with the Canaanites, from which even the bridegroom was not exempted, as the Jewish writers note.

Verse 5. That hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it?] From the title of Psalm 30:1,-A Psalm or Song at the Dedication of the House of David-it is evident that it was a custom in Israel to dedicate a new house to God with prayer, praise, and thanksgiving; and this was done in order to secure the Divine presence and blessing, for no pious or sensible man could imagine he could dwell safely in a house that was not under the immediate protection of God. Hence it has been a custom in the most barbarous nations to consecrate a part of a new house to the deity they worshipped. The houses of the inhabitants of Bonny, in Africa, are generally divided into three apartments: one is a kind of state room or parlour; another serves for a common room, or kitchen; and the third is dedicated to the Juju, the serpent god, which they worship; for even those savages believe that in every house their god should have his temple! At the times of dedication among the Jews, besides prayer and praise, a feast was made, to which the relatives and neighbours were invited. Something of this custom is observed in some parts of our own country in what is called warming the house; but in these cases the feasting only is kept up-the prayer and praise forgotten! so that the dedication appears to be rather more to Bacchus than to Jehovah, the author of every good and perfect gift.

Verses 5, 6. What man is there — This and the following exceptions are to be understood only of a war allowed by God, not in a war commanded by God, not in the approaching war with the Canaanites, from which even the bridegroom was not exempt, as the Jewish writers note. Hath planted a vineyard — This and the former dispensation were generally convenient, but more necessary in the beginning of their settlement in Canaan, for the encouragement of those who should build houses or plant vineyards, which were chargeable to them, and beneficial to the commonwealth. Eaten of it — Hebrew, made it common; namely, for the use of himself, and family, and friends, which it was not till the fifth year.

Verse 5. Hath not dedicated it. David composed the xxxth Psalm for the dedication of his new palace. Good men warmed a new house by devotion.

5. The officers — The shoterim, for that is the Hebrew term, were to be the keepers of the genealogical tables, and in that capacity would know who were the men bound to render military service.

V. 6. A vineyard-This and the former dispensation were generally convenient, but more necessary in the beginning of their settlement in Canaan, for the encouragement of those who should build houses or plant vineyards, which was chargeable to them, and beneficial to the common-wealth. Eaten of it-Heb. made it common, namely, for the use of himself and family and friends, which it was not, ‘till the fifth year.

Verses 5, 6. What man is there — This and the following exceptions are to be understood only of a war allowed by God, not in a war commanded by God, not in the approaching war with the Canaanites, from which even the bridegroom was not exempt, as the Jewish writers note. Hath planted a vineyard — This and the former dispensation were generally convenient, but more necessary in the beginning of their settlement in Canaan, for the encouragement of those who should build houses or plant vineyards, which were chargeable to them, and beneficial to the commonwealth. Eaten of it — Hebrew, made it common; namely, for the use of himself, and family, and friends, which it was not till the fifth year.

6. Planted a vineyard — The word µrk is not to be restricted to vineyards. The same term is applied to olive groves. Hath not yet eaten of it — The Hebrew term llj, to make common, is here used in the sense of to apply to common use. The fruit of the vine, or of fruit trees in general, was not to be gathered for use for the first three years. In the fourth year the fruit was to be consecrated to Jehovah. It was not till the fifth year that the fruit could be gathered for common use.

Verse 7. Betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her?] It was customary among the Jews to contract matrimony, espouse or betroth, and for some considerable time to leave the parties in the houses of their respective parents: when the bridegroom had made proper preparations, then the bride was brought home to his house, and thus the marriage was consummated. The provisions in this verse refer to a case of this kind; for it was deemed an excessive hardship for a person to be obliged to go to battle, where there was a probability of his being slain, who had left a new house unfinished; a newly purchased heritage half tilled; or a wife with whom he had just contracted marriage. Homer represents the case of Protesilaus as very afflicting, who was obliged to go to the Trojan war, leaving his wife in the deepest distress, and his house unfinished. Tou de kai amfidrufhv alocov fulakh eleleipro,

Kai domov hmitelhv\ ton dJ ektane dardanov anhr,

Nhov apoqrwskonta polu prwtiston acaiwn.

ILIAD, 1. ii., ver. 100.

“A wife he left,

To rend in Phylace her bleeding cheeks,

And an unfinish’d mansion: first he died

Of all the Greeks; for as he leap’d to land,

Long ere the rest, a Dardan struck him dead.”

COWPER.

Verses 7, 8. Hath betrothed a wife — The time allowed in this case was a year, Deuteronomy 24:5. This was a law of great humanity, that conjugal love might not be disturbed, but have time to knit into a firm and lasting affection. What man is fearful and faint-hearted — This fearfulness is to be understood, say the Jews, not only of a natural timorousness, which is incident to some constitutions, and makes a man tremble at every danger, but of the adventitious terrors of a guilty conscience. For they did not, as in the modern fashion, send the wickedest and most worthless into the wars; but if they knew any man to be a notorious villain, they thrust him out of the army, lest his example should corrupt and discourage the rest of the soldiery.

7. What man… hath betrothed a wife — The exemption from military service to the betrothed is, in 24:5, also applied to the newly married man, who was free from obligation to serve in the army for a year.

Verse 8. What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted?] The original kr rach, signifies tender or soft-hearted. And a soft heart the man must have who, in such a contest, after such a permission, could turn his back upon his enemies and his brethren. However, such were the troops commanded by Gideon in his war against the Midianites; for after he gave this permission, out of 32,000 men only 10,000 remained to fight! Judges 7:3. There could be no deception in a business of this kind; for the departure of the 22,000 was the fullest proof of their dastardliness which they could possibly give.

Verses 7, 8. Hath betrothed a wife — The time allowed in this case was a year, Deuteronomy 24:5. This was a law of great humanity, that conjugal love might not be disturbed, but have time to knit into a firm and lasting affection. What man is fearful and faint-hearted — This fearfulness is to be understood, say the Jews, not only of a natural timorousness, which is incident to some constitutions, and makes a man tremble at every danger, but of the adventitious terrors of a guilty conscience. For they did not, as in the modern fashion, send the wickedest and most worthless into the wars; but if they knew any man to be a notorious villain, they thrust him out of the army, lest his example should corrupt and discourage the rest of the soldiery.

8. Fearful and fainthearted — These were to leave the army. Only the valorous were to constitute the force that was to go forth to battle.

V. 9. Make captains-Or rather, as the Hebrew hath it, they shall set or place the captains of the armies in the head or front of the people under their charge, that they may conduct them, and by their example encourage their soldiers. It is not likely they had their captains to make when they were just going to battle.

Verse 9. They shall make captains — Or rather, as the Hebrew is, they shall set or place the captains of the armies in the head or front of the people under their charge, that they may conduct them, and, by their example, encourage their soldiers. It is not likely they had their captain to make when they were just going to battle.

Ver. 9. The officers—shall make captains. The sense of this verse is difficult to gather. The readings vary; but Le Clerc’s translation is to be preferred. “When the heralds have made an end of speaking, the officers in front of the army shall number the troops.” The original word is rendered number in 1 Samuel 13:15; and muster in Isaiah 13:4.

9. Captains of the armies to lead the people — The shoterim, or officers, after the elimination of the above-ordered army, are to appoint captains to lead the force that is now ready for the contest.

Verse 10. Proclaim peace unto it.] Interpreters are greatly divided concerning the objects of this law. The text, taken in connection with the context, (see Deuteronomy 20:15-18,) appears to state that this proclamation or offer of peace to a city is only to be understood of those cities which were situated beyond the limits of the seven anathematized nations, because these latter are commanded to be totally destroyed. Nothing can be clearer than this from the bare letter of the text, unless some of the words, taken separately, can be shown to have a different meaning. For the common interpretation, the following reasons are given. God, who knows all things, saw that they were incurable in their idolatry; that the cup of their iniquity was full; and as their Creator, Sovereign, and Judge, he determined to destroy them from off the face of the earth, “lest they should teach the Israelites to do after all their abominations,” Deuteronomy 20:18. After all, many plausible arguments have been brought to prove that even these seven Canaanitish nations might be received into mercy, provided they, 1. Renounced their idolatry; 2. Became subject to the Jews; and, 3. Paid annual tribute: and that it was only in case these terms were rejected, that they were not to leave alive in such a city any thing that breathed, Deuteronomy 20:16.

Ver. 10. Proclaim peace to it. In the Jugurthine war, Sallust names a city of Africa that had but two hours’ notice of the approach of the Roman armies, and they put every soul to the sword. While Sallust blushes to relate this, he palliates the carnage by saying, it was for the good of the Roman people! This cruelty is common enough in many wars; but the Hebrew lawgiver could not endure it. If the city refused the terms, then the war was placed on equal ground. Yet the spirit of the Messiah’s kingdom is evidently, according to all the prophets, a spirit of concord and peace. Isaiah 9. Mic. 4. Zechariah 9. Its aim is to make the earth one family, and Messiah the universal king.

10. Proclaim peace unto it — The meaning of the passage seems to be, summon it to surrender without contest.

11. If… answer of peace,… tributaries — If the city opened its gates and peacefully surrendered, all the inhabitants were to be spared, but they were to be tributaries of the Israelites.

12. If it will make no peace — If the city does not submit without fighting, then it is to be besieged, and, when taken by storm, the armed men are to be put to death, the women and children spared.

10-20. In these verses are given directions designed to prevent unnecessary destruction of life and property.

10-20. In these verses are given directions designed to prevent unnecessary destruction of life and property.

15. Cities… not of… these nations — The directions from verses 10-15 are designed to apply to the nations with whom in the future wars may be waged. The nations of Canaan were to be utterly destroyed.

V. 16. Nothing-No man. For the beasts, some few excepted, were given them for a prey.

Verse 16. Thou shalt save alive nothing — No human creature; for the beasts, some few excepted, were given for a prey. This slaughter of all the people is to be understood only in case they did not surrender when summoned, but rejected the conditions of peace when offered them. In which case their condition was worse than that of any other people, whose males only were to be slain, verse 14.

16. Of these people — The Canaanites and kindred nations. Thou shalt save alive nothing — Not a human being was to be left alive. The abominations of these idolatrous nations were such that only by obliterating them wholly could the Israelites be exempt from their corruptions. The punishment of the Canaanites seems severe, but shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Verse 17. But thou shalt utterly destroy them] The above reasoning will gain considerable strength, provided we could translate תחרימם החרם yk hi hacharem tacharimem, thou shalt utterly subdue them-slaying them if they resist, and thus leaving nothing alive that breathed; or totally expel them from the land, or reduce them to a state of slavery in it, that they might no longer exist as a people. This certainly made them an anathema as a nation, wholly destroying their political existence. Probably this was so understood by the Gibeonites, viz., that they either must be slain or utterly leave the land, which last was certainly in their power, and therefore, by a stratagem, they got the princes of Israel to make a league with them. When the deceit was discovered, the Israelites, though not bound by their oath, because they were deceived by the Gibeonites, and therefore were under no obligation to fulfil their part of the covenant; yet, though they had this command before their eyes, did not believe that they were bound to put even those deceivers to death; but they destroyed their political existence, by making them hewers of wood and drawers of water to the congregation; i.e., slaves to the Israelites. (See Joshua 9:23) Rahab and her household also were spared. So that it does not appear that the Israelites believed that they were bound to put every Canaanite to death. Their political existence was under the anathema, and this the Hebrews annihilated.

That many of the Canaanites continued in the land even to the days of Solomon, we have the fullest proof; for we read, 2 Chronicles 8:7: “All the people of the land that were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were left in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute to this day.” Thus Solomon destroyed their political existence, but did not consider himself bound by the law of God to put them to death.

10-20. In these verses are given directions designed to prevent unnecessary destruction of life and property.

Verse 18. That they teach you not to do after all their abominations — Here is the great reason for the aforesaid severe execution; they were most abominable idolaters, who offered their children to Moloch; they were magicians, wizards, necromancers, and guilty of all those abominations and filthy lusts mentioned Leviticus 18. So that God thought them not fit to live any longer upon the face of the earth; for had they been spared, after obstinately rejecting terms of peace, they would undoubtedly have sought to infect the Israelites with their filthy idolatry; and it was mercy to the human race in general not to suffer such a wicked, contagious generation to subsist. From the words here quoted, That they teach you not, &c., a Jewish writer justly observes, “If they repented and forsook their idolatry, the Israelites might let them live;” for then there was no such danger in sparing them. Accordingly Rahab, her father, mother, brethren, and all her kindred, were preserved alive, and so were the Hivites or Gibeonites, on condition of servitude, which they themselves offered, Joshua 9:11-15. See Joshua 11:11-20; Jeremiah 18:7, 8.

10-20. In these verses are given directions designed to prevent unnecessary destruction of life and property.

V. 19. Thou shalt not destroy-Which is to be understood of a general destruction of them, not of the cutting down some few of them, as the conveniency of the siege might require. Man’s life-The sustenance or support of his life.

Verse 19. (For the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege] The original is exceedingly obscure, and has been variously translated, Ëynpm abl hdch x[ האדם yk rwxmb ki haadam ets

hassadeh labo mippaneycha bammatsor. The following are the chief versions: For, O man, the trees of the field are for thee to employ THEM in the siege-or, For it is man, and the tree of the field, that must go before thee for a bulwark-or, For it is a tree, and not men, to increase the number of those who come against thee to the siege-or, lastly, The tree of the field (is as) a man, to go before thy face for a bulwark. The sense is sufficiently clear, though the strict grammatical meaning of the words cannot be easily ascertained: it was a merciful provision to spare all fruit-bearing trees, because they yielded the fruit which supported man’s life; and it was sound policy also, for even the conquerors must perish if the means of life were cut off.

It is diabolic cruelty to add to the miseries of war the horrors of famine; and this is done where the trees of the field are cut down, the dykes broken to drown the land, the villages burnt, and the crops wilfully spoiled. O execrable war! subversive of all the charities of life!

THERE are several curious particulars in these verses: 1. The people had the most positive assurances from God that their enemies should not be able to prevail against them by strength, numbers, nor stratagem, because God should go with them to lead and direct them, and should fight for them; and against his might none could prevail. 2. All such interferences were standing proofs of the being of God, of his especial providence, and of the truth of their religion. 3. Though God promised them such protection, yet they were to expect it in the diligent use of their own prudence and industry. The priests, the officers, and the people, had their respective parts to act in this business; if they did their duty respectively, God would take care that they should be successful. Those who will not help themselves with the strength which God has already given them, shall not have any farther assistance from him. In all such cases, the parable of the talents affords an accurate rule. 4. Their going to war against their enemies must not deprive them of mercy and tenderness towards their brethren. He who had built a house and had not yet dwelt in it, who had planted a vineyard and had not eaten of its fruits, who had betrothed a wife and had not yet taken her to his house, was not obliged to go to battle, lest he should fall in the war, and the fruits of his industry and affection be enjoyed by others. He who was faint-hearted was also permitted to return, lest he should give way in the heat of battle, and his example have a fatal influence on others. DEUTERONOMY

Verse 19. Thou shalt not destroy the trees — Which is to be understood of a general destruction of them, not of cutting down some few of them, as the convenience of the siege might require. Man’s life — The sustenance or support of his life.

Ver. 19. The tree of the field is man’s life, and must not be destroyed. Alexander the Great restrained his army from hurting trees and houses by saying, they are your own property.

19. Not destroy the trees — In the besieging of cities there was to be no wanton destruction of property. The fruit trees in the gardens of the environs were not to be cut down. War, as anciently carried on, was terrible. Life and property, except so far as they could be of service to the conqueror, were to be destroyed. Moses, with these stern laws prevalent, aims to introduce a gentler and more lenient usage into the military code. For the tree… is man’s life — The Hebrew expression is difficult of translation. Ewald, Knobel, Keil, and others render it as a question, Is the tree of the field a man, that it come in siege before thee? But this translation, which follows the Septuagint, requires a different pointing of the Hebrew text. The literal rendering of the passage is, Man is the tree of the field — that is, he lives and is supported by the fruits of trees. Our Authorized Version gives the substantial sense.

20. Not trees for meat — This verse suggests such acquaintance with laying siege to fortified places as might have been learned from the Egyptians.