Deuteronomy 20

WHen thou goest out to battel Upon a just and necessary cause, as upon great provocation, or for thy own defence. against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the battel, that the priest An eminent Priest appointed for this work, and to blow with the holy trumpets, Numb. 10. 9. and 31. 6. shall approach, and speak unto the people Either successively to one regiment of the army after another, or to some by himself, to others by his brethren or deputies, which accompanied him for that end.,

And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battel against your enemies: let not your heart faint Heb. be soft or tender. Softness or tenderness of heart towards God is commended, 2 King. 22. 19. but towards enemies it is condemned, here and ver. 8. Levit. 26. 36. 2 Chron. 13. 7. Isa. 7. 4., fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them.

For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it Which was done by feasting and thanksgiving to God. See the title of Psal. 30. and Nehem. 12. 27. Heb. has initiated it, i. e. entred upon it, taken possession of it, dwelt in it.? let him go and return to his house Least his heart be set upon it, and thereby he be negligent or timerous in the battel to the scandal and prejudice of others., lest he die in the battel, and another man dedicate it And so he should lose and another get the fruit of his labours, which might seem unjust or hard. And God provides even for mens infirmities. But 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 Iewish writers note..

And what man is he that has 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 was chargeable to them, and beneficial to the commonwealth., and has not yet eaten of it Heb. made it common, to wit, for the use of himself and family and friends, which it was not till the fifth year, Levit. 19. 23, &c. Ier. 31. 5.? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battel, and another man eat of it.

And what man is there that has betrothed Which was done by a solemn and mutual promise, but not by an actual contract. See Gen. 19. 14. Deut. 22. 23. a wife, and has not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battel, and another man take her.

And the officers shall speak further unto the people: and they shall say, What man is there that is fearfull and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethrens heart faint as well as his heart.

And it shall be when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people Or rather, as the Hebrew has 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 and manage them, and by their example incourage their souldiers. But it is not likely they had their captains to make or choose when they were just going to battel..

When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it This seems to be understood not of the cities of the Canaanites, as is manifest from ver. 16, 17, 18. who were under an absolute sentence of utter destruction, Exod 23. 32, 33. Deut. 7. 1, 2. whence they are blamed that made any league or peace with them, Iudg. 2. 2. but of the cities either of other nations who injured or disturbed them, or commenced war against them, or aided their enemies, or oppressed their friends and allies; or of the Hebrews themselves, if they were guilty or abettors of Idolatry or Apostacy from God, or of sedition or rebellion against authority, or of giving protection and defence to capital offenders. See Gen. 14. Iudg. 20. 2 Sam. 20. &c..

And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein, shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee By their purses, and by their labours too, as appears from 1 King. 9. 15. 2 Chron. 8. 7..

And if it will make no peace with thee but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it.

And when the LORD thy God has delivered it into thine hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edg of the sword A just punishment of their obstinate refusal of peace offered..

But the women, and the little ones Excused by their sex or age, as not involved in the guilt, nor being likely to revenge their quarrel., and the cattel, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thy self, and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God has given thee.

Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

But of the cities of these people which the LORD thy God does give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth Heb. no soul, i. e. no man, as that word is oft used. Compare Ios. 10. 40. with 11. 14. For the beasts, some few excepted as being under a special curse, were given them for a prey.:

But thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the LORD thy God has commanded thee:

That they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they have done unto their gods: so should ye sin against the LORD your God.

When thou shalt besiege a city a long time in making war against it, to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof To wit, the fruit trees, as appears from the following words. Which is to be understood of a general destruction of them, not of the cutting down of some few of them, as the conveniency of the siege might require., by forcing an ax against them, for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is mans life (i. e.) The sustenance or support of his life, as life is taken Deut. 24. 6. But this place may be otherwise translated, as it is in the Margent of our English Bibles: For, O man (the Hebrew letter He being here the note of a vocative case, as it is Psal. 9. 7.) the tree (or, trees, the singular number for the plural, as is common) of the field is (or ought, as the Hebrew Lamed is used Esth. 9. 1. Psal. 62. 10.) to be employed in the siege, or, as it is in the Hebrew, to go before thy face, i. e. to make fences for thy security, in the siege. The trees of the field, I here understand not in its general signification of all trees including fruit-bearing trees, as that phrase is commonly used, but in its more special and distinct signification, for unfruitful trees as it is taken Isa. 55. 1 2. or such as grow only in open fields, such as are elsewhere called the trees of the wood, 1 Chron. 16. 33. Isa. 7. 2. or the trees of the forest, Cant. 2. 3. Isa. 10. 19. which are opposed to the trees of the gardens, Gen. 3. 2, 8. Eccl. 2. 5. Ezek. 31. 9. as the flower of the field, Psal. 103. 15. Isa. 40. 6. and the lilies of the field, Mat. 6. 28. are opposed to those that grow in Gardens, and are preserved and cultivated by the gardeners art and care. And so it is a very proper argument to disswade from the destroying of fruit-trees, because the wild and unfruitful trees were sufficient for the use of the siege. And this sense fitly agrees with the following words, where the concession or grant which here is delivered in more ambiguous terms of the tree of the field is repeated and explained concerning the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat., to imploy them in the siege.

Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy, and cut them down, and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.