Deuteronomy 20

Deuteronomy 20:1

O. Laws Concerning Warfare (Chap. 20)20:1-8 Chapter 20 is a manual on warfare for God’s people. The priests were charged with encouraging the people as they battled against the enemy. Various classes were exempt from military service: (1) those who had just built a new house; (2) those who had just planted a vineyard and had never partaken of the fruit; (3) those whose marriage had not been consummated; (4) those who were fearful and fainthearted. The Jewish writers agree that this liberty to return was allowed only in those wars which they made voluntarily . . . not those which were made by the divine command against Amalek and the Canaanites, in which every man was bound to fight. 20:9 Since in any good army there must be organization and rank, the officers appointed captains of the armies to lead the people. 20:10-20 Unlike other nations, Israel was to make distinctions in her warfare under Jehovah’s direction. These distinctions were a further reflection of Israel as a holy people under a loving God. War was necessary, but the Lord would control the evil it caused. One has only to study the cruel practices of other nations, such as the Assyrians, to appreciate these guidelines. Instructions are given as to how war was to be waged. Notice the following distinctions:

1. Cities . . . near and far (10-18). The cities in the land were an immediate danger, totally reprobate and fit for destruction. Cities outside the land but within the rest of the area promised to Abraham were to be approached first with terms of peace. If they refused, only the men were to be killed; the women and children were to be spared. These cities did not pose so great a threat to contaminate Israel as did the ones within Israel’s borders.
2. Fruitful and unfruitful trees (19, 20). The principle here is that Israel was not to practice “desolation warfare.” They were to preserve what was useful instead of engaging in wholesale destruction of the land.