Deuteronomy 20 – Instructions Concerning Warfare

A. The spiritual and practical preparation of the army.

1. (1) The command to trust in God.

“When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

a. When you go out to battle against your enemies: Israel, a relatively small nation surrounded by great empires, rarely had a superior military compared to their rivals. In battle, they usually fought against horses and chariots and people more numerous than Israel.

b. Do not be afraid of them: Despite the disadvantages Israel normally faced, they also had a clear command from God to not fear. Israel was commanded to not fear what any smart military man would normally fear: superior numbers, superior technology, and superior equipment.

c. For the LORD your God is with you: God gave Israel a reason to not be afraid. God did not deny that the enemies of Israel would usually have more horses, chariots, and people than Israel. But God asked them to recognize a greater fact: That the LORD…God was with Israel.

i. In spiritual application, Paul explained this principle in Romans 8:31: If God is for us, who can be against us? One with God makes an unbeatable majority.

ii. This implies that Israel fought in wars at God’s direction. “Divine assistance could not be expected in wars which were not undertaken by the Divine command.” (Clarke)

d. Who brought you up from the land of Egypt: Israel was also given evidence for their faith. God didn’t ask Israel to have a blind, uninformed trust in Him. They could trust Him as they went into battle because He had proven Himself mighty and faithful before. The LORD had demonstrated that He could be trusted.

i. God delivered Israel when Pharaoh came against them with horses and chariots at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:26-28). Israel did not need to fear enemies equipped with horses and chariots.

2. (2-4) The command to encourage people before battle.

So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

a. When you are on the verge of battle: At the critical time before the battle, it was the duty of the priest to encourage the soldiers to trust in God. Priests were not normally to go into battle themselves, in that they were not numbered among the fighting men of Israel (Numbers 1:47-53). Yet the priests still had an important job when Israel went to war – to teach and encourage the soldiers.

i. The believer is not called to the same kind of warfare Israel faced in their conquest of Canaan. For the Christian, their warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers (Ephesians 6:12-13). Yet even as ancient Israel was encouraged by the priest before battle, so should the believer today be encouraged by Jesus Christ, their High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16) and the captain of their salvation (Hebrews 2:10). In spiritual warfare, the believer should look first to Jesus Christ.

b. The LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you: This was the reason for courage. When Israel was obedient and trusting in God, they would not be defeated in battle. But when they were disobedient or not trusting, they could not win in battle, even if they had superior forces.

i. To fight for you: “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.” (Clarke)

3. (5-9) How to shrink an army and make it more effective.

“Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

“The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

a. What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? God first told the officers of the Israelite army to send home all the soldiers who had unfinished business at home. This could include a home the soldier had not used, a vineyard he had not harvested, or an engaged woman he had not married. Those soldiers were told to go home.

i. “In each of these instances death in war resulted in the dispossession of blessing and its appropriation by someone else who otherwise had no just claim to it.” (Merrill)

ii. “This privilege might encourage men to build and plant, which is good and profitable for the commonwealth, as the apostle speaketh in a like case (Titus 3:8).” (Trapp)

iii. Dedicated it: The phrasing here implies something sacred about a family home. According to Merrill, this verb was also used for Solomon’s dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:63, 2 Chronicles 7:5), the consecration of the altar (2 Chronicles 7:9), and the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12:27). “In all cases there are strong religious overtones, suggesting that what was being done was a sacred ceremony before the Lord.” (Merrill)

b. What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Next, the officers of Israel were to send home all the soldiers who were fearful and fainthearted. Their fear and lack of courage might have a bad influence on the other soldiers. In His service, God only wants willing and courageous soldiers.

c. When the officers have finished speaking to the people: Though the exceptions made Israel’s army smaller, this was God’s command. All the exemptions – remarkable among any army – were a powerful testimony that Israel trusted in Yahweh for military victory, not in their own ability to raise a mighty, large army.

i. To God, the size of the army was not more important than the heart of the army. Yahweh didn’t want soldiers who might be distracted by worries about the cares of everyday life (their home, their vineyard, their fiancée); nor did Yahweh want people who did not really trust Him. God could do more through a smaller army that was truly committed to Him than through a bigger army that was full of compromise.

ii. The story of Gideon (Judges 7) is a powerful illustration of this principle. Gideon started with an army of 32,000, but it was too big – so he sent home those who were afraid, and 22,000 departed. But the army was still too big, so God had Gideon send home 7,700 more, so he only had an army of 300 to fight against a Midianite army of 135,000. Despite their small numbers, God gave Gideon and Israel victory in battle.

d. Make captains of the armies to lead the people: God commanded that His army have leadership. Their trust in God and His promise of blessing did not eliminate their need for good leadership.

B. Instructions for battle.

1. (10-11) The offer of peace.

“When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you.

a. When you go near a city to fight against it: The following verses describe the normal battle procedures for Israel. There were many times when God gave specific instructions which would supersede these normal instructions, such as with the battle of Jericho or the conquest of Canaan in general.

i. This begins a section where Yahweh told Israel how to conduct war. There are, in God’s way of doing things, rules for war. It cannot be conducted in any way conceivable or in any way that might bring victory. These principles were later reflected in the ancient Christian teachings regarding just war.

b. Proclaim an offer of peace: It was important that Israel did not fight unnecessarily. If the city they fought against would agree to terms of peace, then they should come to an agreement.

c. It shall be placed under tribute to you: The conquered city would be made a tribute city to Israel, subservient to the people of God.

2. (12-15) Conquering a city through siege and battle.

Now if the city will not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. And when the LORD your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the LORD your God gives you. Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

a. You shall besiege it: Typically, a walled city was conquered by use of the siege. Enemy armies surrounded a city and cut off all their supplies and contact with the outside world. When the city was sufficiently weakened through hunger or thirst, they either surrendered or were conquered. Sometimes a siege would last for years.

i. There are a few terrible sieges described in the Scriptures, such as a siege of Samaria in 2 Kings 6:24-33.

b. You shall strike every male: Cities that were very far from Israel and refused Israel’s terms of surrender established themselves as chronic enemies of Israel and Yahweh, the God of Israel. Having rejected their chance at a peaceful resolution, every soldier or potential soldier would be put to death.

i. “The death of the men was not only to induce other cities to a more ready submission to Israel but to prevent future uprising in the city that had just been taken.” (Merrill)

ii. This kind of warfare was rare. Israel did not often send their army very far and lay siege against other cities.

c. You shall plunder for yourself: Plunder provided the wages for the army in ancient warfare and underwrote the expenses for the battle. There were times when the army of Israel was specifically prohibited from taking plunder in battle (as in Joshua 6:17-19), but normally plunder was allowed.

3. (16-18) The command to destroy the Canaanites.

“But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God.

a. You shall let nothing that breathes remain: The previous commands regarding warfare did not apply to the upcoming conquest of Canaan. There, not only was Israel not to offer peace to the cities, but they were also to destroy everything, not only the adult males. This was a unique war of judgment, more than a war of conquest or defense.

i. “All the inhabitants that remained in the conquered cities of Canaan were to be completely destroyed so that Israel would not be enticed into the supreme sin of defecting from the Lord and turning to the worship of other gods.” (Kalland)

ii. Adam Clarke suggested that you shall utterly destroy them be translated, “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.” Using the examples of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9) and Rahab (Joshua 2), Clarke suggests “it does not appear that the Israelites believed that they were bound to put every Canaanite to death.” Clarke believed this command was for the destruction of the Canaanites as organized nations occupying the land.

iii. John Trapp made an interesting speculation regarding the Canaanite tribes listed here: “The Girgashites are not reckoned among the rest, as neither are they in Joshua 9:1, haply because they accepted of conditions of peace.”

b. Lest they teach you to do according to their abominations which they have done for their gods: This explains why such a complete destruction was commanded. The culture of the Canaanites was so corrupt – socially, morally, and spiritually – that God considered it irredeemable, and ripe for judgment. In this unique war, the armies of Israel were to bring God’s judgment upon the Canaanites.

4. (19-20) The command to save trees for food during a siege.

“When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food. Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

a. When you besiege a city for a long time: When an army surrounded a city during a siege, the army would forage around the countryside for supplies. Needing wood for building and fuel, it would be common for the besieging army to cut down trees in the area around the city.

b. Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down: However, God commanded Israel against cutting down trees for food when they besieged a city. They had to take a long-term view (one good for the ecology) and see that their immediate need for wood was less important than the long-term good of the area. This is another example of how God did not allow Israel to conduct total war or win a battle at any cost.

i. “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.” (Clarke)

ii. “Had this law been observed by invaders throughout the centuries, Palestine today would not be so denuded of trees.” (Thompson)

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