CHAPTER 20

(1451 B.C.)

WAR

¹When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and a people more than you, be not afraid of them: for the LORD your God is with you, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. (The Lord promised to be with Israel in time of war, that is, if the cause of Israel was right.

Even though this Promise was addressed to a nation, it holds true for modern Believers, as well, as it regards spiritual warfare; however, the warfare in which every Christian must engage, and it is incumbent upon all, can be engaged successfully only if we function according to Gods prescribed order. That order is: Christ is always the Source of all things which come from God. The Cross is the Means by which it is given to us. This means that we must ever make the Cross the object of our Faith, and not allow it to be moved anywhere else. This done, the Holy Spirit, Who works conclusively within the Finished Work of Christ, will work on our behalf, guaranteeing victory within our lives. In this way, and this way only, can victory be won and maintained [Rom. 6:3-14; 8:1-2, 11; Eph. 2:13-18; Col. 2:14-15; Gal., Chpt. 5; 6:14].)

²And it shall be, when you are come near unto the battle, that the Priest shall approach and speak unto the people (by the Priest being used instead of a military commander, this shows that the battle was more spiritual than anything else; with the Child of God, in one way or the other, everything is spiritual),

³And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, you approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be you terrified because of them;

⁴For the LORD your God (as by now is obvious, the phrase, LORD your God, so often used, refers to Covenant) is He Who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you (with the Lord, Israel was invincible! Without the Lord, Israel was easily defeated; it is the same presently in our own personal hearts and lives).

MILITARY SERVICE

⁵And the Officers shall speak unto 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.

⁶And what man is he who has planted a vineyard, and has not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.

⁷And what man is there who has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her (according to Josephus, this exemption was for a year).

⁸And the Officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethrens heart faint as well as his heart. (Fear and doubt are contagious; so the Holy Spirit says, Those who are plagued with such, get them out of the army. He is saying the same thing presently. More than anything else, the Church needs people who truly believe God.)

⁹And 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 (evidently, these individuals were to be chosen more for their Faith in the Lord, and we do not mean reckless presumption, than for their military expertise).

FOREIGN CITIES

¹⁰When you come near unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it (invite it peaceably to surrender).

¹¹And it shall be, if it make you answer of peace, and open unto you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein shall be tributaries unto you, and they shall serve you (service rendered as tribute, whether for a season or in perpetuity).

¹²And if it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it:

¹³And when the LORD your God has delivered it into your hands, you shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

¹⁴But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shall you take unto yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you.

¹⁵Thus shall you do unto all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. (The information given in these Passages has to do with foreign cities, and not the heathenistic tribes which occupied the land of Canaan. At times, invaders from afar would come against Israel. If that happened, Israel would not only defeat their army, but sometimes would have to attack their homeland, wherever that was. If they did, certain rules were laid down by the Lord, which they were to follow.)

LOCAL BATTLES

¹⁶But of the cities of these people, which the LORD your God does give you for an inheritance (those who were occupying the land of Canaan), you shall save alive nothing that breathes:

¹⁷But you shall utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD your God has commanded you (to these particular people, no offer of peaceful submission was to be made, and when the city was taken, all the inhabitants without reserve were to be destroyed. Why? The next Verse tells us why):

¹⁸That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should you sin against the LORD your God (if the abominations of these heathen tribes, who served all types of gods, were taken up by the Israelites, they would lose their way and be destroyed exactly as the heathen; and thats exactly what ultimately happened!).

¹⁹When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for you may eat of them, and you shall not cut them down (for the tree of the field is mans life) to employ them in the siege (fruit bearing trees):

²⁰Only the trees which you know that they be not trees for meat, you shall destroy and cut them down; and you shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it be subdued.