Introduction
‘When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.” Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.” When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.’ Deuteronomy 20:1-9
Going To War
Moses has already reminded Israel that God was giving them the land because of the promise He made with their fathers, Genesis 12:1-3 / Deuteronomy 19:1.
However, if Israel wanted to receive God’s promises, they mustn’t trust in their own abilities, they must learn to trust in God’s ability to save them when it comes to waging war against their enemies.
God promises to strengthen the hands of those who may be intimidated by the numbers and armament of horses and chariots of the enemy.
He promises to remove all fear from their hearts when they put their faith in God, hence, God will fight for them against their enemies and save them, Romans 8:31 / 1 Peter 1:6-7.
God made a promise that He would fight for the nation of Israel against all who would seek to destroy His eternal purpose with the nation. He was a God of war in reference to defending Israel, Exodus 15:3 / Joshua 6:17-19 / 1 Samuel 30:7 / 2 Chronicles 13:12 / Hosea 1:7.
It was God who fought for Israel to bring them into existence and into the land of promise, Deuteronomy 6:18-19 / Deuteronomy 7:1-2 / Deuteronomy 7:16-26 / Deuteronomy 9:1-6 / Deuteronomy 11:22-25 / Deuteronomy 12:29 / Deuteronomy 19:1 / Deuteronomy 31:3-8.
Notice that the men of the army of Israel were to keep fresh in their memories the fact that with a strong arm God divided the Red Sea and brought Israel out of Egyptian bondage.
In selecting those who would go to war, the leaders were to seek out only those who were of a strong heart with a strong faith in the fact that God would go to war with them.
We can almost imagine the scene here as the two armies come to face each other, we can imagine the enemy coming toward Israel with their horses, and chariots, Joshua 17:16 / Judges 4:3 / Judges 7:1-25 / 1 Samuel 13:5.
The reality in the minds of the Israelites is surely, that they are about to die, Deuteronomy 1:21 / Deuteronomy 1:26 / 2 Timothy 2:3-4 / Revelation 2:10.
Moses tells us that ‘the priests’ would speak to the men, K.J.V, Deuteronomy 20:3.
Keil, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This priest who accompanied the troops was raised to the highest dignity next to the high priest. The priest appeared just before the battle began and began his exhortation with the formula announced in these verses, ‘Hear, O Israel,’ etc. The function of the priest here was not like that of a chaplain found in the armed services of many nations today, he was of higher rank and spoke upon the DIRECT authority and commandment of God.’
Although the priests wouldn’t get involved with the fighting, Numbers 1:47-53, they would often go with the army of Israel to encourage them, Numbers 31:6 / 1 Samuel 4:4 / 1 Samuel 4:11 / 2 Chronicles 13:12.
The priests say that there may be some men who weren’t ready or fit enough to fight in a battle. Some may have just built a house, planted a vineyard, or just got married, it’s these men who were to return home to enjoy these things before death, Ecclesiastes 2:24.
There were others though, however, who would be excused from fighting because they were fearful. These were the men who could return to their homes, just in case their fear spread to the other soldiers, Numbers 13-14 / Revelation 21:8.
‘When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labour and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby. However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God. When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them? However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.’ Deuteronomy 20:10-20
The priests now turn their attention to the cities and nations that are a great distance away, but these aren’t Canaanite cities. They say that Israel must first seek peace with them but if no peace is extended, then they were to siege the city, kill every male, and take women and other spoils for themselves, 2 Kings 6:24-33.
The cities which were Canaanite cities weren’t to be offered any peace, they were to be totally destroyed from the land of Canaan just in case they endanger the preservation of Israel, Deuteronomy 7:1-6.
The reason for this is simply because ‘they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God’.
In other words, God won’t tolerate this kind of evil behaviour, He hates it, Deuteronomy 7:26 / Deuteronomy 13:8-9.
Notice also, that Israel is commanded not to cut down all of the trees of a city when they besieged it. All fruit trees were to be preserved, it was only those trees that bore no fruit which was to be cut down in order to be used in besieging a city.
