Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Deuteronomy 20:1) “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 out of the land of Egypt."
Moses had been giving a very long speech in the book of Deuteronomy, mainly reviewing God's Laws. He now turned to the subject of war. When the children of Israel went out to battle against their enemies, most assuredly a God-sanctioned war, and they saw all the horses and chariots and people much more numerous than they were, they were not to fear. Their Lord God was with them, the same God who wrought so many miracles to bring them out of Egypt.
(2) "And it shall be, when you come near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. (3) And shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you approach this day to battle against your enemies; let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be terrified because of them; (4) For the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’"
Moses told them that when they were on the verge of battle, the priest would come and speak to the people to encourage them, telling them not to fear their enemies, because their Lord was going with them to fight against their enemies, and to save and protect them from those enemies.
(5) "And 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.'"
The officers would then speak to the people readying for battle. It seems there were provisions for those indisposed to fight and they could be discharged. For instance, if there was a man who had just built a new house and had not yet dedicated it, he was to return to his house to do so. It was customary in Israel to dedicate a new house to God with prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. This was done in order to secure the Divine presence, protection, and blessing of God. If a man died in battle without having dedicated his house, another man would take possession of it and dedicate it for himself and his family.
(6) "'And what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not yet eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it.'"
Likewise, the officers would ask if there was any man who had planted a vineyard and had not yet eaten of it. It was perhaps at great expense that a man had planted a vineyard, tending it for years, for he was forbidden by law to eat of it for the first three years (Leviticus 19:23) as it was "uncircumcised", then it was dedicated to the Lord in the fourth year, and finally he was allowed to eat and share it with friends and family in the fifth year. It seems the Lord was being generously indulgent to allow His people to be dismissed from battle for what appears to be so trivial a reason. However, John Wesley, in his Notes on the Whole Bible, pointed out that in the beginning of their settlement in Canaan, the people had been encouraged and charged with the building of houses and planting of vineyards for the benefit of their commonwealth.
(7) "‘And what man is there who has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.’"
Additionally, the officers would ask if any man had been betrothed to a woman, but had not yet married her. He was encouraged to return home to marry her. If he should die in battle, his betrothed would probably become the wife of another. It was deemed a hardship for a person to be obliged to go to battle, who had left a house unfinished, newly purchased land half tilled, or a wife with whom he had just contracted marriage. It seems God only wanted willing volunteers and not those who might be distracted by unfinished business.
(8) "And 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 his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.'"
The officers would ask further if there was any man who was too fearful or fainthearted to go into battle. Those, too, were given leave from battle. Once again, only the ready and able volunteers were called to battle. It was both a kindness to the fearful, but also to the men who remained who would have had to contend with useless cowards whose fear might have infected those soldiers around them.
(9) "And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people."
Once all the men who wanted to be dismissed had been discharged, then they were to assign captains of the armies to lead the soldiers into battle.
(10) “When you come near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it."
When the Israelite armies came to a city to fight against it, they were first to offer peace. Some of the commentators I study struggle with the fact that the seven nations the Israelites were dispossessing could not possibly be offered peace, because God had already told them that these nations were to be totally destroyed. I see no contradiction here. The nations could be offered peace, but God knew they would not accept it. Perhaps He hardened their hearts to reject peace just as He had with Pharaoh because their cup of iniquity was now full. Each time Moses had gone before Pharaoh, he had peaceably asked that Pharaoh let the people go, but Pharaoh refused each time. In the same way, these nations would refuse to let Israel come into to their nations.
(11) “And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then it shall be all the people that are found therein shall be tributaries to you, and they shall serve you."
If the people of the city Israel was approaching accepted their offer of peace and opened up to let them enter, then those people could be allowed to remain and become tributaries to the children of Israel. By authority of God, the one and only God of the universe, they were to become subject to Israel and would certainly have to renounce idolatry and serve the God of Israel. Obviously, the seven nations would not accept such terms, although they were to be offered. The offer would be genuine, for God would have saved any person who gave up his idols and desired to follow Him.
(12) "And if it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it."
If the city rejected the Israelites' offer of peace, and acted to make war with them, then the Israelites were to besiege the city.
(13) “And when the LORD your God has delivered it into your hands, you shall smite every male in it with the edge of the sword."
When the city was surrendered because the Lord had delivered it into the hands of His people, the Israelite army was to strike down every male in it with the sword.
(14) “But the women, the little ones, the cattle, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take for yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you."
However, the women and children were to be spared, as well as their cattle. All the spoil of the city they were allowed to take for themselves, any gold, silver, merchandise, household goods, tools, and whatever was of any worth and value to be found within the cities and the people's homes. The Lord had delivered their enemy into their hands and it was He who gave them the spoil.
(15) “Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations."
The sparing of the women, children, and cattle, and the spoil of the city, was to be done only in the cities far outside the land of Canaan, outside the seven nations that God had willed destroyed.
(16) “But of the cities of these people which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes."
However, of the cities of the seven nations that the Lord was giving them as their inheritance, they were not to spare any living person or animal.
(17) “But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded you."
They were to completely destroy the nations the Lord was driving out of the land of Canaan to give it to His people--the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Six nations are mentioned here, but in Deuteronomy 7:1-2, the Girgashites are listed as one of the seven nations to be destroyed as commanded by God.
(18) "That they not teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, so should you sin against the LORD your God."
The reason the nations had to be utterly destroyed was so that the children of Israel not be tempted to do any of the abominations the people of those nations had done in their idol worship, and thus sinning against their Lord God.
(19) “When you besiege a city for a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them, for you may eat of them, and you shall not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege."
If the Israelites were in a city a long time in their effort to overtake it, they were instructed not to cut down the trees of the city to use them in their siege, for those would serve as food for the Israelites.
(20) “Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, and you shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued."
However, if the Israelites knew certain trees were not to be eaten of, those trees they were allowed to cut down to use in protecting them from the people of the city that were warring with them. The trees that bore fruit would provide food for the Israelites for as long as it took to subdue the city. This was a sensible rule against waste. No fruit tree was to be destroyed unless it was barren, but they could make use of the trees that could not be used for food. This was in accordance with other of God's laws against waste that provided for all, as for the poor and the birds of the field, for example. In Leviticus 23:22, the people were told not to completely reap to the very edges of their fields or to go back and glean after the harvesting, but to leave that for the poor. Jesus talked about God providing for the birds. God's creations are by His design and good, and we should always strive to be good stewards of them. Dr. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, pointed out that this passage might be seen as an "emblem of the axe being to be laid to fruitless trees in a moral and spiritual sense; and of trees of righteousness, laden with the fruits of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, being preserved and never to be cut down or rooted up..."
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