Deuteronomychapter 20
20 verses · BSBDeuteronomy book hub →
Key verse
Then the officers shall speak further to the army, saying, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him return home, so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt like his own.”
It stands in The priest speaks; the fearful go home, verses 1 to 9.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Laws of war. ‘When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee’. A priest encourages; officers release. The new-house man, the new-vineyard man, the newly-betrothed man, the fearful. When approaching a far city, proclaim peace first; if refused, besiege. Cities of the seven nations of the land. Destroy utterly. Do not destroy fruit trees: ‘is the tree of the field man's life?’ The chapter is Israel's war manual; its constraints are as notable as its permissions.
Context
Law · Moses · Deuteronomy overview
The world behind this chapter
Deuteronomy 20The history
The chapter is Moses speaking in the fortieth year, with a campaign about to begin. The house reading dates it to about 1406 BC, stated as a reading rather than a settled date. The place is the plains of Moab, on the near side of the river the army will cross. The occasion is the setting of terms for that war, covering who marches, what is offered to a city first, and what may be cut down around it. A first hearer knew Israel had no professional army. The force was every able-bodied man called up from his own fields, which is why the exemptions read as they do, and a newly planted vineyard takes years before its fruit may be used. A first hearer also knew that the priest addressed the troops rather than the general. The horses and chariots named at verse 1 were the weapons Israel did not have and could not match on open ground. The rule against felling fruit trees ran against standard practice, since Assyrian royal inscriptions boast of cutting down orchards and destroying groves as policy.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
What it meant to them
The distinction the chapter draws mattered to first hearers. Cities far off were offered terms of peace before any siege, and a city that accepted them served rather than died. The cities of the nations inside the land came under a different command, and the reason the chapter gives for it is the practices of those nations rather than their ancestry. The exemptions also told Israel what kind of army it was, since a man with a new wife and an unharvested vineyard was worth more at home than in the ranks.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- This site's published exposition of Deuteronomy 20, in the store's exposition_notes
Where the chapter sits
Deuteronomy 20 falls in Second sermon, the law restated (chapters 5–26). The Decalogue repeated; the Shema; laws for the land, for worship, for kingship, for war, for the poor. The covenant's central exposition.
Before it: First sermon, retrospective, chapters 1–4. After it: Third sermon, blessings and curses, chapters 27–30.
The whole shape of Deuteronomy→The structure of this chapter
Places1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. The priest speaks; the fearful go home
1. (vv. 1-4)
Deuteronomy 20:1
“Horses, and chariots - The most formidable elements of an Oriental host, which the Canaanites possessed in great numbers; compare Jos 17:16; Jdg 4:3; 1Sa 13:5. Israel could not match these with corresponding forces (compare Deu 17:16 note and references), but, having the God of battles on its side, was not to be dismayed by them; the assumption being that the war had the sanction of God, and was consequently just.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Deuteronomy 20:1
“This encouragement must be particularly addressed to the common soldiers by a priest appointed, and, the Jews say, anointed, for that purpose, whom they call the anointed of the war, a very proper title for our anointed Redeemer, the captain of our salvation: This priest, in God's name, was to animate the people; and who so fit to do that as he whose office it was as priest to pray for them?”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 20:2
“The priest shall approach, and speak unto the people - The priest on these occasions was the representative of that God whose servant he was, and whose worship he conducted. It is remarkable that almost all ancient nations took their priests with them to battle, as they did not expect success without having the object of their adoration with them, and they supposed they secured his presence by having that of his representative.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 20:3
“And shall say unto them, hear, O Israel,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 20:3
“There is need of precept upon precept to this purport, as there is here: Let not your hearts be tender (so the word is), to receive all the impressions of fear, but let a believing confidence in the power and promise of God harden them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 20:4
“For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you,.... To battle, and therefore they had no reason to fear and be dismayed, to be fainthearted, terrified, and tremble: fear not, I am with thee,....”
Hear, O Israel opens the priest's charge at verse 3, the fourth and last time the phrase falls in this book after 5:1, 6:4 and 9:1, and the other three open teaching rather than a battle. Horses and chariots are named as the thing not to fear, and 17:16 forbids a king to gather them, so the same arms are denied to the throne and discounted in the field. The ground given for courage is a past event, that God brought them up out of the land of Egypt, which is how this book argues everywhere. Jewish tradition gave the priest of verse 2 a title of his own, the anointed of the war, and Matthew Henry takes up the name.
2. (vv. 5-9)
Deuteronomy 20:5
“Again, the law in its humanity says that if a man has built a new house but has not yet moved in, or laid out a new vineyard but has not yet enjoyed the fruit, or become betrothed to a girl but has not yet married her, he is to be excused military service. This makes military sense, since we would be unenthusiastic in our military service if we were being pulled in the direction of the things we longed for. People expose themselves to danger without a second thought only if they are free in relation to natural impulses.”
Clement of Alexandria· written before 215· The Stromata Book 2patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 20:5
“The officers dedicated it - See Exo 5:6 note. Compare the marginal references. The expression is appropriate, because various ceremonies of a religious kind were customary among the Jews on taking possession of a new house. The immunity conferred in this verse lasted, like that in Deu 20:7 (compare Deu 24:5), for one year.”
Deuteronomy 20:5
“And the officers shall speak unto the people--literally, Shoterim, who are called "scribes" or "overseers" (Ex 5:6). They might be keepers of the muster-roll, or perhaps rather military heralds, whose duty it was to announce the orders of the generals (2Ch 26:11).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 20:7
“Betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? - It was customary among the Jews to contract matrimony, espouse or betroth, and for some considerable time to leave the parties in the houses of their respective parents: when the bridegroom had made proper preparations, then the bride was brought home to his house, and thus the marriage was consummated.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 20:9
“The meaning is that the “officers” should then subdivide the levies, and appoint leaders of the smaller divisions thus constituted.”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 20:9
“And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people,....”
Three men are sent home over things left unfinished: a new house not dedicated, a vineyard not eaten of, a wife betrothed and not taken. The reason given each time is the same, lest he die in the battle and another man have it, so the release guards the man's stake in the land rather than his life. 24:5 gives a newly married man a full year at home, and Albert Barnes reads the same one year limit into this list. The fourth case stands apart, since the fearful and fainthearted go home for the sake of the ranks, and Judges 7:3 has Gideon use those words and watch twenty and two thousand men leave.
B. Offer terms of peace to a distant cityvv. 10-15
The order is peace first and siege second, and the offer is made before the city is invested. A city that answers peace becomes tributary and serves, so its people live under Israel rather than beside it. Verse 15 then limits the whole paragraph to cities very far off, which are not of the cities of these nations, and Adam Clarke reports that interpreters have long divided over how wide the peace offer runs. Moses had already done this at 2:26, sending words of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon before any fighting.
Deuteronomy 20:10
“Proclaim peace unto it - Interpreters are greatly divided concerning the objects of this law. The text, taken in connection with the context, (see Deu 20:15-18), appears to state that this proclamation or offer of peace to a city is only to be understood of those cities which were situated beyond the limits of the seven anathematized nations, because these latter are commanded to be totally destroyed. Nothing can be clearer than this from the bare letter of the text, unless some of the words, taken separately, can be shown to have a different meaning.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 20:11
“And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace,....”
Deuteronomy 20:12
“And if it will make no peace with thee,.... Will not accept of terms of peace offered: but will make war against thee; come out and fight, or prepare to defend themselves: then thou shall besiege it; surround and block it up on all sides with their forces; the Jews say only on three sides, leaving one for any to flee and make their escape if they thought fit; See Gill on Num 31:7.”
Deuteronomy 20:13
“And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 20:13
“We must be for peace, whoever are for war. If the offers of peace were not accepted, then they must proceed to push on the war. And let those to whom God offers peace know that if they reject the offer, and take not the benefit of it within the time limited, judgment will rejoice against mercy in the execution as much as now mercy rejoices against judgment in the reprieve.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 20:14
“Note, A justifiable property is acquired in that which is won in lawful war. God himself owns the title: The Lord thy God gives it thee; and therefore he must be owned in it, Ps. xliv. The nations of Canaan are excepted from the merciful provisions made by this law.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 20:14
“But the women, the little ones, and the cattle,....”
Deuteronomy 20:15
“Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee,....”
C. Nothing that breathes in these nationsvv. 16-18
The near cities are given no such offer, and verse 18 supplies the reason, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods. Six nations are named here where 7:1 names seven, the Girgashites being absent from this list. Genesis 15:16 had already tied the timing to the iniquity of the Amorites, which was not yet full in Abraham's day. Adam Clarke argues that the Hebrew verb can carry the sense of subduing or expelling a people out of national existence, and John Gill reads the sentence as judgment on capital crimes long accumulated.
Deuteronomy 20:16
“But of the cities of those people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance,.... The cities of the seven nations, six of which are mentioned by name in the next verse: thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth; the reason of this severity was because of their wickedness, the capital crimes and gross abominations they were guilty of, and for which they deserved to die; and on account whereof they were reserved to this destruction, when the measure of their iniquities was full, such as idolatry, incest, witchcraft, soothsaying, necromancy, &c. see Lev 18:3.”
Deuteronomy 20:17
“But thou shalt utterly destroy them - The above reasoning will gain considerable strength, provided we could translate כי החרם תחרימם ki hacharem tacharimem, 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. This certainly made them an anathema as a nation, wholly destroying their political existence.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 20:18
“That they teach you not to do after all their abominations,....”
D. Is the tree of the field a man?vv. 19-20
The axe is forbidden against fruit trees and allowed against the rest, so the line drawn is between what feeds a man and what does not. The King James supplies the word life in the clause for the tree of the field is man's life, and Matthew Henry reports that the Septuagint, the Targums and the older versions read the clause as a question, is the tree of the field a man that it should come against thee in the siege. Adam Clarke calls the Hebrew here exceedingly obscure and sets the renderings side by side. Under either reading the rule holds, that a besieging army may eat of the trees and may not fell them for its works.
Deuteronomy 20:19
“The Logos in his goodness, richly equipped with love of humankind, teaches that it is not right to cut down cultivated trees, still less to cut crops for purposes of vandalism before harvest, and even less still to destroy, root and branch, cultivated fruit, whether of the land or of the soul. It does not even allow the razing of enemy land. Yes, and farmers find their profit from the law.”
Clement of Alexandria· written before 215· The Stromata Book 2patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 20:19
“When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it,.... Before it will surrender; it holding out the siege a considerable time: the Hebrew text says, "many days" (c); which the Targum of Jonathan interprets of all the seven days, to make war against it, in order to subdue it on the sabbath day.”
Deuteronomy 20:19
“But fruit-bearing trees were to be carefully spared; and, indeed, in warm countries like India, where the people live much more on fruit than we do, the destruction of a fruit tree is considered a sort of sacrilege.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 20:19
“That reason, for the tree of the field is man's (the word life we supply), all the ancient versions, the Septuagint, Targums, &c., read, For is the tree of the field a man? Or the tree of the field is not a man, that it should come against thee in the siege, or retire from thee into the bulwark.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 20:20
“Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat,....”
This page carries no textual note on Deuteronomy 20. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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