RULES FOR WAR
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Opening Prayer
Lord God, I ask for help to leave in your hands some aspects from today’s reading I might find difficult to accept or understand.
Read DEUTERONOMY 20
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Going to War
20 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. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 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. 4 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
5 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. 6 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. 7 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.” 8 Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.” 9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.
10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. 11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. 12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. 13 When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. 14 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. 15 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.
16 However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 Completely destroy[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 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.
19 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?[b] 20 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.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 20:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
- Deuteronomy 20:19 Or down to use in the siege, for the fruit trees are for the benefit of people.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How do you relate to those whose opinions about war differ from yours?
War is the subject of today’s reading. The main section deals with ordinary wars, i.e., with enemies other than the wicked inhabitants of Canaan. Israel’s conduct in war was to be more humane than that of its neighbors. For instance, exemption from fighting was allowed for various reasons, including fear (v. 8)! Peaceful surrender was preferable to killing (vv. 10–15). Fruit trees were not to be senselessly destroyed (v. 19).
Priestly involvement in war (vv. 2–4) reminds us that Israel was a theocracy. In biblical understanding, no other nation has ever been in that category. Even so, many belligerents claim that God is on their side. As Lord of the nations, he certainly champions the triumph of good over evil, but we must beware of letting narrow nationalistic interests define good and evil! In the light of war’s inevitable ugliness, some Christians choose to be pacifists or conscientious objectors. We all must decide in accordance with the guidance we have sought from God on this matter and avoid judging each other.
The command to completely annihilate the people living in Canaan (vv. 16–18) comes as a shock to modern sensitivities. It causes many to reject the Bible outright and others to believe the Old and New Testaments speak of two different Gods. Many of the Deuteronomic laws were given to prevent Israel from following ‘all the detestable things [the Canaanites] do in worshipping their gods’ (v. 18). Behind these ‘gods’ were demonic entities whose worship demanded the worst human depravities imaginable. They had to be stopped! A clearer grasp of God’s absolute holiness can help our understanding here. Remember also, our eyes do not fully discern the ferocity and intensity of the cosmic spiritual warfare raging around us.
Apply
What are things you can be doing to relate to war around the world?
Closing prayer
Father, please hasten the day when war will cease; comfort and encourage its victims around the world.
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