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We're looking at Deuteronomy 
Chapter 20 this evening, Principles Governing Warfare for the Children 
of Israel. Remember, they're gathered on 
the plains of Moab, listening to a series of exhortations from 
Moses with specific application of God's holy law, the Decalogue 
or Ten Commandments, which was set forth in Chapter 5 and then 
expounded and applied or given the rules for application for 
when they get into the land of Canaan. Obviously, when they 
go into the land, they need to dispossess the land of the Canaanites, 
so certainly that will mean warfare. And that's what chapter 20 deals 
with. The chapter does not provide 
exhaustive and comprehensive rules for war, but like the instructions 
given to kings in chapter 17, it provides some fundamental 
principles that must govern the wars of Jehovah. So I'll pick 
up reading in chapter 20 at verse 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 from the land of Egypt. 
So it shall be when you are on the verge of battle that the 
priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say 
to them, Hear, O Israel, today you are on the verge of battle 
with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, 
do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because 
of them. For the Lord your God is He who 
goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save 
you. Then 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. 
Also, what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not 
eaten of it? Let him go and return to his 
house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And 
what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married 
her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the 
battle and another man marry her. The officers shall speak 
further to the people and say, what man is there who is fearful 
and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his 
house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart. And so it shall be when the officers 
have finished speaking to the people that they shall make captains 
of the armies to lead the people. When you go near a city to fight 
against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. And it 
shall be that if they accept your offer of peace and open 
to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed 
under tribute to you and serve you. Now if the city will not 
make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege 
it. And when the Lord your God delivers 
it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with 
the edge of the sword. But the women, the little ones, 
the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you 
shall plunder for yourself, and you shall eat the enemy's plunder 
which the Lord your God gives you. Thus you shall do to all 
the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the 
cities of these nations. But of the cities of these peoples 
which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall 
let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly 
destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite 
and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the 
Lord your God has commanded you. lest they teach you to do according 
to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, 
and you sin against the Lord your God. When you besiege a 
city for a long time while making war against it to take it, you 
shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. 
If you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege. for the tree of the field is 
man's food. Only the trees which you know 
are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down to build 
siege works against the city that makes war with you until 
it is subdued. Amen. So we've seen over the 
last several chapters how they were to regulate criminal justice 
within the nation, within the people, the community of Israel. 
Here we see that the justice of God must also be exercised 
in the execution of war beyond the borders of Israel. And so 
this chapter breaks down the three primary considerations. 
The first is there are general instructions in verses 1 to 4. Secondly, there are specific 
exemptions in verses 5 to 9, and then directions on how to 
engage with enemy cities in verses 10 to 20. So the general instructions, 
the specific exemptions and the engagement with enemy cities 
is what is being detailed here in chapter 20, again with reference 
to the wars they would fight when they go into the land and 
when they fight with other nations or other peoples outside of the 
specific confines of Canaan. Now at this particular time they 
would not have had a standing army. That probably did not occur 
until David King of Israel. At that time, they had a more 
formalized standing army. So what we're finding here is 
an army in its seed form. And then as they develop later 
on, you'll see more of a formalized application of the military arm of Israel. But here again 
it's just seed form, these are primary or fundamental principles 
that must govern them as they engage with the enemy. Notice 
the first section, the general instructions, verse 1 is an introduction 
to the entire chapter and it deals with the enemy described 
when you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and 
chariots and people more numerous than you. The reality of war 
is already assumed. Again, they're not going to wander 
into the land of Canaan and the people there say, wow, you're 
here from Yahweh, we're going to leave, so that you can just 
take everything that He is going to give you. No, remember, these 
are the people of the land that built the cities, they dug out 
the wells, they planted the vineyards, they built their homes, all these 
particulars. When Israel comes in, the Canaanites 
aren't going to willingly yield these things up. So the reality 
of war is here assumed, but as well the strength of the enemy 
is assumed. Notice, when you go out to battle 
against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people 
more numerous than you. The Lord God is not lying to 
them, He is telling them that the enemy is formidable. There 
is a real threat as they enter into the land. It's not going 
to be a cakewalk. It's not going to be, you know, 
an international ping pong game and the winner sort of takes 
all. There will be combat. There will be blood. There will 
be death. There will be all those things. 
all those horrors associated with war. But notice the specific 
exhortation given to them in verse 1, do not be afraid of 
them. When you go out to battle, when 
you see your enemies, when you see their horses, when you see 
their chariots, when you see them outnumber you, you need 
to not be afraid. This is the exhortation that 
must be adopted. It must be imbibed. They must 
come to grips with this reality. Do not be afraid of them, and 
then there is an example provided to them, or the experience that 
they have known. Notice, do not be afraid of them 
for the Lord your God is with you who brought you up from the 
land of Egypt." So the presence of God in the midst of Israel 
and the power of God having delivered them from their greatest foe 
which was Egypt, that Lord is with you. That's why they can 
stand before their enemies even though they're more numerous 
and they're well armed, heavily armed, they cannot fear because 
of the presence and power of God the Lord Most High." So that's 
the general introduction. Now notice the priest's instructions 
in verses 2 to 4. Now the priest in Israel didn't 
serve like a military chaplain today. The priest in Israel not 
only interceded for the people, but there would be sacrifices 
offered up on behalf of the people there would be consecration of 
the people, and when the armies of the Lord marched into combat, 
they took with them the Ark of the Covenant. And so the priests 
would attend to the Ark of the Covenant. So they were not some 
bystanders, they were not just on the sidelines. sort of rooting 
and hollering for the children of Israel, but rather they were 
participants in these battles as well. If not armed combatants, 
they were certainly a part of the armies of God Most High. 
So the priest functions here to exhort them, to encourage 
them, and to challenge them. Notice in verse 2, "...so it 
shall be when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest 
shall approach and speak to the people, and he shall say to them, 
Hear, O Israel, today you are on the verge of battle with your 
enemies." Again, it's a solemn scene. When you stop and think 
about it, they're about to enter in. Remember, we have seen In 
Israel you have this mixture of cult and civil life. You have the priest speaking 
to the armies of Israel, preparing them for holy war, preparing 
them for the wars of Yahweh. He says, today you are on the 
verge of battle with your enemies. This is the specific exhortation. Do not let your heart faint. 
Do not be afraid and do not tremble or be terrified because of them. Again, we've already seen that 
sort of in the general introduction. You're not to be afraid of your 
enemy. The priest develops this in a 
bit more detail. Do not let your heart faint. 
Do not be afraid. Do not tremble or be terrified 
because of them. If you turn back for just a moment 
to the book of Exodus, The Song of Moses, after the children 
of Israel come out of Egypt, after the children of Israel 
come out, they are rejoicing in God the Lord. They are rejoicing 
in the deliverance that He has provided. And if you look at 
Exodus 15, at verse 14, we'll see that it is not to be 
Israel who faints, it is not to be Israel who trembles, it 
is not to be Israel who is terrified before the enemies of the Lord, 
but rather it is the enemies of the Lord that are to faint. that are to tremble, that are 
to be terrified before God and before His people. Notice in 
Exodus 15, 14. The people will hear and be afraid. Sorrow will take hold of the 
inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom will 
be dismayed. The mighty men of Moab, trembling, 
will take hold of them. all the inhabitants of Canaan 
will melt away, fear and dread will fall on them. By the greatness 
of your arm they will be as still as a stone till your people pass 
over, O Lord, till the people pass over whom you have purchased." 
So standing on the plains of Moab, the Lord God through Moses 
is telling them that when you are standing before battle, do 
not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, do not tremble 
or be terrified because of them. Rather, the enemies of Jehovah 
ought to fear. The enemies of Jehovah ought 
to tremble, they ought to be terrified, they ought to be fainthearted. Remember that report of Rahab 
the harlot. Remember when she confesses the 
majesty of Yahweh. She says, we heard, we saw, we 
understand that He delivered you from Egypt and He brought 
defeat of Sihon and Og. Our hearts fainted, we trembled, 
we feared. when we thought of that reality. And that is precisely what is 
to be the case when men come before the living and the true 
God. It isn't the people of the Lord 
that should faint. It isn't the people of the Lord 
that should be afraid or tremble or terrified. It is the enemies 
of the Lord that should have that response. Just by way of 
An interesting side note, I actually preached on that Rahab passage 
today at the old folks' home. You know, 10 plus old dolls and 
guys heard about Rahab the harlot. And I think they were encouraged 
by that. And it makes me happy, not because 
I preached it, but because we should be happy. We should be 
encouraged. when we see the grace of God manifested in the salvation 
of Rahab the harlot. But the priest exhorts, but then 
the priest gives a reason why. Do not let your heart faint, 
do not be afraid, do not tremble, do not be terrified because of 
them. Why? For the Lord your God is 
He who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies 
to save you. So there is specific biblical 
warrant for referring to these as the wars of Yahweh. They are God's fight. The Lord 
is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your 
enemies to save you. Already In the book of Deuteronomy, 
in rehearsing God's faithfulness with these people, Moses has 
indicated this reality, that the Lord God has fought for His 
people. Deuteronomy 1.30. The Lord your 
God who goes before you, He will fight for you according to all 
He did for you in Egypt before your eyes. Deuteronomy 2.24. Deuteronomy chapter 2, 24. Rise, 
take your journey and cross over the river Arnon. Look, I have 
given into your hands Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon and 
his land. Begin to possess it and engage 
him in battle. This day I will begin to put 
the dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven 
who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be 
in anguish because of you. And then again in chapter 3, 
verses 2 and 3. Verse 2, let's see here. And the Lord said to me, Do not 
fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his 
land into your hand. You shall do to him as you did 
to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. So it is 
the Lord who goes before them. It is the Lord who fights for 
them. It is the Lord who saves them. And lo and behold, when you turn 
to the book of Joshua, you see that very thing played out. You 
see God undertake on behalf of the children of Israel. Now remember, 
when they leave the plains of Moab and they enter into the 
promised land, their obedience to these commandments and these 
statutes and the ordinances are less than stellar. It's less 
than perfect. And nevertheless, God goes before 
them He fights for them and He saves them. It is a blessing 
indeed. That self-same song of Moses 
in Exodus 15 at verse 3, they describe God this way, the Lord 
is a man of war, the Lord is His name. That's why when we 
get to Revelation chapter 19, it shouldn't surprise us that 
Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. That Jesus 
fights the battles with that sword that proceeds from his 
mouth. That he goes forth riding, conquering, and to conquer. He is the man of war, that takes 
to him the battles of his people, and he wages the good warfare, 
and he executes his enemies. So that's the general instruction, 
verses 1 to 4. Basically, do not fear, God is 
with you. His presence and His power, He 
goes before you, He fights your enemies, and He will in fact 
save you. Now notice the specific exemptions. When I say exemptions, I mean 
just that. There are persons exempt from 
military service. And we'll see why in just a moment. 
But if we had to sort of characterize two broad categories, there are 
humanitarian exemptions and there is a psychological exemption. 
The humanitarian exemptions are just that. A man builds a house 
and he hasn't had a chance to live in it yet. The word dedicate 
here probably isn't the best way we could depict it. It probably 
just means he built his house and now he's not going to get 
to live in it. He's going to go fight wars in Canaan. God 
says if he's built a house and hasn't been able to live in it 
yet, let him live in it. These are humanitarian concerns. If you were being drafted at 
the time of war and your father was dead and you had no brothers 
to help your mother, perhaps you could get a humanitarian 
exemption to the draft. Well, the same was true in Old 
Covenant Israel. So, if a man had built a house, 
God says, let him live in his house. As well, if a man had 
grown a vineyard, but he hadn't reaped the fruits or the benefit 
of that vineyard yet, what does the Lord say? Well, hopefully 
it'll be there for you when you get back in a year's time. No, go and deal with your vineyard 
and reap the benefit and the fruit of that particular vineyard. Or what about the man who was 
betrothed to a woman? He gets to marry her, lest he 
be betrothed, go fight wars in Canaan, and get a dear John letter 
while he's out on the battlefield, or a dear Saul letter, or a dear 
Abe letter, or whatever it might be, right? God is good. God is gracious. God is kind 
in these particulars. In fact, if you look over at 
Deuteronomy 24 and verse 5, Deuteronomy 24 verse 5, when a man has taken 
a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any 
business. He shall be free at home one 
year and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken. I defy 
anybody to tell us that the Old Testament is this harsh, barbaric 
code. What employer is going to give 
you a year off when you first get married? This is not going 
to happen. God is good. God is kind. God is gracious. If we ask the 
rationale behind these humanitarian exemptions, it's probably this 
simple. With God the Lord on your side, 
you can cut loose some of your conscripts. When God the Lord 
goes before you and He fights for you and He saves you, if 
there are men that fall into this particular category, let 
them live in the land. You see, the purpose that God 
had for Israel was to come into the land and to enjoy the benefits 
therein. So God is allowing His people 
to reap the blessings that He has ordained for them. Just a couple of quotes from 
a couple of commentators to try and fill out this rationale. Christopher Wright says, dependence 
on Yahweh's superiority liberated Israel from dependence on human 
superiority and thereby freed some Israelites from military 
service. It probably wasn't the case that 
every man had planted a vineyard, every man was betrothed to a 
woman, and every man had just built a house. We don't need 
to worry about numbers when God the Lord is on our side. He goes 
before us, He fights for us, and He will most certainly save 
us. Craigie said, Israelite strength 
lay not in numbers, not in the superiority of their weapons, 
but in their God. You see, what God has promised 
in terms of His presence in their midst, in terms of His power 
to save, in terms of His power to defeat the enemies, relieves 
some of the pressure. They're not like the Canaanite 
nations. whose gods do not help them. 
So they better have the most chariots, they better have the 
most horses, they better have the most people, if they will 
ever do well on the battlefield. Not so in Israel. The presence 
and the power of God ensures that liberation from trusting 
in numbers, trusting in horses, trusting in chariots. Again, 
Craigie says, thus, in these exemptions from military service, 
it is clear that the important aspects of normal life in the 
land take precedence over the requirements of the army. But 
this somewhat idealistic approach was possible only because of 
the profound conviction that military strength and victory 
lay in the last resort, not in the army, but in God. You see, 
the take-home message is, is when Yahweh is with you and when 
He fights for you, you don't have to press every single human 
being. into service. Now, of course, 
you trust God, you keep your powder dry. You trust God, you 
use the men who haven't planted vineyards, who haven't built 
houses, and who haven't been betrothed to women. You use those 
men. God calls us to use means, but 
ultimately, victory lay with Jehovah the King. So those are 
the humanitarian exemptions. Notice what I call a psychological 
exemption. Notice in verse 8. Then the officers 
shall speak further to the people and say, what man is there who 
is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his 
house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart. So this isn't a humanitarian 
concern. This guy's got a faith problem. 
Again, this doesn't alter the fact that God goes before, that 
God fights, and that God saves. But what God calls upon Israel 
is to demonstrate commitment to Him. So if a man is going 
to resist the command, if a man is going to reject the command, 
what the officers or what the men in charge of the military 
aspect say is, if you're not with us, then go home. On the 
one hand, if you go out there and you're a wimp, you will be 
a bad witness for God. If you're out there and you're 
just like a Nancy, and you can't fight, and you won't fight, and 
you're constantly bickering, you're constantly arguing, you're 
constantly complaining, the Canaanites are going to look at you and 
say, that bespeaks something of his God. But as well, the 
specific rationale indicated here is what? You're going to 
affect your brethren. Isn't it the case? Winers have 
more sway over people than do the solid. We see that in Numbers 
13 and 14. Joshua and Caleb say, let's go 
at once and take the land of Canaan. The ten whine. The ten 
say, no, there's giants in the land. The land isn't good. Who 
does the congregation gravitate toward? You can have ten people 
saying, let's go do this, and one gainsayer, and unfortunately 
the heart of man at times is attracted to the negative Nelly, 
if I can use that terminology there. So this is what the Lord 
says, weed them out. What man is there who is fearful 
and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his 
house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart. 
Now, notice, it doesn't say execute him. Court-martial him, take 
him to the central tribunal, deal with him with stones. No, just don't let him come into 
battle. I think the giving of this instruction 
would hopefully put a little grit and determination into any 
man who was worth his salt. Any man hearing this would hopefully 
guard his heart against the tendency of being a whiner and of being 
a wimp. But you see, this actually plays 
out in the book of Judges. Judges chapter 5, in the Song 
of Deborah, she speaks of those who willingly engage in battle. Contra this mandate. Notice in 
Judges 5-2, when leaders lead in Israel, when the people willingly 
offer themselves, bless the Lord, It's a good thing when the leaders 
lead, when men have grit and determination. They don't pass 
the buck, they don't lie down, they don't go and whine, but 
rather leaders lead in Israel and the people willingly offer 
themselves. That is cause to bless the Lord. Now notice a negative application 
in Judges 7. Judges 7, 1. Then Jerobel, that 
is Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early 
and encamped beside the well of Herod, so that the camp of 
the Midianites was on the north side of them, by the hill of 
Moreh in the valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, 
the people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites 
into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against 
me, saying, my own hand has saved me. Get rid of some of these 
troops. Get rid of some of this army. Get rid of some of this 
militia. Send some of these people away. 
Because if they go in as numerous as they are and they gain victory, 
then they're going to boast and be proud and arrogant and say, 
we did this on our own. Now notice how God says in the 
first wave to weed people out. We often think about the drinkers 
of water, and that's how God whittled down the armies of Israel. 
But the first way, the first means, was what we find indicated 
in Deuteronomy 20. It says, Now therefore proclaim 
in the hearing of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and 
afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead. So hopefully it would have put 
some grit in their bones, but it didn't, at least with these 
22,000 people. 22,000 of the people returned and 10,000 remained. That's pretty incredible, isn't 
it? Well, you see, that's an application. That's a reality. There is that 
psychological distress. There is that emotional instability. There is that lack of courage, 
that lack of boldness, that lack of efficacy, that lack of trust 
in the living God. And so the officers say, if you 
have that, man up and confess it. Because if you get out into 
a foxhole and you start whining and sniveling like a little girl, 
you have the tendency of affecting your brethren. And we certainly 
don't want this to spread like gangrene among the armies of 
Israel. So you see this was a means whereby 
there were exemptions to military service. Craigie again says, 
the object of the officers of the people was not to get the 
largest possible army, but the best possible army. That's what's in view here in 
Deuteronomy 20. The best possible army was the 
one wholly committed to God and absolutely confident in his strength 
and his ability for the battle lying ahead of the army. So it wasn't the largest number. It was the best number. If you 
had a humanitarian exemption, you were dismissed from military 
service. Not forever. Once you betrothed 
that honey and you were with her for that year, you went out 
to battle afterward. Once you started reaping the 
benefit of that vineyard and you lived in that house for a 
while, you couldn't waive your military life. You had to man 
up at some point and go out and fight in the wars of Yahweh. 
But you see, there are those humanitarian exemptions and this 
psychological exemption because ultimately it is God the Lord 
who goes before us, it is God who fights for us, and it is 
God who saves us. So we don't have to have the 
most, the biggest number of people. We just need to have the best 
number of people within Israel to go and engage in these battles 
for the living and true God. So that's the general instructions, 
the specific exemptions. Notice thirdly, the engagement 
with enemy cities. The first section are the cities 
far off, verses 10 to 15. Actually, go back to verse 9 
for just a moment. And so it shall be, when the 
officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall 
make captains of the armies to lead the people. You see, just 
because God is with us and God's power goes before us, doesn't 
mean we don't use military strategy. Doesn't mean guys just show up. 
No, it means that you are a disciplined army serving the Lord in the 
manner that He's instructed. You have captains appointed so 
that there's leadership. Men don't do well, generally 
speaking, by just sort of wandering around out in the wilderness. 
They need a leader, they need a team of leaders to direct them 
and to make them most efficient in battle. That's what verse 
9 indicates there. Now notice the engagement with 
the cities afar off, verses 10 to 15. Notice at the end of verse 
15, Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far 
from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. These 
nations will be dealt with in the rest of the chapter. those 
nations within Canaan, those nations which are under the ban, 
those nations which they have been commanded to utterly destroy 
and to dispossess from the land. We'll get to those in just a 
moment. But Israel was never commanded to dispossess the land 
of Canaan and then go and utterly destroy every other human being 
on the face of the earth. This would go contrary to the 
very mission instituted by God to Abraham. Remember in Abraham, 
all the what would be blessed? All the nations of the earth 
would be blessed. Remember in Deuteronomy chapter 
4, it's assumed that when they're functioning as a godly commonwealth, 
the nations around will be able to look upon them and say, what 
great nation is like unto this, that has God for its Lord, and 
has these laws to regulate? So their mandate was never world 
domination, and utterly destroying everything and everybody that 
ever lived. No, verses 10 to 15 indicate 
that when you come to one of these cities, make an offer of 
peace. You see, within Deuteronomy, 
within even these principles governing warfare, you see this 
idea of even love. offer peace to these particular 
cities. So notice in verse 10, when you 
go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of 
peace to it. It's beautiful, isn't it? is 
to go out and destroy everything, kill everything. I mean, if they 
reject your offer of peace, there's certain sanctions that you will 
impose. But initially, you are to go 
and offer peace to them. If they submit to that, they 
become your vassal. That means your subordinate. And then they will ultimately 
benefit in that exchange. It's not some harsh, barbaric 
thing. It would be a means and a way 
whereby the peoples would come into contact with the living 
and true God. And what most commentators agree 
with here is that when they offer this peace, it's an offer of 
a covenant. It is an agreement. You'll see 
an example of this in the book of Joshua in chapter 9. There's 
a group of men called the Gibeonites. They provide a ruse. They put 
on Joshua. They pretend to be from a long 
way off. They dirty their face, their 
bread is stale. They come and they cast themselves 
upon Joshua. They say, your servants have 
come from a long way. Joshua enters into covenant with 
them. He failed to seek counsel from 
the Lord. Nevertheless, they had to honor 
that covenant. And so, the Gibeonites became 
subject to the Israelites. But that wasn't just a one-way 
street. Later when the Gibeonites were 
under threat, Israel came to their defense. So there was mutual 
benefit within this agreement. Certainly Israel would benefit 
more having them as a subject people, having them as vassals, 
having them pay tribute, but Israel would provide protection 
for them. So that's what's going on here. 
And again, it's not unique to Israel. Other nation states were 
doing these sorts of things as well. So in verse 10, there is 
to be this offer of peace. Notice verse 11, and it shall 
be that if they accept your offer of peace and open to you, then 
all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute 
to you and serve you. Again, that Joshua 9 demonstrates 
this or illustrates this very, very beautifully. Christopher 
Wright says, an offer of peace probably implies a vassal treaty 
in which the city would become subject to Israel. The terms 
of surrender strictly include only such subject labor. This is important. Again, people 
say, oh, it's full of barbarisms and full of inhumanity. No, Israel 
is very humanitarian, even in the way they fight wars and in 
the way they deal with other nations. Here's what he says. 
No other humiliation, violation of human rights, excessive brutality, 
or plunder were to be allowed. Subjection itself may seem bad 
enough. I mean, we read this and we go, 
whore of whores. Let me face it, being a vassal to a hopefully 
godly nation is not the worst thing that can happen. Being 
a vassal to Assyria is a little bit of a different ballgame. 
Here's what Wright says. But when one sees carved in stone 
what the Assyrians, for example, did to their conquered or surrendered 
victims, for example, some were impaled on stakes, captives were 
chained to one another by hooks through the nose, or one merely 
reads of the known excesses reported by Amos, restraint is the correct 
word for what is permitted here. So this offer of peace and the 
covenant that is subsequent to it is restraint. It is humanitarian. It is, in a very real sense, 
a demonstration of the love of God to even enemy people. So they could have impaled them. 
They could have, and you see this in the Old Testament scripture, 
this idea of hooks in the nose. This wasn't piercing an old covenant 
in Israel. This was the way Assyria kept 
their prisoners together. They would put a hook through 
the nose and put a people on a line. and then lead them that 
way. When you were being exiled from 
Samaria to Assyria, it wasn't under your own provision. It was via a very harsh and brutal 
way. So Israel was not to function 
that way. If you offer peace, and they 
accept it, and they open their city to you, then they will continue 
subject in terms of labor, in terms of those sorts of things. 
But it wouldn't be brutality, it wouldn't be the infliction 
of punishments cruel and unusual. Now notice what happens if the 
offer is declined. You've got to remember, the offer 
of peace has been made. If the people accept, then everybody 
lives happily ever after. If the enemy city declines, then 
that enemy city has to put its money where its mouth is. They've 
got to fight Israel. Well, here is God's mandate with 
reference to those who decline. Now, verse 12, if the city will 
not make peace with you, but war against you, remember now, 
they're an aggressor. They're not dealing peaceably. This isn't an instruction to 
go in and just find a bunch of hippies laying around and utterly 
destroy them. No, they're an aggressor nation 
at this point. That's what we find here in verse 
12. If the city will not make peace with you, but war against 
you, then you shall besiege it. Now the rules of war dictate 
that you win, that you go in in the name of Yahweh of Israel 
and you take their land. Verse 13, and when the Lord your 
God delivers it into your hands, again, there it is, God goes 
before us, God fights for us, God saves us. When the Lord your 
God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in 
it with the edge of the sword. Again, this is humanitarian. I realize it doesn't look that 
way. But only males are considered enemy combatants. You're not 
to kill the women and the children. Do you think that rule played 
out in Assyria? Do you think that rule played 
out in Babylon? There's a psalm, I believe it's 
137, that most of us are embarrassed to read the last verse. Because 
the last verse says, blessed are those who crush the heads 
of the babies of the enemies of the Lord. That's difficult 
for most of us. But you've got to remember, that's 
what the enemies of the Lord did to Israelite babies. Okay, 
so it's a lex talionis, it's an eye for an eye. The enemies 
of God did not play according to Yahweh's rules. When they 
went into besieged city, they didn't just target the males 
as enemy combatants. They targeted the women, they 
targeted the children, they did whatever it was that they wanted 
to do. You see, here God is restraining His people. Even when they fight, 
they are not to be like the enemies of the nations around them. Verse 13, When the Lord your 
God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in 
it with the edge of the sword, but the women, the little ones, 
the livestock, and all that is in the city, all that is spoil, 
you shall plunder for yourself, and you shall eat the enemy's 
plunder, which the Lord your God gives you. So the city was 
to be besieged, the men alone were to be treated as enemy combatants 
and killed, the women and children were spared, the spoil was taken 
as a gift from God, and then the summary statement in verse 
15, thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far 
from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. Again, 
we jump into this in 21st century North America, we say horror 
of horrors, but if you look at the passage, You offered peace 
to them. They became the aggressor. If 
they want to engage in this tangle, then you will win this exchange. And the way you must do it is 
carefully regulated by God. You're not to be like Assyria. 
You're not to be like Babylon would later be, but rather you 
were to fight as the children of Israel. Yes, deal with the 
men as combatants, but spare the women and children. Take 
the booty or the plunder for yourselves as a gift from the 
living and true God. And then verses 16 to 20, we've 
already seen this enacted in chapter 7. You can go back to 
chapter 7, verses 1 to 5. chapter 7 verses 1 to 5, when 
the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to 
possess and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, 
and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, 
and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations 
greater and mightier than you. And when the Lord your God delivers 
them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with 
them, nor show mercy to them, like those cities that are afar 
off. You can make a covenant with 
them. You can offer a peace treaty 
to them. You can accept them as a vassal 
state to yourself. But with these nations within 
Canaan, these nations clearly identified by the Lord God, You 
shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make 
no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them, nor shall you 
make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter 
to their son, nor take their daughter for your son, for they 
will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. So the anger of the Lord will 
be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus you shall 
deal with them. You shall destroy their altars 
and break down their sacred pillars and cut down their wooden images 
and burn their carved images with fire. So that is essentially 
what we find here in verses 16 to 18. The cities of these peoples, 
which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall 
let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly 
destroy them. harem principle, that is that 
anathema, that is a devotion to destruction, because God the 
Lord says so. And the specific reason in the 
context, we know there are other reasons, we've already rehearsed 
those. Leviticus 18, one of the reasons 
why God is bringing judgment upon Canaan is because they had 
gross sexual wickedness. According to Deuteronomy chapter 
18, another reason why God is bringing judgment to bear upon 
them is because they engaged in the occult, witchcraft and 
spiritism. Well, here specifically the reason 
why God highlights this harem principle with reference to these 
cities is found in verse 18. Lest they teach you to do according 
to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, 
and you sin against the Lord your God." We've seen traces 
of this already in the book of Deuteronomy. If Israel goes into 
Canaan, and they do not utterly destroy, and they do not get 
rid of the idols and the altars, what will eventually happen? 
Israel will bow down to Baal. And it shouldn't surprise us 
when we get out of the plains of Moab, we enter into the Promised 
Land, how often do they actually utterly dispossess any cities? I think there's once or twice. 
And what happens when they end up in Canaan? They become Baal 
worshippers, they become Molech worshippers, they become Asherah 
worshippers. So all the things that God is 
saying to them to do in this particular instance is to a, 
protect His holy character, to serve as a parameter, serve as 
a hedge, that within Israel He would be seen as the Holy One 
of Israel. but to protect the people of God so that they do 
not compromise, lest they teach you to do according to all their 
abominations which they have done for their gods, and you 
sin against the Lord your God." We need to understand, God knows 
our hearts better than we do. God knows our temptation better 
than we do. God knows our proneness to wander. He knows our proneness to leave 
the God that we love. And he dictates and he mandates 
and he commands and he exhorts and he pleads and tells us, don't 
do that because you're going to end up sinning against me. 
Now, of course, we do it. We end up sinning against him. 
And that's why Jesus came to die for sinners and to rise again. 
In fact, Deuteronomy 20 ought to again show us the glory of 
the cross and why we need Jesus Christ our Savior. So the specific 
reason indicated in this context is the temptation presented by 
the Cainites would ultimately lead Israel to sin. And then 
verses 19 and 20 end in an interesting way. Don't cut down trees that provide 
food. Undergirding this entire section 
seems to be the sixth word. You shall not murder. Don't destroy 
trees that provide food, food to sustain you, food to sustain 
future generations. Don't do that. There's already 
an ecological concern that God sets forth in this chapter. We 
ought not to be tree-hugging environmental worshipers or worshipers 
of the environment, but there ought to be a righteous respect 
for the food-yielding capabilities of the world that God has set 
around us. We ought not to, you know, defoliate 
whole forests. We ought not to make it the case 
that no person could ever be sustained on a parcel of land 
again. No, don't cut down the trees 
if you can eat of them. Now the trees which you know 
are not trees for food, you may destroy and cut down, to build 
siege works against the city that makes war with you until 
it is subdued. So if you have trees that are 
not fruit-yielding or food-yielding, you can cut those down. You can 
fashion them into weapons. You can fashion them into whatever 
it is that you need to besiege this particular city. But the 
trees that yield food, leave them. That's not a very good 
way to promote life. It's not a very good way to promote 
health and happiness in the land. So it does go along with what 
has preceded in terms of some principles governing warfare 
in the land of Canaan. Well, let's pray and then, if 
there's any questions, we'll take those. Father, we thank 
You for this, Your Word, and we thank You for its clarity, 
we thank You for its beauty, we thank You, Father, for the 
fact that You have spoken and that You have recorded for us. 
And we pray that we learn the lessons that You have for us 
in this passage, that we would see something of Your glory and 
Your majesty and of Your holiness and of the way that You participate 
in the lives of Your people. As well, God, I pray that we 
would see the great temptation that lies all around us and help 
us to resist these things and thus to live in a manner that 
is consistent with your holy word. And we thank you for this 
time together and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.