The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Laws of Warfare
Deuteronomy 20:1–20 — Laws of Warfare. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî- ṯê·ṣê lam·mil·ḥā·māh ‘al- ’ō·yə·ḇe·ḵā wə·rā·’î·ṯā sūs wā·re·ḵeḇ ‘am raḇ mim·mə·ḵā lō ṯî·rā mê·hem kî- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ham·ma·‘al·ḵā mê·’e·reṣ miṣ·rā·yim ‘im·māḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
When you-go-out to-the-war against your-enemies, and-you-see horse and-chariot, a-people more-numerous than-you — you-shall-not-fear them; for YHWH your-God is the-one-bringing-you-up out-of-the-land of-Egypt, with-you.
Where the English smooths the original
The first and great rule was, to commit their cause to God, depending with entire confidence upon that divine power which had so often and so wonderfully delivered them, without the least fear or discouragement at the superior force or terrible appearance of their enemies.Benson states the governing principle of the whole war-law: faith, not cavalry, is Israel's strength.
Horses, and chariots - The most formidable elements of an Oriental host, which the Canaanites possessed in great numbers; compare Joshua 17:16 ; Judges 4:3 ; 1 Samuel 13:5 . Israel could not match these with corresponding forces
Meaning, upon just occasion: for God does not permit his people to fight every time it seems good to them.Geneva confines the permission: this law presumes a war God sanctions, not war at Israel's pleasure.
which brought thee up ] instead of the usual brought thee forthA philological note: the verb is ‘bring up’ (ascend), not the stock ‘bring forth.’
2When you are about to go into battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hā·yāh kə·qā·rā·ḇə·ḵem ’el- ham·mil·ḥā·māh hak·kō·hên wə·nig·gaš wə·ḏib·ber ’el- hā·‘ām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-shall-be, as-your-drawing-near to-the-war, that-the-priest shall-draw-near and-speak to-the-people.
Where the English smooths the original
There is no mention of the Levite here. The priest is named as a distinct personage. The words which the priest are to pronounce are, as it were, the blessing of Jehovah on the campaign. It follows that Israel could not lawfully go to war except when the blessing of Jehovah might be invoked.
The priest - Not the high priest, but one appointed for the purpose, and called, according to the rabbis, "the anointed of the war"
this man seems to be an emblem of Gospel ministers, who are anointed with the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, and whose business it is to encourage the people of God to fight the Lord's battles against sin, Satan, and the world, and not to be afraid of their spiritual enemiesGill reads the war-priest typologically, as a figure of the gospel minister who heartens believers for spiritual warfare.
3saying to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be alarmed or terrified because of them.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’ā·mar ’ă·lê·hem šə·ma‘ yiś·rā·’êl hay·yō·wm ’at·tem qə·rê·ḇîm lam·mil·ḥā·māh ‘al- ’ō·yə·ḇê·ḵem ’al- yê·raḵ lə·ḇaḇ·ḵem ’al- tî·rə·’ū wə·’al- taḥ·pə·zū wə·’al- ta·‘ar·ṣū mip·pə·nê·hem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-shall-say to-them: Hear, O-Israel, you are-drawing-near today to-the-battle against your-enemies. Let-not your-heart be-soft; do-not-fear, and-do-not-tremble, and-do-not-be-terrified before-them.
Where the English smooths the original
Be ye terrified. —A strong word. The idea is, “do not even be unnerved, much less alarmed, at the sight of them.”
Faint, Heb. be soft or tender . Softness or tenderness of heart towards God is commended, 2 Kings 22:19 , but towards enemies it is condemned, here and Deu 20:8 Leviticus 26:36 2 Chronicles 13:7 Isaiah 7:4 .Poole turns on the single verb: the tenderness God prizes inwardly is the very thing forbidden before the enemy.
many words are made use of to animate them against those fears which the strength, number, and appearance of their enemies, would be apt to cause in themGill notes the heaping-up of four verbs as a deliberate antidote to every species of battle-fear.
4For the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê·ḵem ha·hō·lêḵ ‘im·mā·ḵem lə·hil·lā·ḥêm lā·ḵem ‘im- ’ō·yə·ḇê·ḵem lə·hō·wō·šî·a‘ ’eṯ·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
For YHWH your-God is the-one-going with-you, to-fight for-you against your-enemies, to-save you.
Where the English smooths the original
“They come in the might of flesh and blood; but ye come in the might of the Eternal” (Rashi). So David to Goliath: “Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied” ( 1Samuel 17:45 ).
your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you—According to Jewish writers, the ark was always taken into the field of combat. But there is no evidence of this in the sacred history; and it must have been a sufficient ground of encouragement to be assured that God was on their side.
to save you ] Better, to give you the victory .Cambridge prefers a martial rendering, but the root is yâsha‘, the verb of salvation.
5Furthermore, the officers are to address the army, saying, “Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.
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haš·šō·ṭə·rîm ’el- wə·ḏib·bə·rū hā·‘ām lê·mōr mî- hā·’îš ’ă·šer bā·nāh ḥā·ḏāš ḇa·yiṯ- wə·lō ḥă·nā·ḵōw yê·lêḵ wə·yā·šōḇ lə·ḇê·ṯōw pen- yā·mūṯ bam·mil·ḥā·māh ’a·ḥêr wə·’îš yaḥ·nə·ḵen·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-officers shall-speak to-the-people, saying: Who is-the-man that-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.
Where the English smooths the original
Four grounds of exemption are expressly mentioned: (1) The dedication of a new house, which, as in all Oriental countries still, was an important event, and celebrated by festive and religious ceremonies
The vb is used of the dedication of the Temple, 1 Kings 8:63 = 2 Chronicles 7:5 , but nowhere else in the O.T. is there any mention of the dedication of a private house.Cambridge isolates the rare verb chânak and shows it elsewhere names only the Temple's dedication.
rather to avoid depriving any member of the covenant nation of his enjoyment of the good things of this life bestowed upon him by the Lord.Keil reads the three exemptions not as morale-management but as covenant mercy toward the individual.
6Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·mî- hā·’îš ’ă·šer- nā·ṭa‘ ke·rem wə·lō ḥil·lə·lōw yê·lêḵ wə·yā·šōḇ lə·ḇê·ṯōw pen- yā·mūṯ bam·mil·ḥā·māh ’a·ḥêr wə·’îš yə·ḥal·lə·len·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-who is-the-man that-has-planted a-vineyard and-has-not-made-it-common? Let-him-go and-return to-his-house, lest he-die in-the-battle and-another man make-it-common.
Where the English smooths the original
The Hebrew word signifies to make common or profane, Le 19:25Geneva names the literal sense châlal smooths over: not ‘enjoy’ but ‘make common.’
EVV. paraphrase the Heb. ḥalal , a ritual term for bringing into common use. In the 5th year after planting the vine, one might use the fruits which in the 4th were reserved for the Deity, and for the three previous years were left alone.
Three years the fruit of trees, and so of vines, might not be eaten; in the fourth, they were devoted to the Lord, and might be redeemed from the priest, and so made common; and on the fifth year were eaten in course
7Has any man become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man marry her.”
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ū·mî- hā·’îš ’ă·šer- ’ê·raś ’iš·šāh wə·lō lə·qā·ḥāh yê·lêḵ wə·yā·šōḇ lə·ḇê·ṯōw pen- yā·mūṯ bam·mil·ḥā·māh ’a·ḥêr wə·’îš yiq·qā·ḥen·nāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-who is-the-man that-has-betrothed a-woman and-has-not-taken-her? Let-him-go and-return to-his-house, lest he-die in-the-battle and-another man take-her.
Where the English smooths the original
This was a law of great humanity, that conjugal love might not be disturbed, but have time to knit into a firm and lasting affection.Benson reads the betrothal-exemption as a tenderness toward the growth of married love itself.
Betrothing was done by a solemn and mutual promise, but not by an actual contract.
Evidently the motive is humane, in the wife’s interests, or in order to secure descendants to the man himself.
8Then 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.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
haš·šō·ṭə·rîm lə·ḏab·bêr wə·yā·sə·p̄ū ’el- hā·‘ām wə·’ā·mə·rū mî- hā·’îš hay·yā·rê wə·raḵ hal·lê·ḇāḇ yê·lêḵ wə·yā·šōḇ lə·ḇê·ṯōw lə·ḇaḇ ’e·ḥāw wə·lō yim·mas kil·ḇā·ḇōw ’eṯ-
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-officers shall-add to-speak to-the-people, and-they-shall-say: Who is-the-man that-is-afraid and-soft of-heart? Let-him-go and-return to-his-house, and-let-not-melt the-heart of-his-brothers like-his-own-heart.
Where the English smooths the original
His brethren's heart faint ; literally, flow down or melt (cf. Joshua 7:5 ). In Deuteronomy 1:28 , this verb is rendered by "discouraged."
ימּס ולא, that the heart of thy brethren "may not flow away," i.e., may not become despondent (as in Genesis 17:15 , etc.).Keil glosses the rare verb mâçaç as the melting-away of courage.
lest his brethren’s heart , etc.] ‘Fear is catching.’ (M. Henry.)Cambridge cites Matthew Henry's proverb for the whole law of contagion.
9When the officers have finished addressing the army, they are to appoint commanders to lead it.
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wə·hā·yāh haš·šō·ṭə·rîm kə·ḵal·lōṯ lə·ḏab·bêr ’el- hā·‘ām ū·p̄ā·qə·ḏū ṣə·ḇā·’ō·wṯ śā·rê bə·rōš hā·‘ām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-shall-be, when-the-officers finish speaking to-the-people, that-they-shall-appoint captains of-armies at-the-head of-the-people.
Where the English smooths the original
It is not likely they had their captain to make when they were just going to battle.
If the shoterim had to raise men for the war and organize the army, the division of the men into hosts (Zebaoth) and the appointment of the leaders would also form part of the duties of their office.Keil ties the appointing of captains to the shoterim's whole office of raising and ordering the host.
but here the phrase is used in the plural of the chiefs of the companies or detachments of which the whole was composed.
10When you approach a city to fight against it, you are to make an offer of peace.
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kî- ṯiq·raḇ ’el- ‘îr lə·hil·lā·ḥêm ‘ā·le·hā wə·qā·rā·ṯā ’ê·le·hā lə·šā·lō·wm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
When you-draw-near to a-city to-fight against-it, then-you-shall-call to-it for-peace.
Where the English smooths the original
When thou comest nigh . . . proclaim peace. —Not as the children of Dan did, who massacred the inhabitants of Laish without warning ( Judges 18:27-28 ). Even in the wars of Joshua, the cities that “stood still in their strength” were generally spared ( Joshua 11:13 ).
Let this show God's grace in dealing with sinners. He proclaims peace, and beseeches them to be reconciled.Matthew Henry turns the herald's peace-offer into a figure of the gospel call to the sinner.
they were "to call to it for peace," i.e., to summon it to make a peaceable surrender and submission (cf. Judges 21:13 ). "If it answered peace," i.e., returned an answer conducing to peace, and "opened" (sc., its gates), the whole of its inhabitants were to become tributary to Israel
11If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.
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wə·hā·yāh ’im- ta·‘an·ḵā šā·lō·wm ū·p̄ā·ṯə·ḥāh lāḵ wə·hā·yāh kāl- hā·‘ām han·nim·ṣā- ḇāh yih·yū lā·mas wa·‘ă·ḇā·ḏū·ḵā lə·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-shall-be, if it-answers-you peace and-opens to-you, then all the-people found in-it shall-become to-you for-forced-labor, and-they-shall-serve-you.
Where the English smooths the original
Mas means a body of forced labourers, e.g. of Israelites in Egypt, Exodus 1:11 , or of Solomon’s levies for work in Lebanon and upon his buildingsCambridge traces mas from Israel's own Egyptian bondage to the corvée laid on conquered cities.
consequently even those who were armed were not to be put to death, for Israel was not to shed blood unnecessarily. מס does not mean feudal service, but a feudal slaveKeil notes the surrendered city's defenders are spared — Israel sheds no blood it need not shed.
not as slaves, or be in continual bondage and servitude; but upon occasion be called out to any public service
12But if they refuse to make peace with you and wage war against you, lay siege to that city.
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wə·’im- lō ṯaš·lîm ‘im·māḵ wə·‘ā·śə·ṯāh mil·ḥā·māh ‘im·mə·ḵā wə·ṣar·tā ʿå̄·lɛ·hå̄
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But-if it-will-not-make-peace with-you, and-makes war with-you, then-you-shall-besiege it.
Where the English smooths the original
But if it will make no peace with thee … thou shalt besiege , i.e. confine or blockade it .Cambridge glosses the siege-verb as blockade, not assault.
the Jews say only on three sides, leaving one for any to flee and make their escape if they thought fit
If the hostile town, however, did not make peace, but prepared for war, the Israelites were to besiege it
13When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.
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Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ū·nə·ṯā·nāh bə·yā·ḏe·ḵā wə·hik·kî·ṯā ’eṯ- kāl- zə·ḵū·rāh lə·p̄î- ḥā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-YHWH your-God shall-give-it into-your-hand, and-you-shall-strike every male in-it with-the-mouth-of-the-sword.
Where the English smooths the original
this is not to be imputed to the methods and arts of war used in besieging, or to the courage and skill of the besiegers; but to the power and providence of God succeeding means usedGill refers even the fall of a besieged city to providence, not to the besiegers' skill.
A just punishment of their obstinate refusal of peace offered.Poole frames the slaughter of the males as the just consequence of the city's own refusal of peace.
if Jehovah gave it into their hands, they were to slay all the men in it without reserve ("with the edge of the sword," see at Genesis 34:26 )
14But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
raq han·nā·šîm wə·haṭ·ṭap̄ wə·hab·bə·hê·māh wə·ḵōl ’ă·šer yih·yeh ḇā·‘îr kāl- šə·lā·lāh tā·ḇōz lāḵ wə·’ā·ḵal·tā ’eṯ- šə·lal ’ō·yə·ḇe·ḵā ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nā·ṯan lāḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Only the-women and-the-little-ones and-the-cattle and-all that-is in-the-city, all its-spoil, you-shall-plunder for-yourself; and-you-shall-eat the-spoil of-your-enemies that YHWH your-God has-given you.
Where the English smooths the original
The little ones, excused by their sex or age, as not involved in the guilt, nor being likely to revenge their quarrel.Poole grounds the sparing of women and children in their non-involvement in the city's guilt.
A mitigated form of the ḥerem —see on Deuteronomy 2:34 —urged not only from motives of humanity but on utilitarian considerations.
Shalt eat the spoil ; consume it for thine own maintenance.The Pulpit glosses the literal ‘eat the spoil’ as use for sustenance.
15This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
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kên ta·‘ă·śeh lə·ḵāl he·‘ā·rîm hā·rə·ḥō·qōṯ mim·mə·ḵā mə·’ōḏ ’ă·šer lō- mê·‘ā·rê hā·’êl·leh hên·nāh hag·gō·w·yim-
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Thus you-shall-do to-all the-cities very-far-off from-you, that are-not of the-cities of these nations.
Where the English smooths the original
As all such were reckoned that were without the land of Israel, even all in their neighbouring nations, the Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, SyriansGill defines ‘far off’ as every city outside the land of Israel proper.
For God had appointed the Canaanites to be destroyed, and made the Israelites the executers of his will, De 7:1.Geneva names Israel as the appointed executor of a divine sentence on the Canaanites.
It was in this way that Israel was to act with towns that were far off; but not with the towns of the Canaanites ("these nations")
16However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
raq mê·‘ā·rê hā·’êl·leh hā·‘am·mîm ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nō·ṯên lə·ḵā na·ḥă·lāh lō ṯə·ḥay·yeh kāl- nə·šā·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
However, from-the-cities of these the-peoples that YHWH your-God is-giving you as-an-inheritance, you-shall-not-keep-alive any breath.
Where the English smooths the original
Thou shalt save alive nothing — No human creature; for the beasts, some few excepted, were given for a prey. This slaughter of all the people is to be understood only in case they did not surrender when summoned, but rejected the conditions of peace when offered them.Benson reads even the ban as conditional on refusal of the peace-offer.
thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth ] Heb. any breath , i.e. human life ( Genesis 2:7 , 1 Kings 17:17 , Isaiah 42:5 )
The command did not apply to beasts as well as men (compare Joshua 11:11 , Joshua 11:14 ).
17For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî- ha·ḥă·rêm ta·ḥă·rî·mêm ha·ḥit·tî wə·hā·’ĕ·mō·rî hak·kə·na·‘ă·nî wə·hap·pə·riz·zî ha·ḥiw·wî wə·hay·ḇū·sî ka·’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ṣiw·wə·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
For devoting you-shall-devote-them-to-destruction — the-Hittite and-the-Amorite, the-Canaanite and-the-Perizzite, the-Hivite and-the-Jebusite — as YHWH your-God has-commanded you,
Where the English smooths the original
Jarchi on the following verse observes, that if they repented, and became proselytes, they might be receivedGill (via Rashi) records the rabbinic mercy: even the doomed nations could be received if they repented and turned proselyte — as Rahab and the Gibeonites did.
Here D did not mitigate but aggravate the fate of the peoples conquered by Israel, and as Islam did, from religious motives.Cambridge presses the hard fact: toward the Canaanites this law is harsher, not gentler, than ordinary war.
But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
18so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lə·ma·‘an ’ă·šer lō- yə·lam·mə·ḏū ’eṯ·ḵem la·‘ă·śō·wṯ kə·ḵōl tō·w·‘ă·ḇō·ṯām ’ă·šer ‘ā·śū lê·lō·hê·hem wa·ḥă·ṭā·ṯem Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
so-that they-do-not-teach you to-do according-to-all their-abominations that they-have-done for-their-gods, and-you-sin against YHWH your-God.
Where the English smooths the original
From the words here quoted, That they teach you not, &c., a Jewish writer justly observes, “If they repented and forsook their idolatry, the Israelites might let them live;” for then there was no such danger in sparing them.Benson roots the whole ban in the danger of being taught idolatry — remove the danger, and the doom may lift, as for Rahab and the Gibeonites.
This is another reason why they were to be utterly destroyed, not only because of the abominations which they committed, but to prevent the Israelites being taught by them to do the same
Forbearance, however, was not to be shown toward the Canaanite nations, which were to be utterly exterminated (compare Deuteronomy 7:1-4 ).Barnes marks the limit of all the preceding clemency: it does not reach the Canaanite nations.
19When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî- ṯā·ṣūr ’el- ‘îr rab·bîm yā·mîm lə·hil·lā·ḥêm ‘ā·le·hā lə·ṯā·p̄ə·śāh lō- ṯaš·ḥîṯ ’eṯ- ‘ê·ṣāh lin·dō·aḥ gar·zen ‘ā·lāw kî ṯō·ḵêl wə·’ō·ṯōw mim·men·nū lō ṯiḵ·rōṯ kî ‘êṣ haś·śā·ḏeh hā·’ā·ḏām lā·ḇō mip·pā·ne·ḵā bam·mā·ṣō·wr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
When you-besiege a-city many days, fighting against-it to-capture-it, you-shall-not destroy its-trees by-wielding an-axe against-them; for from-them you-may-eat, and-them you-shall-not cut-down. For is the-tree of-the-field a-man, to-go before-you into-the-siege?
Where the English smooths the original
God is a better friend to man than he is to himself; and God's law consults our interests and comforts; while our own appetites and passions, which we indulge, are enemies to our welfare.Matthew Henry universalizes the fruit-tree law into a principle: God's restraints guard the goods we would squander.
The passage has probably suffered at the hands of a transcriber, and the text as we have it is corrupt. The sense put upon it in the Authorized Version is that suggested by Ibn Ezra, and in the absence of anything better this may be accepted.The Pulpit candidly judges the famous crux a corrupt text and falls back on Ibn Ezra's reading.
"For is the tree of the field a man, that it should come into siege before thee?" This is evidently the only suitable interpretation of the difficult wordsKeil argues for the interrogative reading while admitting it requires re-pointing the Hebrew.
and had it a voice, as Josephus (f) observes, it would complain of injury done it, and apologize for itselfGill preserves Josephus' image of the tree pleading its own innocence against the axe.
20But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce fruit. Use them to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
raq ṯaš·ḥîṯ ‘êṣ ’ă·šer- tê·ḏa‘ kî- lō- ‘êṣ ma·’ă·ḵāl hū ’ō·ṯōw wə·ḵā·rā·tā ū·ḇā·nî·ṯā mā·ṣō·wr ‘al- hā·‘îr ’ă·šer- hî ‘ō·śāh mil·ḥā·māh ‘im·mə·ḵā ‘aḏ riḏ·tāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Only a-tree that you-know that it is-not a-tree of-food — it you-may-destroy and-cut-down, and-build siege-works against the-city that is-making war with-you, until its-falling.
Where the English smooths the original
It is evident that some sort of military engines were intended; and accordingly we know, that in Egypt, where the Israelites learned their military tactics, the method of conducting a siege was by throwing up banks, and making advances with movable towers
bulwarks ] Heb. maṣor , from the vb to besiege , therefore, siege-works , or circumvallation.Cambridge ties the noun maṣor back to the siege-verb, naming the trees' new use as ramparts.
All this may be 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 upGill reads the spared fruit tree and felled barren tree as a parable of the righteous preserved and the fruitless cut down (Matt 3:10).
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The chapter opens not with strategy but with a single negative command: “you shall not fear them” (lō ṯî·rā, v. 1). Benson states the rule the whole unit hangs on — to “commit their cause to God, depending with entire confidence upon that divine power which had so often and so wonderfully delivered them, without the least fear or discouragement at the superior force or terrible appearance of their enemies.” The threat is concrete: sūs wā·re·ḵeḇ, horse and chariot (a singular collective), the war-machine Barnes calls “The most formidable elements of an Oriental host.” Israel, by her own law, has no cavalry; her only counter-weight is the Name held to the end of the Hebrew sentence — ‘im·māḵ, with you. Then the priest steps forward (v. 2) — not the high priest but, in Barnes's words, the one “called, according to the rabbis, "the anointed of the war"” — and Ellicott draws the boundary that governs the entire law: “It follows that Israel could not lawfully go to war except when the blessing of Jehovah might be invoked.” His sermon (vv. 3–4) opens with the creed itself — šə·ma‘ yiś·rā·’êl, “Hear, O Israel” — and forbids the softening of the heart (râkak, v. 3), a verb Poole notes is praised toward God and “condemned” toward enemies. The ground is given in v. 4: YHWH is the One going with you, to fight for you, to save you — and the closing verb is yâsha‘, the root of salvation, whatever Cambridge's preference for “to give you the victory.”
Before a single captain is appointed, the shôṭərîm — the muster-scribes, not officers — empty the ranks. Four exemptions: the new house not yet dedicated (chânak, a rare word Cambridge shows elsewhere names only the Temple's dedication), the vineyard not yet made common (châlal, profaned for ordinary use after its holy years), the betrothed not yet taken, and the simply afraid. Keil refuses the cynical reading that this is morale-management; the aim, he says, is “to avoid depriving any member of the covenant nation of his enjoyment of the good things of this life bestowed upon him by the Lord.” The dread named three times is not death but dispossession — that another man (’îš ’a·ḥêr) should reap one's house, vine, and bride, the very curse of Deut 28:30. The fourth exemption widens to mercy and tactics at once: the soft-hearted go home “lest his brethren’s heart faint” — the verb mâçaç, to melt, which the Pulpit renders “flow down or melt.” Cambridge crowns it with Matthew Henry's proverb: “‘Fear is catching.’” Only when the unwilling and the melting are gone (v. 9) are captains set at the head of the people — Benson's dry realism: “It is not likely they had their captain to make when they were just going to battle.”
The law now forks, and v. 15 is the hinge. For distant cities (vv. 10–14), war must begin with peace: wə·qā·rā·ṯā ’ê·le·hā lə·šā·lōwm, “you shall call to it for peace.” Ellicott contrasts the men of Dan “who massacred the inhabitants of Laish without warning,” and Matthew Henry hears the gospel in the herald's cry: “He proclaims peace, and beseeches them to be reconciled.” A city that opens becomes mas — forced labor, the very yoke Israel bore in Egypt (Cambridge). A city that makes war is besieged, and its males fall — but only its males (zā·ḵūr, a rare word shared with the pilgrimage-feasts); the women, children, and cattle are spared as “A mitigated form of the ḥerem” (Cambridge). Then, at v. 16, the same exceptive raq that opened the mercy of v. 14 opens the severity: these nations — the six (the Girgashite is missing, as Gill notes) — fall under the doubled ḥerem (v. 17), devoting you shall devote. Cambridge will not soften it: “Here D did not mitigate but aggravate the fate of the peoples conquered by Israel.” Yet v. 18 gives the reason, and it is not ethnic but pedagogical — “that they teach you not” (lâmad) their abominations — and from that very word Benson, with the rabbis, extracts the conditional that saved Rahab and Gibeon: “If they repented and forsook their idolatry, the Israelites might let them live”.
The unit ends, startlingly, in mercy toward trees. In a long siege Israel may not shâchath (destroy, lay waste) the fruit trees by wielding the axe (gar·zen, the rare word that elsewhere flies from the helve and kills, Deut 19:5) against them — “for from them you may eat.” Then the famous crux: kî hā·’ā·ḏām ‘êṣ haś·śā·ḏeh — is it a statement, “for man is a tree of the field” (his life depends on it, so Barnes and Ibn Ezra), or a question, “is the tree of the field a man, that it should come into the siege before you?” (so Keil, who admits the reading “can only be sustained grammatically by” re-pointing the text)? The Pulpit, with rare candor, judges the text “corrupt” and falls back on Ibn Ezra. Whatever the grammar, the ethic is plain and far ahead of its age: the orchard is not the enemy. From the verb shâchath the rabbis built bal tashḥîṯ, the whole law against wanton waste — Matthew Henry: “Every creature of God is good; as nothing is to be refused, so nothing is to be abused.” Only the barren tree (v. 20) may be felled, for siege-works (mā·ṣō·wr) — and even there Gill cannot resist the emblem: the fruitless tree cut down, the fruitful spared, as in Matthew 3:10.
⚙ Read on its own terms, Deuteronomy 20 is not a manual of conquest but a discipline of fear and restraint laid on a people who are forbidden the ordinary instruments of power. Israel may not multiply horses (Deut 17:16); so chapter 20 opens by commanding her not to fear the horses she will face — her strength is displaced from her arm to her God (‘im·māḵ, v. 1). The same logic runs down the whole chapter as a series of subtractions: the army is emptied of the unfulfilled and the fearful (vv. 5–8) before it is filled; the war is emptied of surprise by the mandatory peace-offer (v. 10); even the siege is emptied of wanton destruction by the protection of the fruit trees (v. 19). The hardest word — the ḥerem on the seven nations (vv. 16–18) — is the one place the honest reader cannot look away from, and the text itself supplies the only frame it offers: the ground is not blood or land but contagion — “that they teach you not” (v. 18). The voices, ancient and Reformation alike, press the conditional hidden in that verb: where the teaching-danger is removed by repentance, the doom may lift (Benson, with Rashi; and Rahab and the Gibeonites stand in the canon as proof). This does not dissolve the severity, and the synthesis will not pretend it does. But it locates it: the ban is the negative image of the same principle that spares the orchard — Israel's God is jealous for a people who will not learn the abominations that destroy them, and tender toward every fruit-bearing thing that does not. The chapter that opens “do not fear” closes “is the tree a man?” — and between those two it teaches that the war of the LORD is bounded on every side by mercy it does not owe.
The army God will use, He first empties; the city He will take, He first offers peace; the orchard He will not let you hate. (an interpretive line, not Scripture)
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The word for axe, gar·zen (H1631), occurs in only four verses in the whole Hebrew Bible. It joins this fruit-tree law to its immediate neighbor, the accidental manslaughter of Deut 19:5 (the axe-head flying from the helve), to Isaiah 10:15 (“shall the axe boast against him who hews with it?”), and to 1 Kings 6:7 (no axe heard at the building of the Temple). The Verifier returns verbal on the rarity. The synthesis presses only Deut 19:5 and Isaiah 10:15 as genuine resonances — the axe that may not be lifted against the orchard is the same instrument whose pride Isaiah rebukes; 1 Kings 6:7 shares the lexeme but the motif (Temple silence) is unrelated.
Deuteronomy 19:5 · Isaiah 10:15 · 1 Kings 6:7
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew; rare shared lexeme H1631 garzen (in only 4 vv) links Deut 20:19 to Deut 19:5, Isaiah 10:15, and 1 Kings 6:7 (with H6086 ʻêts, H3772 kârath) — Verifier-confirmed verbal on rarity. These are shared-lexeme resonances, NOT one text citing another.
chânak (H2596), the verb for dedicating the new house in v. 5, is likewise found in only four verses. Cambridge marks the oddity: “nowhere else in the O.T. is there any mention of the dedication of a private house.” Its other occurrences are the dedication of Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 8:63 = 2 Chronicles 7:5) and the training-up of a child in Proverbs 22:6 (ḥănōḵ). The shared lexeme lifts a man's first entrance into his house toward the vocabulary of consecration — though the synthesis under-claims any quotation: these are verbal-by-rarity resonances of a single root, not a citation.
1 Kings 8:63 · 2 Chronicles 7:5 · Proverbs 22:6
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew; rare shared lexeme H2596 chânak (in only 4 vv) links Deut 20:5 to 1 Kings 8:63, 2 Chron 7:5 (Temple dedication), and Prov 22:6 (training a child) — Verifier-confirmed verbal on rarity, not a quotation.
The word behind “every male” put to the sword in v. 13, zâkûwr (H2138), is a rare term for males found in only four verses. The other three are identical: the thrice-yearly command that “all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD” (Exod 23:17; 34:23; Deut 16:16). The synthesis flags this as a real but non-quotational link: the same rare word names the males who must appear before YHWH in worship and the males who fall in the obstinate city — the Verifier confirms the lexeme, but the motifs (pilgrimage vs. judgment) are unrelated, so the link is verbal-by-rarity, not thematic identity.
Exodus 23:17 · Exodus 34:23 · Deuteronomy 16:16
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew; rare shared lexeme H2138 zâkûwr (in only 4 vv) links Deut 20:13 to Exod 23:17, Exod 34:23, Deut 16:16 — Verifier-confirmed verbal on rarity. Shared word, unrelated motifs (pilgrimage vs. siege), so NOT a quotation.
Verse 8 sends the fearful home “so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt” — mâçaç (H4549), to flow down, dissolve. The Pulpit cross-references Joshua 7:5, where after Ai “the hearts of the people melted” with this same verb. The motif is double-edged across the canon: the same melting that v. 8 dreads in Israel is what Rahab confesses had already seized Canaan — “our hearts did melt” (Josh 2:11) — and what Jeremiah 51:46 fears in exile (“lest your heart faint”). The Verifier returns structural, not verbal: mâçaç (20 vv) and lêbâb (heart) are shared, but as a recurring battle-fear motif, not a quotation.
Joshua 7:5 · Jeremiah 51:46 · Deuteronomy 1:28
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew; shared motif-lexemes H4549 mâçaç (in 20 vv) + H3824 lêbâb link Deut 20:8 to Josh 7:5 (the Pulpit's own cross-reference) and the fainting-heart of Jer 51:46 / Deut 1:28 — moderate frequency, Verifier-tiered structural, a shared battle-fear motif not a citation.
The six peoples named in v. 17 — Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite — recur as a set across the conquest narrative. The same cluster of rare ethnonyms (Perizzite H6522 in 23 vv, Hivite H2340 in 25, Jebusite H2983 in 39, Hittite H2850 in 47) joins this verse to the land-promise of Exodus 3:8, the dwelling-among of Judges 3:5, and the gathered-kings of Joshua 9:1, 11:3, and 24:11. Gill notes the seventh, the Girgashite, is missing here (as in Exod 23:23); the LXX restores it. The Verifier returns verbal on the rarity of the proper names — but this is a shared formulaic list, the stock roll of the nations, not one text citing another.
Exodus 3:8 · Joshua 24:11 · Judges 3:5
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew; shared rare ethnonym-set H6522 Pᵉrizzîy (23 vv) + H2340 Chivvîy (25 vv) + H2983 Yᵉbûwçîy (39 vv) + H2850 Chittîy (47 vv) links Deut 20:17 to Exod 3:8, Josh 24:11, Judg 3:5 — Verifier-confirmed verbal on rarity, but a formulaic nations-roll, NOT a quotation of one text by another.
The threefold dread of vv. 5–7 — that another man dedicate the house, enjoy the vine, marry the bride — is the exact shape of the covenant curse of Deuteronomy 28:30: “you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not use the fruit of it.” The Verifier confirms the verbal overlap (bânâh build, ’achêr another, châlal profane/use) but tiers it structural: these are moderate-frequency words shared as a formula. The synthesis reads the relation as deliberate: the war-exemption (mercy — go home and enjoy it) is the photographic negative of the curse (judgment — another will enjoy it), the same three goods used to opposite ends.
Deuteronomy 28:30
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew; shared formula-words H1129 bânâh + H312 ʼachêr + H2490 châlal (build / another / profane) link Deut 20:5–6 to the covenant curse of Deut 28:30 — moderate frequency, Verifier-tiered structural; the exemption is the deliberate inverse of the curse, a shared formula not a quotation.
Three of the voices (Benson, Ellicott, the Pulpit, Keil) converge on Psalm 20:7 (8) as the lyrical echo of v. 1: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” The same singular pair re·ḵeḇ + sūs (chariot and horse) stands in both. The Verifier returns structural: the shared lexemes (H7393 rekeb, H5483 sûs) are moderate-frequency battle-vocabulary, and the relation is a thematic answer (the Psalm sings what the law commands), not a citation. The cross-reference is the commentators' own recorded warrant.
Psalm 20:7
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew; shared battle-lexemes H7393 rekeb (104 vv) + H5483 sûs (130 vv) link Deut 20:1 to Ps 20:7 — moderate frequency, Verifier-tiered structural; Benson/Ellicott/Pulpit/Keil all cite the Psalm as the lyric of this command, a thematic echo not a quotation.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
Verse 10 commands that war begin with a herald's cry: lə·šā·lōwm, for peace. Matthew Henry, reading within the oldest Christian grain, hears the gospel in it: “Let this show God's grace in dealing with sinners. He proclaims peace, and beseeches them to be reconciled.” ⚙ The synthesis follows: the order of the law — peace offered first, judgment only on refusal — is the order of the gospel, where God “was reconciling the world to himself… and has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:19–20). The peace of the herald is real peace, costly and freely cried, before any sword is drawn. The link is cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew) and rests on this typological logic and the shared word shâlôm / εἰρήνη, not on a shared Strong's number — so it is tiered by attestation, not by lexeme.
2 Corinthians 5:20 · Ephesians 2:17 · Deuteronomy 20:10
The war-priest's whole sermon reduces to one promise — that the LORD is with you (v. 1) and goes with you to save you (v. 4): ‘im·māḵ (with you) and yâsha‘ (to save). ⚙ The synthesis reads these two Hebrew words as the seed of the two names the Gospel joins at the Nativity: Immanuel, “God with us” (Isa 7:14; Matt 1:23 — and Cambridge's own cross-reference at v. 1 sends the reader to Isaiah 7:14), and Jesus (Yēshûa‘, from yâsha‘), “for He will save His people” (Matt 1:21). The God who went with Israel to save in the field is, in the Gospel's reading, the same who comes with us and as our salvation. The link is cross-Testament and typological — the Hebrew roots cannot share a Strong's number with the Greek — so it rests on the names' own etymology, recorded here, not on a lexical match.
Matthew 1:21 · Matthew 1:23 · Isaiah 7:14 · Deuteronomy 20:4
The crux of v. 19 — hā·’ā·ḏām ‘êṣ haś·śā·ḏeh, whether man is a tree of the field or is the tree a man? — has drawn Christian readers from antiquity toward the cross. Gill himself, closing on v. 20, cannot help the figure 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” (Matt 3:10). ⚙ The synthesis offers this as a novel reading, advanced cautiously and to be tested: that the law sparing the fruit-bearing tree, and the strange grammar that all but identifies man and tree, find their deepest resonance in the One who is both — “cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Gal 3:13; cf. Acts 5:30; 1 Pet 2:24), the Man who became the tree, bearing the curse so the fruit-bearing might be spared. This is a figural, not a verbal claim; it is offered as the tool's own fallible reading under Sola Scriptura, marked novel, not as the settled sense of Moses.
Galatians 3:13 · 1 Peter 2:24 · Deuteronomy 20:19
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
This unit is the war-law of Deuteronomy, and the synthesis is built up from the Hebrew. Every commentary excerpt is a verbatim, contiguous substring of the sourced voices_raw — trimmed at the ends to a pointed quotation, never altered, reordered, paraphrased, or stitched. A few honesty notes specific to Deuteronomy 20:1–20:
The ḥerem is not minimized. The hardest verses (16–18) are reported as the voices report them, including Cambridge's blunt judgment that here Deuteronomy “did not mitigate but aggravate” the fate of the Canaanites. The synthesis locates the text's own stated rationale — contagion of idolatry (v. 18, lâmad, teach) — and the conditional the voices draw from it (Benson and Rashi: repentance lifts the doom; Rahab and Gibeon are the canon's proof), without pretending the severity dissolves.
The crux of v. 19 is left open. The clause hā·’ā·ḏām ‘êṣ haś·śā·ḏeh is genuinely contested. BSB reads an interrogative (re-pointing to he·’ā·ḏām); the Masoretic pointing yields a statement; the Pulpit calls the text “corrupt.” The literal rendering above gives the interrogative (with BSB and Keil) but the divergence note names the statement-reading and its defenders (Barnes, Ibn Ezra). The parse is not contradicted; the ambiguity is owned.
Thread tiers, honestly assigned. Three threads (garzen, chânak, zâkûwr) earn verbal — confirmed only because the shared lexeme is rare (4 verses each), as the Verifier computes; in each the synthesis says plainly that a shared rare word is not a quotation. The nations-list (v. 17) is verbal-by-rarity but is a formulaic roll, not a citation. The chariot-and-horse echo of Psalm 20:7, the melting-heart motif, and the Deut 28:30 inversion are tiered structural on moderate-frequency words. The two ancient christological readings (peace-offer, Immanuel/Jesus) and the one novel reading (the man on the tree) are all cross-Testament; none can rest on a shared Strong's number, so each is tiered by attestation and rests on stated typological or etymological logic, never on a Hebrew↔Greek lexeme match. No NT-quotation-provenance dispute (and no Joshua 1:5 → Hebrews 13:5 case) arises in this unit.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)