Deuteronomy Chapter 20

This chapter is about going to war. We are going to be getting into the nitty-gritty of ancient Judiac warfare tactics. That’s all this chapter is about. Hope y’all enjoy this.

When the Israelites went to war against their enemies & saw that the enemies’ forces were larger than the Israelites’, they didn’t have to be afraid. Because God would be with them. When the Israelites were about to go into battle, the priest would come forward & address the army.

The priest tells the army, “Today we’re going into battle. Don’t be afraid or faint of heart. Don’t be terrified or panic. Because God’s got our back, y’all!” Then the officers tell the army, “If anyone’s got a reason to go home, go. If anyone is afraid or faint of heart, go home. We don’t need that kind of vibe going around to the rest of the army.” When the officers were done speaking, they picked commanders.

When the Israelites marched up to attack a city, they had to first offer peace. If the city accepts & opens its gates, all the people in the city will be subject to slavery. (The text says “forced labor.” That’s slavery.) If they refuse peace & engage in battle with the Israelites, they can lay siege to the city.

When God gave the victory to the Israelites, they had to kill all the men in the city. The women, children, livestock, & everything else in the city can be taken as plunder. The Israelites could use the plunder for themselves. This is how the Israelites were to treat all the cities that were far from them. Not their neighbors.

However, in the cities that God gave the Israelites, they couldn’t leave anything that breathed when taking them over. They had to completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, & Jebusites. Otherwise, they would’ve taught the Israelites to follow their ways of worshiping their gods. And doing so would make the Israelites sin against their god.

When the Israelites were laying siege to a city for a long time, fighting to capture it, they couldn’t cut down the trees. Because they could eat the fruit of the tree. The text questions whether or not trees are people, that they should be cut down like the people of the city they’re besieging. However, the Israelites could cut down non-fruit-bearing trees for their siege works until the city falls.