Deuteronomy 20:5

Captains. Hebrew, " shoterim, (Septuagint grammateis,) shall proclaim to the people." Whether these were the chief officers, or only heralds, does not appear. (Calmet) --- They were probably the priests attached to the army, ver. 2. See chap. i. 15. (Haydock) --- Dedicate it. Hebrew, "begin to use it," on which occasion a feast was made. (Jansenius) --- Psalm xxix seems to have been intended for such a solemnity. At the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem great rejoicings were made, 2 Esdras xii. 27. Josephus and the Rabbins allow a whole year for the occupation of the house, before the builder or new owner, could be obliged to go to war, in like manner as that term is specified for a person who had lately married a wife, chap. xxiv.5. The ancient Greeks deemed it a great misfortune to leave a house unfinished and a new wife desolate, which was the case of Protesilaus. (Homer, Iliad i.)