Of War Three Laws These laws, Deuteronomy 20:1-19 f., separate 19 from Deuteronomy 21:1-9 (both of manslaughter) and are in phrase and substance akin to Deuteronomy 21:10-14 and Deuteronomy 23:9-14, cp. Deuteronomy 24:5. All are in the Sg. address, have similar introductions, and, while some breath... [ Continue Reading ]
_When thou goest forth to_ WAR, etc.] So Deuteronomy 21:10, cp. Deuteronomy 23:9 (10). On _go forth_see Deuteronomy 13:13 (14). _Enemies_, so Sam. LXX; Heb. _enemy_(but collective). _and seest horses, and chariots_ Foreign to early Israel, see on Deuteronomy 17:16 Joshua 17:16; Judges 1:19; Judges... [ Continue Reading ]
Of War and Exemptions from Service in it When Israel goes to war with a foe more numerous and having horses and chariots they shall not fear; Jehovah is with them (Deuteronomy 20:1). On the eve of the campaign a priest shall exhort the people (Deuteronomy 20:2-4). Officers shall discharge every man... [ Continue Reading ]
_when ye draw nigh_ LXX THOU DRAWEST _nigh_: see introd. note. _to the_ _WAR_] Not _battle_. The captains had still to be appointed (Deuteronomy 20:9) and this must have taken place at the start of the campaign, not on the eve of engagement with the foe. _the priest_ Or (it may equally be) _a prie... [ Continue Reading ]
_fear not_, etc.] neither the standing phrase of Pl. nor that of Sg.: see on Deuteronomy 1:29.... [ Continue Reading ]
_to save you_ Better, TO GIVE YOU THE VICTORY.... [ Continue Reading ]
_officers shoṭerîm_, Deuteronomy 1:15; Deuteronomy 16:18. _a new house … not dedicated_ 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. (A.V. of title to Psalms 30 is misleading.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_not used the fruit thereof_ As in Deuteronomy 28:30 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. See Lev... [ Continue Reading ]
_that hath betrothed_, etc.] Cp. Deuteronomy 24:5, exempting the newly-married from service for a year. The reason can hardly be that he was unclean for, as in the case of other married men, this obstacle could be removed (2 Samuel 11:6 f.). Evidently the motive is humane, in the wife's interests, o... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall speak further_ The change in the formula is no proof that this is a later addition to the law (as Steuern. avers). _fearful and fainthearted_ It is true that such were also supposed to be possessed by evil spirits (Schwally). For a Celtic analogy see Scott's _Fair Maid of Perth_, in which Co... [ Continue Reading ]
_they shall appoint They_, not necessarily _the officers_of the previous clause, but indefinite: those whose duty it is to appoint, or the people as a whole. Cp. 1Ma 3:55 f. _captains of hosts_ The chiefs of the main divisions, cp. 1 Kings 2:5. These are not appointed till the host has been sifted... [ Continue Reading ]
_When thou drawest nigh_ Cp. Deuteronomy 20:2. _to fight against it_ With another preposition the same vb is used of attacking or besieging a city, Judges 9:45; 1 Samuel 23:1, etc. _proclaim peace unto it_ Judges 21:13. Negotiations between enemies on the eve of battle were frequent (e.g. Judges 11... [ Continue Reading ]
Of the Capture of Heathen Cities Before besieging a city Israel shall offer peace, and if it surrenders its people shall be subject to service (Deuteronomy 20:10 f.). But if it will not, Israel shall lay siege, and having taken it, shall slay every male, but reserve women, children, cattle and spoi... [ Continue Reading ]
_tributary_ Heb. _la-mas. 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 buildings, 1 Kings 5:13 (27), Deuteronomy 9:15; but frequently of the Canaanite peoples surviving among Israel, J, Joshua 16:10; Joshua 17... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT _if it will make no peace with thee … thou shalt besiege_, i.e. _confine_or _blockade it_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_when the Lord thy God delivereth it_ As to this D has no doubt. _thou shalt smite_, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 2:34.... [ Continue Reading ]
_but_ or _only_. Heb. _rak_, introducing exceptions. See on Deuteronomy 10:15. _the women_, etc.] A mitigated form of the _ḥerem_see on Deuteronomy 2:34 urged not only from motives of humanity but on utilitarian considerations. _take for a prey_, etc.] Deuteronomy 2:35; Deuteronomy 3:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_these nations_ near or round Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But_ Heb. _rak_, introducing an opposite case, see Deuteronomy 10:15. _thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth_ Heb. _any breath_, i.e. human life (Genesis 2:7; 1 Kings 17:17; Isaiah 42:5), cp. the deuteronomic Joshua 10:40; Joshua 11:11; Joshua 11:14. Only in Genesis 7:22 does [ Continue Reading ]
_utterly destroy them_ put them to the _ḥerem_in its severer form (see on Deuteronomy 2:34). But from the passages quoted above on _tributary, Deuteronomy 20:11_, we see that Israel did not put these nations to the ban but only to forced labour. Here D did not mitigate but aggravate the fate of the... [ Continue Reading ]
The one Pl. passage in this law, see introd. note. _abominations_ See on Deuteronomy 7:25; Deuteronomy 12:31; Deuteronomy 17:1. 19 f. Of Sparing the Fruit Trees in a Siege In a prolonged siege, Israel, while eating of the besieged's fruit-trees, shall not destroy them (Deuteronomy 20:19). Trees w... [ Continue Reading ]
_besiege … a long time_ From this and _build bulwarks_in Deuteronomy 20:19, we see that Israel were already familiar with siege-operations and did not depend on carrying a city by immediate storm, as the nomad Semites were obliged to do or retire. _in making war against it to take it_ Curiously red... [ Continue Reading ]
_bulwarks_ Heb. _maṣor_, from the vb _to besiege_, therefore, SIEGE-WORKS, or circumvallation. See Micah 5:1 (Deuteronomy 4:14), Isaiah 29:3; Jeremiah 6:6, _fell ye trees and heap up a wall against Jerusalem_, cp Ezekiel 4:2, Jdg 9:46-49, 2 Samuel 20:15. Specimens of such works, of wicker and wood,... [ Continue Reading ]