_MOSES COMMANDS THAT, UPON THE APPROACH OF A BATTLE, THE PRIEST SHOULD ENCOURAGE THE PEOPLE; THAT THE OFFICERS SHOULD DISMISS FROM WAR THOSE WHO HAD LATELY PURCHASED A HOUSE, PLANTED A VINEYARD, OR BETROTHED A WIFE; THAT PEACE SHOULD BE PROCLAIMED TO CITIES, BEFORE THE BESIEGING OF THEM; AND THAT FR... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 1. _AND CHARIOTS_— See Judges 4:3. These chariots were of iron, and sometimes armed with scythes, which rendered them very formidable.... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 2. _THE PRIEST SHALL APPROACH, AND SPEAK UNTO THE PEOPLE_— The Jews say there was a priest anointed for this purpose: his office was, to blow with the trumpets (Numbers 31:6.) when they were preparing for battle, and to exhort them, in the most persuasive manner, to a courageous and undaunted... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 4. _FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD IS HE THAT GOETH WITH YOU_— The ark, the symbol of God's presence, went sometimes before them, and sometimes in the midst of them; Joshua 3:10; Joshua 6:9. So that God was then properly said to go with them; and at all other times he was present to aid them, especial... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 5. _AND THE OFFICERS SHALL SPEAK UNTO THE PEOPLE_— The priest was to pronounce the words in the former verse; after which, the officers were to go and repeat them at the head of the battalions. This is the opinion of the rabbis, particularly Abarbanel. These _officers,_ probably, were those w... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 6. _HATH PLANTED A VINEYARD, AND HATH NOT YET EATEN OF IT?_— By the law, Leviticus 19:24 they might not eat of the fruit of trees for three years; and in the fourth the fruit was sacred, and to be eaten nowhere but at the sanctuary: after which, the fruit of the fifth year was no longer sacre... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 7. _HATH BETROTHED A WIFE_— See Selden de Uxor. Heb. lib. 3: cap. 3 and Schickard, Jus. Reg. cap. 5 theor. 17. This was a law of no less policy and prudence than humanity. Josephus says: "Those who had built a house, betrothed a wife, &c. were not obliged to go to war; because the desire to p... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 8. _AND THE OFFICERS SHALL SPEAK FURTHER_— That is, "make this new proclamation throughout the camp." In consequence of this proclamation, when Gideon warred against the Midianites, there were only ten thousand of all the two-and-thirty thousand men that were with him, who stayed to fight, Ju... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 9. _THEY SHALL MAKE CAPTAINS OF THE ARMIES TO LEAD THE PEOPLE_— _The captains of the armies shall take an account of the sum of the people._ Waterland. In this version the Doctor follows Le Clerc. We follow the LXX, which Houbigant much approves. "Moses," says he, "orders, very appositely, th... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 11. _IF IT MAKE THEE ANSWER OF PEACE_— i.e. Accept of the conditions offered to them, which, we are told, were three: first, that they should renounce idolatry; secondly, become subjects to the Jews; and thirdly, pay them an annual tribute. See Selden de Jure N. & G. lib. 6: cap. 14. It is th... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 12, 13. _IF IT WILL MAKE NO PEACE—THOU SHALT SMITE EVERY MALE_— To punish their obstinacy for rejecting peace, and for incurring all those horrors of war, which, no doubt, they were taught to expect if they refused the conditions offered.... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 15. _THUS SHALT THOU DO UNTO ALL THE CITIES,_ &C.— This clemency to the _women and little ones_ was limited to those who were not inhabitants of the land of Canaan; the inhabitants are ordered in the following verses to be otherwise treated. It is generally thought, that by the _little,_ or _... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 16-18. _BUT OF THE CITIES OF THESE PEOPLE—THOU SHALT SAVE ALIVE NOTHING THAT BREATHETH_— i.e. Neither man, woman, nor child: but this slaughter of all the people is to be understood only, as we observed above, in case they did not surrender when summoned, but rejected the conditions of peace... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 19, 20. (_FOR THE TREE OF THE FIELD IS MAN'S LIFE_) _TO EMPLOY THEM IN THE SIEGE_— The plain meaning of the passage, as appears from the context, is, that in case of a long siege, where they might want wood for raising batteries, they were to spare the fruit-trees as much as possible, and mak... [ Continue Reading ]