Deuteronomy 20:6

_AND WHAT MAN IS HE THAT HATH PLANTED A VINEYARD, AND HATH NOT YET EATEN OF IT? LET HIM ALSO GO AND RETURN UNTO HIS HOUSE, LEST HE DIE IN THE BATTLE, AND ANOTHER MAN EAT OF IT._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-9 In the wars wherein Israel engaged according to the will of God, they might expect the Divine assistance. The Lord was to be their only confidence. In these respects they were types of the Christian's warfare. Those unwilling to fight, must be sent away. The unwillingness might arise from a man's outward condition. God would not be served by men forced against their will. Thy people shall be willing, Psalms 110:3. In running the Christian race, and fighting the good fight of faith, we must lay aside all that would make us unwilling. If a man's unwillingness rose from weakness and fear, he had leave to return from the war. The reason here given is, lest his brethren's heart fail as well as his heart. We must take heed that we fear not with the fear of them that are afraid, Isaiah 8:12....

See the margin and references. The fruit of newly-planted trees was set apart from common uses for four years....

EXPOSITION DIRECTIONS CONCERNING WARFARE IN GENERAL, AND FOR THE BESIEGING OF CITIES IN PARTICULAR. DEUTERONOMY 20:1 The instructions in this chapter are peculiar to Deuteronomy. As the people of God, Israel was not a warlike nation; they were rather to abstain from warfare, and as a general rule to cultivate the arts of peace. But they had before them at this time the prospect of a serious and protracted conflict before they could occupy the land which God had assigned to them; and they might in future years have to go to war to maintain their independence and repel aggression. In view of this, instructions are here given

AND WHAT MAN IS HE THAT HATH PLANTED A VINEYARD, AND HATH NOT YET EATEN OF IT?.... Which he has a right to do, and it is hard for him to be deprived of it, 1 Corinthians 9:7 or "hath not made it common" k; according to the law in Leviticus 19:23. 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; so the Targums of Jerusalem, Jonathan, and Jarchi, interpret it: "let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it"; or make it common, according to the above law: Aben Ezra seems to have another sense of this passage, deriving the word from another, which signifies piping and dancing, and ob

DEUTERONOMY 20. LAWS TO BE OBSERVED DURING WAR. Peculiar to cf. Deuteronomy 21:10 (which some attach immediately to ch. 20) and Deuteronomy 23:9; Deuteronomy 24:5 (see remarks prefixed to Deuteronomy 19:14 ff.). The general effect of these laws is to soften the barbarities of war, though in some respects (Deuteronomy 20:13) they perpetuate its grossest cruelties. What were the wars which suggested these regulations?...

WHAT. Figure of speech _Erotesis._...

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 who has built a house and not dedicated it (Deuteronomy 20:5), or planted a vineyard but not completed the rites opening its fruits to common use (Deuteronomy 20:6), or betrothed a wife but not taken her (Deuteronomy 20:7);

_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 sacred, but _common_ [חלל _chillel_] for the owner's use. What is here said of _a vineyard_ is to be understood, by parity of reason, of an orchard, olive-yard, or the like....

(2) EXEMPTIONS FROM MILITARY SERVICE (Deuteronomy 20:5-9) 5 And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. 6 And what man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not used the fruit thereof? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use the fruit thereof. 7 And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. 8 And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as his heart. 9 And it shall be, when the officers have m