Matthew Poole and continuators on Deuteronomy 20

1 WHen thou goest out to battel against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Upon a just and necessary cause, as upon great provocation, or for thy own defence.

Marginal references: Psal. 20. 7. Isa. 31. 1.

2 And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the battel, that the priest shall approach, and speak unto the people ,

An eminent Priest appointed for this work, and to blow with the holy trumpets, Numb. 10. 9. and 31. 6.

Either successively to one regiment of the army after another, or to some by himself, to others by his brethren or deputies, which accompanied him for that end.

3 And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battel against your enemies: let not your heart faint , fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them.

Heb. be soft or tender. Softness or tenderness of heart towards God is commended, 2 King. 22. 19. but towards enemies it is condemned, here and ver. 8. Levit. 26. 36. 2 Chron. 13. 7. Isa. 7. 4.

Marginal references: Heb. be tender.; Heb. make haste.

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 battel, and another man dedicate it .

Which was done by feasting and thanksgiving to God. See the title of Psal. 30. and Nehem. 12. 27. Heb. hath initiated it, i. e. entred upon it, taken possession of it, dwelt in it.

Least his heart be set upon it, and thereby he be negligent or timerous in the battel to the scandal and prejudice of others.

And so he should lose and another get the fruit of his labours, which might seem unjust or hard. And God provides even for mens infirmities. But this and the following exceptions are to be understood onely of a War allowed by God, not in a War commanded by God, not in the approaching war with the Canaanites, from which even the Bridegroom was not exempted, as the Iewish writers note.

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 battel, and another man eat of it.

This and the former dispensation were generally convenient▪ but more necessary in the beginning of their settlement in Canaan, for the encouragement of those who should build houses or plant vineyards, which was chargeable to them, and beneficial to the commonwealth.

Heb. made it common, to wit, for the use of himself and family and friends, which it was not till the fifth year, Levit. 19. 23, &c. Ier. 31. 5.

Marginal references: Heb. made it common. See Lev. 19. 23, 24.

7 And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battel, and another man take her.

Which was done by a solemn and mutual promise, but not by an actual contract. See Gen. 19. 14. Deut. 22. 23.

Marginal references: chap. 24. 5.

9 And it shall be when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people .

Or rather, as the Hebrew hath it, they shall set or place the captains of the armies in the head or front of the people under their charge, that they may conduct and manage them, and by their example incourage their souldiers. But it is not likely they had their captains to make or chuse when they were just going to battel.

Marginal references: Heb. to be i[illegible: 1+ letters] the head of the people.

10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it .

This seems to be understood not of the cities of the Canaanites, as is manifest from ver. 16, 17, 18. who were under an absolute sentence of utter destruction, Exod 23. 32, 33. Deut. 7. 1, 2. whence they are blamed that made any league or peace with them, Iudg. 2. 2. but of the cities either of other nations who injured or disturbed them, or commenced war against them, or aided their enemies, or oppressed their friends and allies; or of the Hebrews themselves, if they were guilty or abettors of Idolatry or Apostacy from God, or of sedition or rebellion against authority, or of giving protection and defence to capital offenders. See Gen. 14. Iudg. 20. 2 Sam. 20. &c.

Marginal references: 2 Sam. 20. 18.

11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein, shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee .

By their purses, and by their labours too, as appears from 1 King. 9. 15. 2 Chron. 8. 7.

13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edg of the sword .

A just punishment of their obstinate refusal of peace offered.

14 But the women, and the little ones , and the cattel, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thy self, and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

Excused by their sex or age, as not involved in the guilt, nor being likely to revenge their quarrel.

Marginal references: Josh. 8. 2.; Heb. spoil.

16 But of the cities of these people which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth :

Heb. no soul, i. e. no man, as that word is oft used. Compare Ios. 10. 40. with 11. 14. For the beasts, some few excepted as being under a special curse, were given them for a prey.

Marginal references: Num. 33. 5[illegible: 1+ letters]. chap. 7. 1, 2.

19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time in making war against it, to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof , by forcing an ax against them, for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down ( for the tree of the field is mans life , to imploy them in the siege.

To wit, the fruit trees, as appears from the following words. Which is to be understood of a general destruction of them, not of the cutting down of some few of them, as the conveniency of the siege might require.

(i. e.) The sustenance or support of his life, as life is taken Deut. 24. 6. But this place may be otherwise translated, as it is in the Margent of our English Bibles: For, O man (the Hebrew letter He being here the note of a vocative case, as it is Psal. 9. 7.) the tree (or, trees, the singular number for the plural, as is common) of the field is (or ought, as the Hebrew Lamed is used Esth. 9. 1. Psal. 62. 10.) to be employed in the siege, or, as it is in the Hebrew, to go before thy face, i. e. to make fences for thy security, in the siege. The trees of the field, I here understand not in its general signification of all trees including fruit-bearing trees, as that phrase is commonly used, but in its more special and distinct signification, for unfruitful trees as it is taken Isa. 55. 1 2. or such as grow onely in open fields, such as are elsewhere called the trees of the wood, 1 Chron. 16. 33. Isa. 7. 2. or the trees of the forest, Cant. 2. 3. Isa. 10. 19. which are opposed to the trees of the gardens, Gen. 3. 2, 8. Eccl. 2. 5. Ezek. 31. 9. as the flower of the field, Psal. 103. 15. Isa. 40. 6. and the lilies of the field, Mat. 6. 28. are opposed to those that grow in Gardens, and are preserved and cultivated by the gardeners art and care. And so it is a very proper argument to disswade from the destroying of fruit-trees, because the wild and unfruitful trees were sufficient for the use of the siege. And this sence fitly agrees with the following words, where the concession or grant which here is delivered in more ambiguous terms of the tree of the field is repeated and explained concerning the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat.

Marginal references: Or, for, O man, the tree of the field is to be imployed in the siege.; Heb. to go from before thee.