20140113 Monday, January 13 2014
Deuteronomy 20: Articles Of War

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

A quote from an article entitled "Articles of War" in Wikipedia on January 9 2014:

"The Articles of War are a set of regulations drawn up to govern the conduct of a country's military and naval forces. The phrase was first used in 1637 in Robert Monro's His Expedition with the worthy Scots regiment called Mac-keyes regiment etc. (in the form "Articles of warres") and can be used to refer to military law in general. However, the term is usually used more specifically and with the modern spelling and capitalisation to refer to the British regulations drawn up in the wake of the Glorious Revolution and the U.S. regulations later based on them."

The LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ - see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) also gave the ancient Israelites a formal set of Articles of War to govern their military conduct. Their foremost mandate guaranteed their victory, if they followed Him: For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you."

"20:1 When thou goest out to battle 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. 20:2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, 20:3 And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; 20:4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." (Deuteronomy 20:1-4 KJV)

As in modern times, some, for the sake of the greater moral and/or economic well-being of the nation, were excused from military service during the time of their exceptional circumstance.

"20:5 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. 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. 20:7 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 battle, and another man take her. 20:8 And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. 20:9 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." (Deuteronomy 20:5-9 KJV)

The Israelites were to first offer the opposing force terms of surrender: "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." If the offer of peace was refused, the Israelites were to annihilate them. The Israelites fought only those who wanted to fight.

"20:10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. 20:11 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. 20:12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: 20:13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: 20:14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 20:15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations." (Deuteronomy 20:10-15 KJV)

Unlike present-day conflicts that almost always devastate the infrastructure of the enemy nation, the Israelites were to conserve, as much as possible, the environment.

"20:16 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: 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: 20:18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.

20:19 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 axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: 20:20 Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued." (Deuteronomy 20:16-20 KJV)

Fact Finder: How many wars have the present-day Israelites fought?
See Israel's Wars In The Twentieth Century