Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy Chapter 20

• Deuteronomy 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. 

This was true when Israel was right with God and keeping His commandments. When they walked in their first love and served the Lord, He was with them. No powerful army over the whole world could defeat them. If God be for us....who can be against us. No nation no matter how powerful can defeat almighty God. 

The king of Moab desired to defeat Israel but he could not because God was protecting Israel thereby keeping His promise to Abraham. So he went to the prophet Balaam to get him to curse Israel. We know that Balaam could not do that so in the beginning Balaam knew that God would not curse Israel. The rewards the king of Moab offered were too great for Balaam to resist so what did he do? He planned a way to get God to curse Israel because of sin. He had the daughters of Moab tempt the young men of Israel into fornication and idolatry. That way God Himself would defeat Israel. 

That is how Satan works today. He can't just get God to curse us so Satan tries to lead us back into the same sin that Jesus saved us from the moment we made Jesus the Lord of our lives. If Satan does not succeed in tempting us back into sin, he will bring us religious substitutes to cover up the true gospel that saves. These religions can look so good with good works, charitable acts and an outward show of being godly but the true way of salvation through faith in Christ has been covered up by so many religious rules and regulations that have nothing to do with the soul.

As long as Israel kept true to God, they were safe and God would be with them. We know from reading the Old Testament that they didn't always win their battles but we also can see that of those times, sin had invaded them and that caused God's hand of protection to leave until the time they repented and got right with God. 

That is why the apostle Paul writes:

• Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 
• 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
• 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 
• 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 
• 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 

The same Paul that teaches us about God's grace, also teaches us that the grace that saves us from sin does not give us a license to go back into sin without repenting. 

• Deuteronomy 20:2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, 
• 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; 

We have no fear of any enemy if God is on our side. Fear is caused by unbelief. When we do not believe that God is with us, we will fear. 

This is another reason not to return to sin because the minute we do, the Holy Spirit will prick our conscience. If we heed to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we will be instantly restored but if we resist, we will go back into unbelief. If we keep resisting like Samson years ago, the power of God in our lives will not be present even if we think He is. Instead we should always be humble before God and search our hearts that we do not allow the desire to stray from Him into our hearts. 

The best way to build faith and believe that God is with us is to read His word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Either by a faithful preacher of the word or by reading the word itself, our faith is built up. If a written volume of the bible is available, it is better to read and study it for oneself. If we rely solely upon the preacher for instance, if he goes off into error, so will we. That is why God provided us with the written word. 

• Deuteronomy 20:4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. 

I repeat at this point in history Israel had God on their side and any one of us can have that. To get God on our side is to receive Christ and be delivered from our sins. This though was the time before Christ when Moses first lead Israel out of Egypt to bring in the law of God which was to lead them to Christ when He came. 

• Deuteronomy 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. 

This shows us a God of compassion. He understood that people could not always drop everything and go out to battle. There were exceptions to that in emergencies though. 

• 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. 
• 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. 

Again we see compassion in the law of God. God has always been a God that loves and made laws for the good of all. He was never out to just make someone miserable. Sin, steals our joy, kills our soul and leads us to destruction and misery. Sin does not bring true love, joy, peace and true contentment. 

• Deuteronomy 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. 

One that fears battle will hinder even the bravest souls. Not everyone is suited to fight in an army. God made us all different. Some are pacifists and prefer peace. However, in order to have peace, sometimes stubborn enemies have to be fought against, so God makes provision for those times like in the days of Hitler. Man had to fight to stop his terror. 

God makes some men brave and strong to be able to fight in battle. Yet some men are brave in another way. They want to fight with the sword of the spirit and are interested in preaching the word. Others may want to serve by using their skills in medicine, nursing and such. 

That is why I do not believe in the draft. Drafting and forcing everyone to serve in the armed forces is never good. It should be volunteer only. The bible here in Deuteronomy makes is clear that all men are not the same. 

• Deuteronomy 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. 

To be organized and not have chaos, we must have captains and leaders. We just must pray to be blessed with godly leaders instead of those that are out for self promotion. 

• Deuteronomy 20:10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. 
• 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. 

God offered peace to those who desired peace. We must remember that God was allowing Israel to defeat these nations because of their great wickedness. Some of which was the sacrificing of innocent children to idols. Their wickedness had come to a point that they were beyond redemption. Yet even in that, God made a way they some of them could make peace with Israel and serve Israel instead of being destroyed. 

• Deuteronomy 20:12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: 
• 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: 
• 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. 

In some cases God spared women and children but there were other times when the wickedness had already spread to the children and none could be spared or their evil would continue and pollute all the rest of the world. 

• Deuteronomy 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. 
• 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: 
• 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: 
• 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. 

Here we see the reason why some were spared and others were not. When sin gets into the genetic makeup of mankind, they had to be wiped out. Only God can decide this though, we cannot take it upon ourselves to walk in and kill whole villages of people in our own thinking. 

We live now in the day of grace where the emphasis is on preaching the gospel and saving the lost. We are not to go and conquer nations. The exceptions to this is like in the case of Hitler when he threatened the safety and well being of the whole world. 

• Deuteronomy 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 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. 

God seemed to care for the environment. Some trees were for food and others could be used for battle. 

Even though we are under grace and not the law, there are things in the law that make good sense after all God made the law for our good. Since God made it, there has to be good in it. Most of it was abolished by the death and resurrection of Jesus. The ceremonial religious laws were abolished. Even though we can't be lost for breaking a dietary law for instance or not using circumcision, some things would be good practices for health reasons. They just do not save the soul. Now we can concentrate on things that are really sin against God. The moral part of God's law is still in effect but a better way is the 13th chapter of Corinthians way; keeping His word because we love Him. -DC

Deuteronomy 21