Deuteronomy 20:1-9
THE SELECTION OF SOLDIERS FOR A CAMPAIGN... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SELECTION OF SOLDIERS FOR A CAMPAIGN... [ Continue Reading ]
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots, an equipment which Israel did not possess at that time, and which always made the impression of superior power on the part of the enemy, AND A PEOPLE MORE THAN THOU, BE NOT AFRAID OF THEM, for the battle would not be... [ Continue Reading ]
And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the battle, when they are mobilized for war and drawn up in order, to advance to the battle, THAT THE PRIEST, one specially commissioned for that purpose, SHALL APPROACH AND SPEAK UNTO THE PEOPLE,... [ Continue Reading ]
and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies; let not your hearts faint, be weak and tender, FEAR NOT AND DO NOT TREMBLE, be not stirred up with consternation, NEITHER BE YE TERRIFIED BECAUSE OF THEM, the expressions purposely being multiplied in ord... [ Continue Reading ]
for the Lord, your God, is He that goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you, to effect a rescue from all enemies and to insure the victory.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the officers, the keepers of the genealogical records and of the tribal rolls, whose duty it also was to keep account of the soldiers mustered, 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... [ Continue Reading ]
And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it, for, by God's command, there could not be a common use of fruit until the fifth year, Leviticus 19:23? LET HIM ALSO GO AND RETURN UNTO HIS HOUSE, LEST HE DIE IN THE BATTLE, AND ANOTHER MAN EAT OF IT.... [ Continue Reading ]
And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her, the formal marriage not yet having taken place? LET HIM GO AND RETURN UNTO HIS HOUSE, LEST HE DIE IN THE BATTLE, AND ANOTHER MAN TAKE HER Independent human life is here recognized in its three beginnings: "house-building as th... [ Continue Reading ]
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 unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint, literally, melt, dissolve, AS WELL AS HIS HEART. A single weak soldier, whom the very thought of going... [ Continue Reading ]
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, men who were to have the actual command in the campaign and during the battles. All this was done under the direction of Jehovah, who always retained suprem... [ Continue Reading ]
MANNER OF DEALING WITH A BESIEGED CITY... [ Continue Reading ]
When thou, in the course of a campaign during a war, COMEST NIGH UNTO A CITY TO FIGHT AGAINST IT, THEN PROCLAIM PEACE UNTO IT, by inviting the people of the city to submit peacefully, to surrender without resistance.... [ Continue Reading ]
And it shall be, if it, the city, MAKE THEE ANSWER OF PEACE, agree to the conditions as offered, AND OPEN (its gates) UNTO THEE, THEN IT SHALL BE THAT ALL THE PEOPLE THAT IS FOUND THERE IN SHALL BE TRIBUTARIES UNTO THEE, AND THEY SHALL SERVE THEE, being held in vassalage and obliged to pay tribute,... [ Continue Reading ]
And if it, the city in question, WILL MAKE NO PEACE WITH THEE, refusing to consider the conditions as proposed, BUT WILL MAKE WAR AGAINST THEE, THEN THOU SHALT BESIEGE IT;... [ Continue Reading ]
and when the Lord, thy God, hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword, Numbers 31:7;... [ Continue Reading ]
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, as well-earned booty; AND THOU SHALT EAT THE SPOIL OF THINE ENEMIES, use it for the maintenance of life, WHICH THE LORD, THY GOD, HATH GIVEN THEE.... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations, of the people living in Canaan proper.... [ Continue Reading ]
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, neither man nor beast, for it was to be a war of extermination.... [ Continue Reading ]
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;... [ Continue Reading ]
that they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they have done unto their gods, the idolatrous and immoral customs connected with their worship; SO SHOULD YE SIN AGAINST THE LORD, YOUR GOD, as later history abundantly shows.... [ Continue Reading ]
When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof, the various trees bearing fruits and nuts, BY FORCING AN AX AGAINST THEM, by chopping them down with the customary swinging motion; FOR THOU MAYEST EAT OF THEM, their fruit is a... [ Continue Reading ]
Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, whose fruit could not be used for food, THOU SHALT DESTROY AND CUT THEM DOWN; AND THOU SHALT BUILD BULWARKS AGAINST THE CITY THAT MAKETH WAR WITH THEE UNTIL IT BE SUBDUED, literally, until it (the walls) falls down from its fortified... [ Continue Reading ]