DEUTERONOMY 20
This chapter would teach us that the inheritance can not be held without conflict. There are enemies great in resources and numbers but they are not to be feared, “for Jehovah thy God is with thee”. We can only avoid conflict by giving up what is of God, but all spiritual war is approached with priestly encouragement. God gives His people the assurance that He is with them in the battle. In all times of conflict we should listen to the voice of the priest; he represents that element among the people of God that has clearness of spiritual vision, and that considers for God. Any conflict that has not the support of the priestly element will not be “the battles of Jehovah”, but some battle of our own.
Then “the officers” lay down certain conditions that must be fulfilled before one goes to battle (verses 5 - 8). The builder of a new house must have dedicated it; the planter of a vineyard must have eaten of it; and one who has betrothed a wife must have taken her. These things seem to imply making good one’s place in the inheritance. If the conditions suggested here have not been secured we had better leave fighting to other people.
Until a man has dedicated his new house he has not, reached the end in view in building it. To dedicate a new house would suggest taking up one’s place definitely in the inheritance, and holding it in a spirit of dedication to God for His pleasure. I think the Ephesians were regarded as having built and dedicated their houses. They could be addressed as “fellow-citizens of the saints;” they had definitely taken up the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship. They were settled in, so to speak, in house conditions amongst the saints. This is a necessary requisite if we are to fight the Lord’s battles as in Ephesians 6. We must first secure a definite place which we can hold as from and for God.
Then the vineyard in verse 6 would speak of the joy yielded in the inheritance. A certain time was reserved for cultivation of the land, and for securing the joy of it, before one was called upon to render military service. If Leviticus 19: 23 - 25 would apply to a vineyard there would be five years, occupation of the land before going out to battle. It suggests that one has been long enough in the land not only to get its fruit, but to distinguish between what is uncircumcised and what is holy. The joy of the inheritance has been tasted without any admixture of unspiritual elements; it has had to be regarded as “holy for praise to Jehovah” before it could be eaten as yielding a pure and holy joy. There would be a certain immaturity about a man who had not eaten of [p. 268] his vineyard; he had not tasted the joy of the inheritance as a fruit of his own cultivation of it. I am afraid we often contend for things which we do not enjoy, or which are yet — to use the language of the type — uncircumcised in our souls. But the mind of God is clearly that we should enjoy things before we fight for them, and that we should enjoy them in a holy and spiritual way. The two and a half tribes were prepared to fight for Canaan, but they did not want to live there.
Then the betrothed wife would, in this connection, suggest the bringing forth of a generation to occupy and enjoy the land. That she should be taken would be the way of Israel’s increase. We are to be, first of all, concerned to make good what is for internal prosperity before going to battle. There is divine order and instruction in this; we must not think of it merely as consideration for natural feelings. These are conditions which in God’s ordering precede conflict; if we have not qualified in the way which is here intimated grave danger will be attached to our going out to battle. It would perhaps be wise and advantageous for us to leave the fighting to others!
Then the “timid and faint-hearted” are bidden to return from conflict (verse 8). They will only make others as weak as they are themselves. What a sad thing to be disheartening to others in a time of conflict! How often this has been the case! If I am timid and faint-hearted I must listen to the priest. When Paul exhorted Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God which is in thee ... For God has not given us a spirit, of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion” (2 Timothy 1: 6, 7), he was giving him priestly encouragement, and emboldening him to go on with the battle. In large measure we get support and encouragement through the brethren, but the Lord’s personal succour is ever a great reality; He will stand by His faithful servants in conflict [p. 269] even if every one else fails them. See 2 Timothy 4:16,17. Paul with Timothy was filling the place of the “priest” in Deuteronomy 20, but in relation to Mark (Acts 15: 38) he was acting as an “officer”. He perceived that Mark was not fit at that time to go to the battle, and he would not take him. There would have been an element of danger to himself and to others if he had gone.
There are some enemies to whom peace is to be proclaimed; they may make an “answer of peace”, and become tributaries, and serve the people of God. There is an evangelical touch about this. It would seem that service generally is regarded as a warfare. Levitical service is spoken of as a warfare (Numbers 4: 3 margin), and Paul speaks as a soldier when he says “I have combated the good combat” (2 Timothy 4: 7). If a city very far off will not make peace the males are to be destroyed, and the rest become a spoil; there is booty and food as the result of the conflict. Cities afar off would seem to represent what is opposed to God and to His people, but not viewed as in hopeless evil and needing to be exterminated like the old inhabitants of Canaan. It is that which may become tributary, or when the males are smitten — that is, when the energy of opposition is destroyed — may become a useful spoil, and add to the wealth of God’s people. It is a kind of warfare which has in view the addition of something of value, so that it would represent gospel activities, or the subduing to God of those in whom there has been opposition, but who may in result have a place amongst His people.
But the nations of Canaan represent that which is abominable, and under judgment with God, and which has to be utterly devoted to destruction without mercy. It is really diabolical in character, and hopelessly evil.
Trees which bear fruit were not to be cut down even in war. They could be eaten of. In conflict we have [p. 270] not to be indiscriminate; there may be something which is of God even amongst adversaries and we must be careful not to cut that down; it has abiding value.