Nathan E. Lewis

As we read Deuteronomy, we discover how different ancient life was from our experience. We loathe the dust of nomadic life. Our stomachs turn at the thought of mass animal sacrifices. It is nearly impossible for us to imagine the voice of God, like thunder, speaking from the mountain. The ancient Near East seems to be quite removed from our experience. Nevertheless, some things never change. Human nature and relationships are remarkably similar to our experience. The Ten Commandments are surprisingly relevant today. Sadly, we discover another similarity. In Moses’ day, nations would war against other nations. Today, approximately 3,400 years later, we still go to war. Moses devotes his address recorded in Chapter 20 to the rules of war codified in God’s holy law.
Moses begins by encouraging Israel to take courage in God, who sends his chosen people into war. Israel is to remember that God liberated her from Egypt. The army of Israel is to listen to the priest who speaks of God going into battle with his people, giving them the victory over the enemy. With such an introduction, Moses makes us wonder, “How do we know that we are fighting a war God has directed us to fight?� The answer supplied to us in the whole of Deuteronomy concerns the covenant. We know that we are God’s people through the covenant he has contracted with us. The covenant presents God’s holy law as the basis for all life and behavior. God says, “If you obey my commands then I will bless you, but if you disobey my commands then I will curse you.� God is the party of the covenant who has the authority to make the law and to enforce it. He is the party who makes the promises and keeps them in his infinite faithfulness. The human race is the second party to the covenant who has the duty of living according to the divine law and the privilege of receiving the blessings promised in the covenant. Any group living within this covenant has assurance that she is the people of God. Her enemies are God’s enemies. He will go with his people into battle. He will be their God and they will be his people.
In Chapter 20 Moses presents the historic foundation of this covenant. Israel is to remember the foundation of the covenant as she goes to war, taking courage from it. The foundation is God’s redemption of Israel. How does Israel know that she belongs to God and that he goes with her into battle? She is to remember God liberating her from Egyptian oppression. God has not freed Israel from Egypt only to let her die in the wilderness. He has redeemed her from slavery so that she might enter the Promised Land to live in freedom.
The Bible is the story of God redeeming his people. When we have read the entire story, we discover that God has not only redeemed us from our earthly oppressors, but he has freed us from the great enemies, sin and death. At the climax of human history, the Son of God became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. Jesus Christ lay down his life for our freedom from sin and death. The Father in heaven raised his Son to new life so that all of us who put our faith in him might have life eternal.
Such a view of war is quite controversial in our present world. If God is on our side, then he must not be on the side of those we fight. The Muslims claim that God is on their side and the Christians claim that God is actually on their side. Who is right? Isn’t war wrong for both sides? Why would a loving God associate himself with human war? Actually, war is not the problem. If we were to end all wars, an appropriate goal for humanity, we would find ourselves at negotiating tables where the problem would still exist. Is God on our side or does he sit on the other side of the table? Most of the world fights for water rights. Is God on the side of those who presently control water rights? Or is he on the side of those who are starving to death? Moses has a strong confidence that God is on the side of his covenant people, whom he has redeemed from slavery in Egypt. The apostles seem to have a strong confidence that God is on the side of his covenant people, all of those who have by faith become united to Jesus Christ, in his death and resurrection.
The first rules of war listed by Moses are the rules of valid excuse from joining the army. He lists four excuses: 1) If a man has built a house and has not yet dedicated it, then he is exempt from joining the army; 2) If he has planted a vineyard and has not yet reaped a crop, then he is exempt; 3) If a man is engaged to be married and the wedding has yet to take place, then he is exempt; and 4) If a man lacks courage and by joining the army he would spread fear among the ranks, then he is exempt. What do you think of these excuses? Do you think that these are good reasons for exemption? These certainly communicate that there are other important pursuits in life other than war. These certainly promote freedom of conscience and take into consideration human weakness. These also certainly present going to war as an honorable sacrifice of peaceful and fruitful life. Those who choose to go to war do so for the freedom and benefit of those who stay behind.
Not only for the ancient world, but also in our 21st century world, these rules of war are amazingly founded upon freedom. Moses does not sound like a hawk. Neither does he sound like a pacifist. The second rule of war illustrates God’s heart for peace. War is not the only way to solve the problems we encounter in this world. Only when other means and attempts fail do we come to it.
Moses instructs Israel to offer terms of peace to any city prior to waging war against it. If the city agrees to peace, then Israel is to make the residents of that city her servants. God’s law does not advocate slavery. We have already read in Deuteronomy the carefully clear prohibitions against slavery. Israel is to remember her 400 years of slavery in Egypt and God’s liberating her from it. She is to remember and then refrain from enslaving anyone else. The law outlines indentured servitude, allowing a person to work, to gain training and security toward the owning of his own land. In a short seven years, a hard-working person may be free to build his/her own estate.
What is this forced labor of an enemy city that agrees to peace? Is this servitude functional slavery? It is nothing of the sort. Peace comes through order and accountability. The city against whom Israel is to war is a city that has been living outside of God’s covenant. Israel offering peace is God’s kind invitation to this city to enter into his covenant. The city may reform and join the covenant community. For it to do so, the city must come under the authority of God. Israel is not to enslave her. The city has been enslaved in her sins. The first step out of slavery is forced labor as servants of those who have the power to free and establish the city according to the covenant.
If the city refuses these steps to peace, then Israel is to destroy it, putting all of the males to death. Israel is to take the women, children, livestock and all possessions as plunder. For Israel, the taking of plunder, meant bringing these people and possessions into relationships of responsible and pure stewardship. God prohibited the raping of the women, but he did encourage the inclusion of them into the covenant community. The law prevents the enslaving of the children, but it promotes the employing of the children as servants until they mature into freedom. The possessions may be enjoyed as gifts from God’s hand.
Any of us who had difficulty with these rules of war and peace must first consider how it is that we would bring about peace and order in a vile city, a chaotic nation, and fallen world. What is your plan for peace? Human history proves that calling us to peace or writing, or even singing about peace does not work. There must be a plan, a method involving authority, power, and control.
There is an exemption to these rules of peace and plunder. Several times in his addresses, Moses has mentioned these six nations that are so consumed in their evil that they deserve utter destruction. God has clearly called for the destruction of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Israel is to destroy these groups, men women, children, and cattle. In Chapter 18, Moses has listed the abominations of these nations: child sacrifice by fire, divination, fortune telling, omens, sorcery, charming, channeling, wizardry, and necromancy. Together, these practices describe for us what we would call occult practices.
When you read the Bible, with whom do you associate? Do you see yourself as a member of chosen Israel or do you ever consider yourself to be among the six wicked nations? Actually, we can benefit and grow spiritually by placing ourselves in both groups. As we confess that we deserve God’s punishment, we are moved to repentance. As we discover God’s love for us, we are moved to gratefulness.
Once we have allowed this bombshell to explode in our hearts and our minds, completely decimating any personal defense we would offer before God, then we are able to hear the gospel at the ground zero of our shattered hearts. If you have committed these abominations, the gospel announces a way to your purity, protection and freedom. If you have merely committed petty sins, mostly hidden in your mind and heart, the gospel announces to you the same remedy for your estrangement from God. Through Jesus Christ, we have forgiveness of our sins.
The final rule of war listed in Chapter 20 may catch us by surprise. Out of all of the possible rules that God could include in his law, why does he include this one? This rule protects the fruitful trees of the besieged city. War according to God’s law is to be waged with minimal destruction. Human life is not to be taken unnecessarily. But God’s law is also concerned with the other parts of his creation. God’s holy law protects trees! Moses reminds Israel that the trees are not to blame for the war. Who is to blame? Humanity, the chief and glory of God’s creation. Some trees may be cut for war. No tree that is good for food may be cut for war. The armies of Israel may eat the fruit of trees in the battlefield, but them must not destroy these trees.
God’s redemption in the end is his renewal of all his creation. Thus the law and the gospel move us to value all life, human and inhuman. The main reason Moses supplies here for the preservation of the fruit trees is that they sustain humanity. Trees are good for us. The trees and humanity are interdependent upon one another. God’s creation is not a mish mash of creations thrown together – trees, iguanas, diamonds, and humans. All created things are interconnected, supporting one another, together glorifying the Creator of all things.
According to God’s law, war is not the destruction of a city or a nation, but the subduing of a city or nation. The goal of any war according to God’s law is the renewal of a city and nation who would glorify God. Such a city will need fruit trees as well as a good government. Chapter 20 supplies any conquered people both these good gifts from God. In time, a conquered city, agreeing to peace on God’s terms, will, through servitude, gain freedom, enjoying the fruit of the trees unscathed during battle. This is how war and the gospel are related. War, governed by God’s law, destroys evil, liberates the oppressed, and subdues the rebel. The gospel does the same. The gospel announces God’s destruction of evil, his universal freedom, and his subduing of human hearts. Will it take a war to turn us around, or will we gladly and swiftly embrace the gospel? Are we a city who submits to terms of peace or are we a city who defies the covenant, saying, bring on the war? The Lord of the Covenant, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer is offering to us the way of peace in the gospel. Let us accept the offer and avoid war. We will become servants of God, submitting to his covenant. In doing so, we are choosing the path of freedom and peace. Amen.