14 only the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that shall be in the city, all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take as booty for thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee
And thou shalt do to Ai and to its king as thou didst to Jericho and to its king; only, the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall ye take as prey for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city behind it.
and spoke to them, saying, Return unto your tents with much wealth and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with copper, and with iron, and with clothing, in very great quantity; divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.
and they brought to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the assembly of the children of Israel, the captives and the prey and the booty, to the camp in the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan of Jericho.
but all the children among the women that have not known lying with a man, keep alive for yourselves.
and of human persons, of the women that had not known lying with a man, all the persons were thirty-two thousand. And the half, the portion of them that had gone out to the war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, and the tribute for Jehovah of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five; and the oxen were thirty-six thousand, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, seventy-two; and the asses were thirty thousand five hundred, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, sixty-one; and the human persons were sixteen thousand, of whom the tribute for Jehovah was thirty-two persons. And Moses gave the tribute of Jehovah's heave-offering to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses had divided, [taking it] from the men that served in the war, (now the half belonging to the assembly was of the sheep, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred, and thirty-six thousand oxen, and thirty thousand five hundred asses, and sixteen thousand human persons,) ... of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, of man and of cattle, and gave them to the Levites who kept the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah; as Jehovah had commanded Moses. And the officers who were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses, and they said to Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war who were under our hand, and there is not one man of us lacking. So we present the offering of Jehovah, that which each one hath found, jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before Jehovah. And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, all manner of wrought jewels. And all the gold of the heave-offering that they offered to Jehovah was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds. (The men of war had taken spoil each one for himself.) And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah.
And all the spoil of these cities and the cattle the children of Israel took as prey to themselves; only, they smote all the men with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them: they left none that breathed.
And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them to Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that none of them was left alive; for they were crushed before Jehovah and before his army. And they carried away very much spoil. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the terror of Jehovah came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities, for there was very much spoil in them. They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.
And Jehoshaphat and his people came to plunder the spoil of them, and they found among them in abundance, both riches with the dead bodies, and precious things, and they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away; and they were three days in plundering the spoil, it was so much.
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Commentary on Deuteronomy 20 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 20
De 20:1-20. The Priests' Exhortation to Encourage the People to Battle.
1. When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies—In the approaching invasion of Canaan, or in any just and defensive war, the Israelites had reason to expect the presence and favor of God.
2-4. when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people—Jewish writers say that there was a war priest appointed by a special ceremonial to attend the army. It was natural that the solemn objects and motives of religion should have been applied to animate patriotism, and so give additional impulse to valor; other people have done this. But in the case of Israel, the regular attendance of a priest on the battlefield was in accordance with their theocratic government, in which everything was done directly by God through His delegated ministers. It was the province of this priest to sound the trumpets (Nu 10:9; 31:6), and he had others under him who repeated at the head of each battalion the exhortations which he addressed to the warriors in general. The speech (De 20:3, 4) is marked by a brevity and expressiveness admirably suited to the occasion, namely, when the men were drawn up in line.
4. your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you—According to Jewish writers, the ark was always taken into the field of combat. But there is no evidence of this in the sacred history; and it must have been a sufficient ground of encouragement to be assured that God was on their side.
5-8. And the officers shall speak unto the people—literally, Shoterim, who are called "scribes" or "overseers" (Ex 5:6). They might be keepers of the muster-roll, or perhaps rather military heralds, whose duty it was to announce the orders of the generals (2Ch 26:11). This proclamation (De 20:5-8) must have been made previous to the priest's address, as great disorder and inconvenience must have been occasioned if the serried ranks were broken by the departure of those to whom the privilege was granted. Four grounds of exemption are expressly mentioned: (1) The dedication of a new house, which, as in all Oriental countries still, was an important event, and celebrated by festive and religious ceremonies (Ne 12:27); exemption for a year. (2) The planting of a vineyard. The fruit of the first three years being declared unfit for use, and the first-fruits producible on the fourth, the exemption in this case lasted at least four years. (3) The betrothal of a wife, which was always a considerable time before marriage. It was deemed a great hardship to leave a house unfinished, a new property half cultivated, and a recently contracted marriage; and the exemptions allowed in these cases were founded on the principle that a man's heart being deeply engrossed by something at a distance, he would not be very enthusiastic in the public service. (4) The ground of exemption was cowardice. From the composition of the Israelitish army, which was an irregular militia, all above twenty years being liable to serve, many totally unfit for war must have been called to the field; and it was therefore a prudential arrangement to rid the army of such unwarlike elements—persons who could render no efficient service, and the contagion of whose craven spirit might lead to panic and defeat.
9. they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people—When the exempted parties have withdrawn, the combatants shall be ranged in order of battle.
10-20. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it—An important principle is here introduced into the war law of Israel regarding the people they fought against and the cities they besieged. With "the cities of those people which God doth give thee" in Canaan, it was to be a war of utter extermination (De 20:17, 18). But when on a just occasion, they went against other nations, they were first to make a proclamation of peace, which if allowed by a surrender, the people would become dependent [De 20:11], and in the relation of tributaries the conquered nations would receive the highest blessings from alliance with the chosen people; they would be brought to the knowledge of Israel's God and of Israel's worship, as well as a participation of Israel's privileges. But if the besieged city refused to capitulate and be taken, a universal massacre was to be made of the males while the women and children were to be preserved and kindly treated (De 20:13, 14). By this means a provision was made for a friendly and useful connection being established between the captors and the captives; and Israel, even through her conquests, would prove a blessing to the nations.
19. thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them—In a protracted siege, wood would be required for various purposes, both for military works and for fuel. But fruit-bearing trees were to be carefully spared; and, indeed, in warm countries like India, where the people live much more on fruit than we do, the destruction of a fruit tree is considered a sort of sacrilege.
20. thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee—It is evident that some sort of military engines were intended; and accordingly we know, that in Egypt, where the Israelites learned their military tactics, the method of conducting a siege was by throwing up banks, and making advances with movable towers, or with the testudo [Wilkinson].