Deuteronomy

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Deuteronomy 20 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Deuteronomy 20 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment

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.

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;

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

(20:5) "For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies."
God will go with you, and fight against your enemies.

The author of the SAB prefers a God who cannot help us against our enemies?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

(20:10-11) "When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it ... all the people that is found therein ... shall serve thee."
Enslave those that you conquer in war.
Does God approve of slavery?

Capturing people to enslave them was forbidden, see Ex. 21:16. But what should you do when you have fought against an enemy and conquered them? They were not to be enslaved, but were put under tribute. No definition of slavery includes “putting under tribute”.

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.

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:

(20:13-14) "And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones ... shalt thou take unto thyself."
In the cities that god "delivers" to you, kill all the males (including old men, boys, and babies) with "the edge of the sword.... But the women, and the little ones ... shalt thou take unto yourself."
What the Bible says about Pedophilia

Again, what to do with those that have made war against you? There are simply no good solutions. Free the men, so they can return to the battle field? Leave the women and children to die from hunger or leave them to be captured as slaves by others? What does the author of the SAB propose to do in cases like this?

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.

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:

(20:16-17) "Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth ... as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee."
Kill the old men and women, the sick and the dying, the blind and the lame, pregnant mothers, nursing mothers, infants, toddlers, and babies.

This case is distinguished from other cases of war: God had chosen the Israelites to execute his judgement upon the inhabitants of Canaan: none of them was allowed to live any longer.

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.

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:

(20:19) Kill the people, but spare the trees.
"When thou shalt besiege a city ... thou shalt not destroy the trees."
In this verse, the Israelites are told not to destroy the trees (They are only supposed to kill things that breath). But in 2 Kg.3:19 god tells them to cut down all of the trees.
Spare the trees?

The instruction with regards to the trees covered, in the first instance, the land they had to conquer. I believe it had also a broader meaning, but that doesn't imply that God, in a specific instance, could not override his own command. Note that what is mentioned in 2 Kg. 3:19 is not about the land Canaan, but about the land of the Moabites, and was not a general command, but instruction for a specific occasion.

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.