Instructions For Besieging A City (Deuteronomy 20:10-20).
Israel had already experienced sieges in their battles with the Amorite kings. Once they had entered Canaan they would also have to besiege Canaanite cities. There total slaughter would be the order of the day. But Moses did not want them to see what they had to do with the Canaanites as an example of how they should generally behave. He saw further ahead and recognised that even though they dwelt securely in the land it would not be without effort. He was well aware of the international situation. Times would come when they would be invaded, times would come when they would have to invade their neighbours too. It was therefore important that they recognise the difference between how they should treat those neighbours and how they should treat the Canaanite cities. Israel was not to make itself a name for being remorseless. The principle of total destruction was to be limited to the Canaanites. It was not to apply to all.
Some may ask why Israel needed to invade its neighbours once Yahweh had given them their own land. The simple answer is that it is doubtful in fact whether they would be given any choice in the matter. Surrounding nations would attack Israel if they thought it was easy pickings, and especially once the nations themselves had a strong king. Once an aggressive king took the throne neighbours could soon become belligerent. The question was not if they would, but when they would. These things all depended on how strong kings were and what glory they sought. Then Israel would either have to make a pre-emptive strike or fight back.
“Going forth to war” was often seen as almost like hunting, a sport to be engaged in when the right season came around (2 Samuel 11:1). All kings who were capable had an eye for it and an eye for booty. See for example Genesis 14 and Psalms 2 and the Book of Judges where different nations are pictured as engaging in war against Israel in Canaan. These were not isolated situations. So the regulations were made in order to control future warfare and in order to prevent too harsh treatment of cities that became involved. Those who yielded without a fight would be treated mercifully. Those who fought back were to be treated more harshly, but even then more mercifully than they would have been by others. It was a harsh and cruel world. The slaying of the men of military age was a precaution against them joining another enemy and organising reprisals. There was no way of keeping them in POW camps, while, let loose, they could be a terrible danger But the main point being made is that the cities were not to be treated in the same way as they had been told to treat Canaanites. For what follows re-emphasised what must be done to the Canaanites. And that was total. The point thus being made is that other enemies should not be treated so severely.
So Moses is here seemingly concerned to deal overall with the general principles on the basis of which they should make war, before coming down to the particulars of what first lay ahead. War must on the whole not be seen as an excuse for a bloodbath.
Analysis using the words of Moses:
a When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. And it shall be, if it make you answer of peace, and open to you, then it shall be, that all the people that are found in it shall become tributary to you, and shall serve you (Deuteronomy 20:10-11).
b And if it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it, and when Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall smite every male of it with the edge of the sword (Deuteronomy 20:12-13).
c But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all its spoil, shall you take for a prey to yourself, and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you (Deuteronomy 20:14).
c Thus shall you do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations (Deuteronomy 20:15).
b But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes (Deuteronomy 20:16).
a But you shall utterly destroy them; The Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods. So would you sin against Yahweh your God (Deuteronomy 20:17-18).
Note that in ‘a' when they draw near to a city of people outside the land, to fight against it, if an offer of peace is made the people within it will simply become tributary, but in the parallel the nations who dwell in Canaan will teach them to do after their abominations, and thus must be blotted out, otherwise they would cause them to sin against Yahweh. In ‘b' if the city that they draw near to makes war then Yahweh their God will deliver it into their hand, and they must them smite all its males with the edge of the sword, and in the parallel when they take the cities which have been given to them by Yahweh their God as an inheritance they must save nothing alive that breathes, but utterly destroy them. In ‘c' they must in the first case keep the women, children and cattle alive, and take them for a prey for themselves, and in the parallel this is the more merciful behaviour expected when dealing with cities which are not cities of the nations of Canaan.
‘ When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. And it shall be, if it make you answer of peace, and open to you, then it shall be, that all the people that are found in it shall become tributary to you, and shall serve you.'
In the case of the cities of neighbouring countries, whenever they approached one to fight with it they must offer peace terms. And if the city accepted those terms and surrendered, the surrender was to be accepted. They would then become tributary to Israel and be their ‘servants', that is, subject to forced labour and paying tribute.
‘ And if it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it, and when Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall smite every male of it with the edge of the sword, but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all its spoil, shall you take for a prey to yourself, and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you.'
If, however, the city refused to surrender they were to besiege it, and when God delivered it into their hands, while they were to put to the sword all the men, they must preserve alive women, children and cattle, and may take all the spoil for themselves. They would be free to partake of all the edible spoils and keep the remainder for their later use.
This appears very harsh to us, but it was in fact merciful in terms of the view of those days. In contrast many armies would instead rape and slaughter the women and dash the children against a convenient wall (Isaiah 13:16; Hosea 13:16; Nahum 3:10; Psalms 137:9, in this last case the Psalmist had recently watched it happen). The slaughter of the men was necessary for there was no provision for taking prisoners-of-war and they dared not leave them to their rear, or in order to organise reprisals, as they advanced further (although a good many may well have made their escape). This is simply giving permission for what was unfortunately, but necessarily, standard practise of the day while meanwhile demanding mercy for the women and children.
One thing, however, this treatment brings out in their favour. Israel were clearly not simply invading in order to get spoils and obtain tribute. If they had been, preservation of the male population to be slaves and provide the tribute would have been necessary. This was either a retaliatory punitive expedition, or a necessary subjection of a belligerent neighbour. The final aim was defensive.
‘ Thus shall you do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.'
This was how they should behave towards neighbouring cities outside the country, that were not cities belonging to those now about to be named. But now he comes down to main point for the present which was to show how they should deal with the cities in the land.
‘ But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall utterly destroy them; the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods. So would you sin against Yahweh your God.'
However in the case of Canaanite cities as described, once they were taken nothing that breathed was to be left alive. Compare Deuteronomy 7:1-5. What ‘nothing that breathes' means is then made clear, it is the peoples of the land. All without exception must be destroyed, men, women and children, so that there will be no danger of idolatry again rearing its head in the land. They were all ‘devoted' to destruction. This was so as to avoid the danger of Israel themselves becoming rebels against Yahweh's covenant. But in most cases, unless told otherwise (e.g. Joshua 6:17-19) they could keep the cattle and spoils.
This was to be seen in the light of the fact that God had decreed the destruction of these nations because of the abomination of their ways. They had been sentenced to death for their idolatrous behaviour. It was His way of carrying His judgment out. It was not to be seen as a normal way of doing battle. It was a purifying of the land.
“The Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.” The description indicates ‘all peoples living in Canaan'. The sixfold description probably emphasises this, being three intensified. These nations were regularly mentioned in previous books in differing descriptions, sometimes sevenfold (Deuteronomy 7:1; Genesis 15:19-21; Exodus 13:5; Exodus 23:23; Exodus 23:28; Exodus 34:11).
The lessons from all this for us today are general ones They are that sometimes we do have to be harsh in dealing with what can lead men astray, but that where we can be compassionate we should be, and that we should recognise the dreadfulness of the sin which caused these awful things to fall on mankind. For we can look at what followed. We can see how Israel failed to obey Yahweh and allowed the Canaanites to live among them, and how this caused them to fall as well. And how it finally destroyed the dream of God's kingdom on earth. Disobedience to this commandment thus brought an awful cost.